title: Expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase family 1 member A1 and high mobility group box 1 in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in association with survival time.
abstract: Despite the development of novel multimodal treatment combinations in advanced oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), outcomes remain poor. The identification of specifically validated biomarkers is required to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms, to evaluate treatment efficiency and to develop novel therapeutic targets. The present study, therefore, examined the presence of aldehyde dehydrogenase family 1 member A1 (ALDH1A1) and high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) expression in primary OSCC and analyzed the impact on survival time. In 59 patients with OSCC, the expression of ALDH1A1, p16 and HMGB1, and their clinicopathological data were analyzed. HMGB1 positivity was significantly increased in patients with T1-2 stage disease compared with T3-4 stage disease (P<0.001), whereas ALDH1A1 positivity was not. ALDH1A1+tumors showed significantly lower differentiation than ALDH1A1-tumors (P=0.018). Multivariate analysis showed that ALDH1A1 positivity (P=0.041) and nodal status (N2-3) (P=0.036) predicted a poor prognosis. In this patient cohort, ALDH1A1 and nodal status were identified as independent predictors of a shorter overall survival time. The study results, therefore, provide evidence of the prognostic value of ALDH1A1 as a marker for cancer stem cells and nodal status in OSCC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Charité - Medical University of Berlin, Benjamin Franklin Campus, D-12200 Berlin, Germany; School of Basic Medical Science, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325035, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Charité - Medical University of Berlin, Benjamin Franklin Campus, D-12200 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Annekatrin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coordes
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Gynecology, Charité - Medical University of Berlin, Benjamin Franklin Campus, D-12200 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kaufmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Charité - Medical University of Berlin, Benjamin Franklin Campus, D-12200 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Albers
keywords: aldehyde dehydrogenase family 1 member A1; high mobility group box 1; oropharyngeal cancer; squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck; survival