PI3‐kinase pathway biomarkers in oral cancer and tumor immune cells. Issue 3 (16th December 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ibrahim, Mohammad Y.; Nunez, Maria I.; Harun, Nusrat; Lee, J. Jack; El‐Naggar, Adel K.; Ferrarotto, Renata; Wistuba, Ignacio; Myers, Jeffrey; Glisson, Bonnie S.; William, William N.
• Is Part Of: Head & neck. Volume 41:Issue 3(2019)
• Page Start: 615
• Page End: 622
• Publication Date: 2018-12-16
• Subjects: immunology -- oral squamous cell carcinomas -- phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) -- phosphoinositide 3‐kinase pathway (PI3‐kinase pathway) -- tumor infiltrating immune cells; Head -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Neck -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Head -- Periodicals; Neck -- Periodicals; Face -- Periodicals; 617.51059
• DOI: 10.1002/hed.25350
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1043-3074

Abstract

Abstract: Background: This study investigated the hypothesis that phosphoinositide 3‐kinase (PI3‐kinase) pathway dysregulation in either head and neck cancer cells and/or tumor infiltrating immune cells would influence outcomes of patients with surgically treated oral tongue squamous cell carcinomas (SCC). Methods: We constructed tissue microarrays containing 123 oral tongue SCC samples and performed immunohistochemistry using antibodies against 7 PI3‐kinase pathway markers: phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), Akt, p‐Akt, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), phosphorylated‐mammalian target of rapamycin (p‐mTOR), survivin, and Ki‐67). Expression levels in cancer cells or tumor infiltrating immune cells were correlated with outcomes. Results: Higher levels of PTEN expression in immune cells were significantly associated with improved recurrence‐free survival (heart rate (HR) = 0.45, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.23‐0.90, P = .03), and overall survival (HR = 0.34, 95% CI 0.15‐0.76, P = .01) on univariate and multicovariate models. Conclusions: We identified a novel, negative prognostic role of PI3‐kinase activation (as determined by PTEN loss) in oral SCC infiltrating immune cells. These findings could be relevant for clinical development of PI‐3 kinase inhibitors for this disease.