title: Fascin upregulation in primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is associated with lymphatic metastasis.
abstract: Fascin is an actin-bundling protein that is associated with cellular motility and cancer-cell invasion. The present study aimed to examine the expression of fascin in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and its potential use as a biomarker. In a prospective study with a median follow-up time of 48.8 months, tumor tissues, adjacent healthy tissues and cervical lymph node metastases were collected from 25 patients and analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The specimens were scored according to the intensity of fascin staining and the percentage of tumor cells stained using a semi-quantitative scoring approach; the data were analyzed and correlated with clinical follow-up observations. All of the investigators were blinded to the origin of the specimens. The expression levels of fascin were significantly increased in the tumor tissues (P=0.03) and lymph node metastases (P=0.03) compared with that of the normal tissues. The high expression level of fascin in the tumor tissues was correlated with the N-status, however, not with overall survival. Therefore, fascin may be a suitable marker for the prediction of regional lymphatic metastasis in HNSCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz D-55101, Germany.
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Papaspyrou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz D-55101, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brochhausen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz D-55101, Germany.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schmidtmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz D-55101, Germany.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fruth
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz D-55101, Germany.
authors.forename: Haralampos
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gouveris
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz D-55101, Germany.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kirckpatrick
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz D-55101, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolf
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz D-55101, Germany.
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brieger
keywords: fascin; head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; lymphatic; marker; metastasis