Proteomic analysis of hypopharyngeal and laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma sheds light on differences in survival

• Published in: Scientific reports 2020-11, Vol.10 (1), p.19459-19459, Article 19459
• Main Authors: Liu, Jiajia, Zhu, Weiming, Li, Zhexuan, Cai, Gengming, Wang, Juncheng, Tang, Qinglai, Maroun, Christopher A., Zhu, Gangcai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/250; 631/67/1536; Aged; Antigen presentation; Biomarkers, Tumor - genetics; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - genetics; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - metabolism; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - pathology; CD4 antigen; Chromatography, Liquid - methods; Cytoskeleton; Epidemiology; Female; Gene Expression Profiling - methods; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Gene Ontology; Gene Regulatory Networks; Genomes; Head & neck cancer; Helper cells; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms - genetics; Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms - metabolism; Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms - pathology; Immunological memory; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Laryngeal cancer; Laryngeal Neoplasms - genetics; Laryngeal Neoplasms - metabolism; Laryngeal Neoplasms - pathology; Liquid chromatography; Male; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Memory cells; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; Neoplasm Staging; Proteomics; Proteomics - methods; Quantitation; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Squamous cell carcinoma; Survival; Tandem Mass Spectrometry - methods; Wound healing
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76626-w

The link between differences in molecular expression and survival among advanced laryngeal (LSCC) and hypopharyngeal squamous carcinoma (HPSCC) remains unclear. Here, we applied the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, Isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) with Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) proteomics data and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) related data to discover the possible disparities between HPSCC and LSCC. Our results showed a significantly worse 5-year overall-survival in HPSCC compared with LSCC before and after adjusting for clinical parameters. 240 differentially expressed proteins were enriched in molecular networks of cytoskeleton remodeling and antigen presentation. Moreover, HPSCC consisted of less T-central-memory cells, T-follicular-helper cells, TGF-β response, and CD4  +   T memory resting cells, but more wound healing than LSCC. Furthermore, 9 mRNAs expression were  significantly and independently correlated to overall survival in 126 HPSCC and LSCC patients, which was further validated in another cohort of head and neck cancers. These findings support that Immunity signatures as well as pathway networks that include cytoskeleton remodeling and antigen presentation may contribute to the observed differences in survival between HPSCC and LSCC.