Vimentin is a potential prognostic factor for tongue squamous cell carcinoma among five epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related proteins

• Published in: PloS one 2017-06, Vol.12 (6), p.e0178581-e0178581
• Main Authors: Liu, Pei-Feng, Kang, Bor-Hwang, Wu, Yi-Min, Sun, Ju-Hsin, Yen, Liang-Ming, Fu, Ting-Ying, Lin, Yun-Chung, Liou, Huei-Han, Lin, Yaoh-Shiang, Sie, Huei-Cin, Hsieh, I-Chien, Tseng, Yu-Kai, Shu, Chih-Wen, Hsieh, Yao-Dung, Ger, Luo-Ping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomarkers; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Cadherins - metabolism; Cancer metastasis; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - metabolism; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - pathology; Care and treatment; Cell adhesion & migration; Cell differentiation; Dentistry; Differentiation (biology); E-cadherin; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; Female; Gene expression; Health education; Health sciences; Hospitals; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Laboratories; Lymph; Lymph nodes; Male; Medical prognosis; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mesenchyme; Metastases; Metastasis; Middle Aged; N-Cadherin; Nuclear Proteins - metabolism; Oral cancer; Oral hygiene; Orthopedics; Otolaryngology; Pathology; Patients; Prognosis; Proteins; Risk factors; Snail Family Transcription Factors - metabolism; Squamous cell carcinoma; Stem cells; Studies; Surgery; Survival; Tissues; Tongue; Tongue cancer; Tongue Neoplasms - metabolism; Tongue Neoplasms - pathology; Transcription factors; Tumorigenesis; Twist-Related Protein 1 - metabolism; Vimentin
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178581

We aimed to investigate the association of the expression levels of five epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related proteins (Snail, Twist, E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and Vimentin) with tumorigenesis, pathologic parameters and prognosis in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) patients by immunohistochemistry of tissue microarray. The expression levels of Snail, E-cadherin, N-cadherin and Vimentin were significantly different between the tumor adjacent normal and tumor tissues. In tumor tissues, lower E-cadherin and higher N-cadherin levels were associated with a higher grade of cell differentiation, advanced stage of disease, and lymph node metastasis. However, higher Vimentin expression was associated with poor cell differentiation and lymph node metastasis. Patients with low E-cadherin expression had poor disease-specific survival (DSS). Conversely, positive N-cadherin and higher Vimentin expression levels were associated with poor DSS and disease-free survival. Notably, our multivariate Cox regression model indicated that high Vimentin expression was an adverse prognostic factor for DSS in TSCC patients, even after the adjustment for cell differentiation, pathological stage, and expression levels of Snail, Twist, E-cadherin, and N-cadherin. Snail, E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and Vimentin were associated with tumorigenesis and pathological outcomes. Among the five EMT-related proteins, Vimentin was a potential prognostic factor for TSCC patients.