title: Expression levels of insulin-like growth factors 1 and 2 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: Insulin-like growth factors (IGF) 1 and 2 are known as potential mitogens for normal and neoplastic cells. IGF2 is a main fetal growth factor while IGF1 is activated through growth hormone action during postnatal growth and development. However, there is strong evidence that activation of IGF2 by its E2F transcription factor 3 (E2F3) is present in different types of cancer. Also high levels of IGF1 strongly correlate with cancer development due to anti-apoptotic properties and enhancement of cancer cell differentiation, which can be attenuated by IGFBP3. Head and neck cancer is known as one of the six most common human cancers. The main risk factor for head and neck cancer is consumption of tobacco and alcohol as well as viral infection and bacterial infection by stimulation of chronic local inflammation. There is also a genetic basis for this form of cancer; however, the genetic markers are not yet established. In this study we investigated the levels of the expression of IGF2, IGF1, E2F3 and IGFBP3 in human cancers and healthy tissues surrounding the tumor obtained from each of 41 patients. Our study indicated that there is no alteration of the levels of expression of IGF2, E2F3 and IGF1 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cases studied in selected experimental population, but there was evidence for upregulation of pro-apoptotic IGFBP3 in cancer when comparing to healthy tissue. These important findings indicate that insulin-growth factors are not directly associated with HNSCC showing some variability between patients and location of tumor. However, elevated level of IGFBP3 suggests possible regulatory role of IGF signal by its binding protein in this type of tumor.
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32827, USA; Center of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhi
authors.affiliation: Deptartment of Cancer Genetics, Greater Poland Cancer Centre, 15 Garbary St., 61-866 Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lamperska
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Head and Neck Surgery, Greater Poland Cancer Centre, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland.
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Golusinski
authors.affiliation: Human Biology, The J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Nicholas J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Schork
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Greater Poland Cancer Centre, Poznan University of Medical Sciences,15 Garbary St., 61-866 Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Lukasz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luczewski
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Greater Poland Cancer Centre, Poznan University of Medical Sciences,15 Garbary St., 61-866 Poznan, Poland. Electronic address: Wojciech.golusinski@wco.pl.
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Golusinski
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32827, USA. Electronic address: michal.masternak@ucf.edu.
authors.forename: Michal M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Masternak
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D007335:Insulin-Like Growth Factor II / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D000077195:Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D007335:Insulin-Like Growth Factor II
keywords: IGF1; IGF2; Oral cancer; Survival