| 1. |
- Adnan, Ali, et al.
(författare)
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Health-related quality of life among tonsillar carcinoma patients in Sweden in relation to treatment and comparison with quality of life among the population
- 2020
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Ingår i: Head and Neck-Journal for the Sciences and Specialties of the Head and Neck. - : Wiley. - 1043-3074 .- 1097-0347. ; 42:5, s. 860-872
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background The health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of tonsillar carcinoma survivors was explored to investigate any HRQOL differences associated with tumor stage and treatment. The survivors' HRQOL was also compared to reference scores from the population. Methods In this exploratory cross-sectional study patients were invited 15 months after their diagnosis and asked to answer two quality of life questionnaires (EORTC QLQ- C30, EORTC QLQ- HN35), 405 participated. Results HRQOL was associated with gender, with males scoring better than females on a few scales. Patients' HRQOL was more associated with treatment than tumor stage. Patients' HRQOL was worse than that in an age- and sex-matched reference group from the normal population, the largest differences were found for problems with dry mouth followed by problems with sticky saliva, senses, swallowing and appetite loss. Conclusions The tonsillar carcinoma patients had a worse HRQOL compared to the general population one year after treatment.
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| 2. |
- Berg, Malin, 1976, et al.
(författare)
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A national study of health-related quality of life in patients with cancer of the base of the tongue compared to the general population and to patients with tonsillar carcinoma
- 2021
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Ingår i: Head and Neck-Journal for the Sciences and Specialties of the Head and Neck. - : Wiley. - 1043-3074 .- 1097-0347. ; 43:12, s. 3843-3856
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background This exploratory, registry-based, cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate patients' health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a subsite of oropharyngeal cancer: cancer of the base of the tongue (CBT). Methods CBT patients, treated with curative intent, completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-H&N35 questionnaires 15 months after diagnosis. The HRQOL of CBT patients was compared to reference scores from the general population and to that of tonsillar carcinoma patients. Results The 190 CBT patients scored significantly worse than members of the general population on most scales. CBT patients with human papilloma virus (HPV)-positive tumors had significantly better HRQOL on 8 of 28 scales than HPV-negative patients. Compared to 405 tonsillar carcinoma patients, CBT patients had significantly worse HRQOL on 8 of the 28 scales, the majority local head and neck related problems. Conclusion One year after treatment, CBT patients' HRQOL was significantly worse in many areas compared to that of the general population and slightly worse than that of tonsillar carcinoma patients.
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| 3. |
- Boldrup, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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Evidence that circulating proteins are more promising than miRNAs for identification of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue
- 2017
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Ingår i: Oncotarget. - : IMPACT JOURNALS LLC. - 1949-2553. ; 8:61, s. 103437-103448
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite intense research, squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue remains a devastating disease with a five-year survival of around 60%. Late detection and recurrence are the main causes for poor survival. The identification of circulating factors for early diagnosis and/or prognosis of cancer is a rapidly evolving field of interest, with the hope of finding stable and reliable markers of clinical significance. The aim of this study was to evaluate circulating miRNAs and proteins as potential factors for distinguishing patients with tongue squamous cell carcinoma from healthy controls. Array-based profiling of 372 miRNAs in plasma samples showed broad variations between different patients and did not show any evidence for their use in diagnosis of tongue cancer. Although one miRNA, miR-150, was significantly down-regulated in plasma from patients compared to controls. Surprisingly, the corresponding tumor tissue showed an up-regulation of miR-150. Among circulating proteins, 23 were identified as potential markers of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. These findings imply that circulating proteins are a more promising source of biomarkers for tongue squamous cell carcinomas than circulating miRNAs. The data also highlight that circulating markers are not always directly associated with tumor cell properties.
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| 4. |
- Boldrup, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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Gene expression changes in tumor free tongue tissue adjacent to tongue squamous cell carcinoma
- 2017
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Ingår i: Oncotarget. - : Impact Journals, LLC. - 1949-2553. ; 8:12, s. 19389-19402
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Due to the high frequency of loco-regional recurrences, which could be explained by changes in the field surrounding the tumor, patients with squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck show poor survival. Here we identified a total of 554 genes as dysregulated in clinically tumor free tongue tissue in patients with tongue tumors when compared to healthy control tongue tissue. Among the top dysregulated genes when comparing control and tumor free tissue were those involved in apoptosis (CIDEC, MUC1, ZBTB16, PRNP, ECT2), immune response (IFI27) and differentiation (KRT36). Data suggest that these are important findings which can aid in earlier diagnosis of tumor development, a relapse or a novel squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue, in the absence of histological signs of a tumor.
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| 5. |
- Boldrup, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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Levels of MUC1 in tumours and serum of patients with different sub-types of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck
- 2020
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Ingår i: Oncology Letters. - : Spandidos Publications. - 1792-1074 .- 1792-1082. ; 20:2, s. 1709-1718
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mucin 1 (MUC1) is a membrane-bound and secreted glycoprotein that has a protective role in surface epithelia. We recently demonstrated that MUC1 mRNA expression was upregulated in tumour-free tongue tissues adjacent to squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue (SCCOT) compared with that in the tumour tissues. The present study investigated MUC1 protein in SCCOT tissue and serum from patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) at different sub-sites. The results from immunohistochemistry demonstrated that all SCCOT tissues expressed MUC1; however, the protein levels were not correlated with MUC1 mRNA levels in the same tumours. Furthermore, serum MUC1 level was lower in patients with SCCOT, tonsil SCC and gingival SCC compared with that in healthy subjects; however, the difference was only significant for patients with SCCOT (P=0.0421). No correlation was seen between MUC1 level in tumour tissues and MUCI level in serum from the same patients. The absence of correlation between MUC1 protein and mRNA levels in SCCOT tissues emphasized the importance of validating genomic data in clinical samples. Although significant MUC1 downregulation was observed in the serum of patients with SCCOT, there was a large variation within the groups, suggesting that MUC1 may not be used as a biomarker for these types of tumors.
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| 6. |
- Farnebo, Lovisa, et al.
(författare)
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Number of negative points : a novel method for predicting radiosensitivity in head and neck tumor cell lines.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Oncology Reports. - : Spandidos Publications. - 1021-335X .- 1791-2431. ; 20:2, s. 453-461
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present study was aimed at establishing a method that combines multiple factors of protein and genetic changes that enables prediction of radiosensitivity in the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell lines. In nine HNSCC cell lines, the quantity of protein expression and the type of genetic alterations were translated into a point system, called the Number of Negative Points. The expression of 14 proteins involved in growth control and/or apoptosis was quantified using a densitometric assessment of Western blots. The blots were adjusted to actin and standardised to normal oral keratinocytes classifying them into four groups depending on the amount of protein expressed (0-3 points). Mutations of the p53 gene were classified into three groups and each mutation was given one point. Since the cell lines each had a known intrinsic radiosensitivity, a multivariate statistical calculation could then be performed to select for the combination of factors having the strongest correlation to radiosensitivity. The strongest correlation of the investigated factors was the combination of epidermal growth factor receptor, survivin and splice site/missense p53 mutations (R=0.990 and P<0.0001). No single factor had a significant correlation to the intrinsic radiosensitivity. Since a significant correlation to the intrinsic radiosensitivity was achieved only when two or more factors were combined, we conclude that a method such as the Number of Negative Points is necessary for prediction of treatment response. We present a novel method to combine factors which enables the prediction of radiosensitivity of HNSCC cell lines.
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| 7. |
- Farnebo, Lovisa
(författare)
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Predictive markers : for treatment sensitivity in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer world wide. In Sweden approximately 850 new cases are diagnosed each year, and two thirds are men. The past decades of improved treatment strategies have unfortunately not significantly improved the five-year survival rates for this group of patients. Therefore, it is important to rapidly find combinations of new and strong predictive markers for treatment response. Different predictive markers have been investigated for decades, without succeeding in finding means to securely predict response to treatment. Models to combine markers are called for.The aim of this thesis was to test multiple predictive markers on both gene and protein level to evaluate their predictive value for radiotherapy and cisplatin response. Furthermore, to combine, and correlate them to treatment response in order to extract the panel of markers that strongest correlated to the investigated treatment. Cell lines derived from 42 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) were used for protein quantification with Western blot and ELISA of the proteins survivin, Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor, Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, Bax, Bad, Bak, PUMA, Heat shock protein 70, MDM2, p53, SMAD4, Cyclooxygenase-2, and Cyclin D1. The expression of the selected proteins was related to the mean expression of normal oral keratinocytes (NOK) from healthy individuals. Furthermore, mutations in the p53 gene, along with single nucleotide polymorphisms in the genes of p53, MDM2, FGFR4, XRCC1, XRCC3, XPD, and XPC were analysed. To allow a large number of predictive markers on both protein and gene level to be combined and correlated to treatment response, the number of negative points (NNP) model was introduced. Both correlations of sensitivity to radiotherapy and to cisplatin treatment was analysed among the cell lines. In the first paper, including nine cell lines, the panel of EGFR, survivin, and splice site/missense p53 mutations correlated strongest to radioresponse. In paper II, 42 cell lines were used and the combination of survivin, Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, Bax, COX-2, and the p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism was found to most strongly correlate with radioresponse. In paper IV, the panel correlating strongest with cisplatin sensitivity consisted of EGFR, Hsp70, Bax, and Bcl-2 in combination with SNPs in the DNA-repair genes XRCC3 and XPD.The predisposition of the FGFR4 Gly388Arg polymorphism for the development of HNSCC was investigated in paper III. DNA was isolated from 110 tumour biopsies, and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis showed that 58% of the individuals in the control group carried the FGFR4 Arg388 allele, whereas the frequency in the tumour group was 45%. The Gly388 allele gave a significantly higher risk of developing HNSCC, suggesting Gly388 to be the risk allele for cancer development. Furthermore, a novel mutation was found in the FGFR4 gene. The influence of this new mutation is however unknown.In conclusion, predictive markers for treatment sensitivity need to be combined to receive an accurate prediction of treatment response.
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| 8. |
- Gu, Xiaolian, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Copy number variation : A prognostic marker for young patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Oral Pathology & Medicine. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0904-2512 .- 1600-0714. ; 48:1, s. 24-30
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background The incidence of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue (SCCOT) is increasing in people under age 40. There is an urgent need to identify prognostic markers that help identify young SCCOT patients with poor prognosis in order to select these for individualized treatment. Materials and methods To identify genetic markers that can serve as prognostic markers for young SCCOT patients, we first investigated four young (<= 40 years) and five elderly patients (>= 50 years) using global RNA sequencing and whole-exome sequencing. Next, we combined our data with data on SCCOT from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA), giving a total of 16 young and 104 elderly, to explore the correlations between genomic variations and clinical outcomes. Results In agreement with previous studies, we found that SCCOT from young and elderly patients was transcriptomically and also genomically similar with no significant differences regarding cancer driver genes, germline predisposition genes, or the burden of somatic single nucleotide variations (SNVs). However, a disparate copy number variation (CNV) was found in young patients with distinct clinical outcome. Combined with data from TCGA, we found that the overall survival was significantly better in young patients with low-CNV (n = 5) compared to high-CNV (n = 11) burden (P = 0.044). Conclusions Copy number variation burden is a useful single prognostic marker for SCCOT from young, but not elderly, patients. CNV burden thus holds promise to form an important contribution when selecting suitable treatment protocols for young patients with SCCOT.
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| 9. |
- Gu, Xiaolian, et al.
(författare)
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Epigenetic regulation of OAS2 shows disease-specific DNA methylation profiles at individual CpG sites
- 2016
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Epigenetic modifications are essential regulators of biological processes. Decreased DNA methylation of OAS2 (2'-5'-Oligoadenylate Synthetase 2), encoding an antiviral protein, has been seen in psoriasis. To provide further insight into the epigenetic regulation of OAS2, we performed pyrosequencing to detect OAS2 DNA methylation status at 11 promoter and first exon located CpG sites in psoriasis (n = 12) and two common subtypes of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck: tongue (n = 12) and tonsillar (n = 11). Compared to corresponding controls, a general hypomethylation was seen in psoriasis. In tongue and tonsillar SCC, hypomethylation was found at only two CpG sites, the same two sites that were least demethylated in psoriasis. Despite differences in the specific residues targeted for methylation/demethylation, OAS2 expression was upregulated in all conditions and correlations between methylation and expression were seen in psoriasis and tongue SCC. Distinctive methylation status at four successively located CpG sites within a genomic area of 63 bp reveals a delicately integrated epigenetic program and indicates that detailed analysis of individual CpGs provides additional information into the mechanisms of epigenetic regulation in specific disease states. Methylation analyses as clinical biomarkers need to be tailored according to disease-specific sites.
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| 10. |
- Gu, Xiaolian, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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High immune cytolytic activity in tumor-free tongue tissue confers better prognosis in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue
- 2019
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Ingår i: The journal of pathology. Clinical research. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2056-4538. ; 5:4, s. 240-247
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Immune cells and cytolytic activity within the tumor microenvironment are being intensively studied. Through transcriptome profiling, immune cell enumeration using the xCell tool and cytolytic activity quantification according to granzyme A (GZMA) and perforin (PRF1) mRNA levels, we investigated immunoreactivity in tumor and/or tumor‐free tongue tissue samples from 31 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue and 14 healthy individuals (control tongue tissues). We found significantly altered immune cell compositions (p < 0.001) and elevated cytolytic activity (p < 0.001) in tumor compared to tumor‐free samples, and altered infiltration of a subset of immune cells (e.g. CD8+ T cells, p < 0.01) as well as increased cytolytic activity (p < 0.001) in tumor‐free compared to control samples. Controlling for patient age at diagnosis and tumor stage, Cox regression analysis showed that high cytolytic activity in tumor‐free samples associated with improved disease‐free survival (hazard ratio= 4.20, 95% CI = 1.09–16.20, p = 0.037). However, the degree of cytolytic activity in tumor samples did not provide prognostic information. Taken together, our results show the presence of cancer‐related immune responses in clinically tumor‐free tongue in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue. Measuring cytolytic activity in tumor‐free tongue samples contralateral to tumor might thus be an effective approach to predict clinical outcome.
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