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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Three-Dimensional (3D) Tumor Spheroid Invasion Assay
Published on: May 1, 2015
Akt, protein kinase C, and mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphorylation status in head and neck squamous cell
Lara Tosi1, Eliana Rinaldi, Francesco Carinci
1Dipartimento di Morfologia ed Embriologia, Università di Ferrara, Fossato di Mortara, 64/b, 44100 Ferrara, Italy.
Background:
To detect epigenetic changes in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and between metastatic and nonmetastatic tumors, we performed a systematic phosphorylation screening on different protein kinases.
Methods:
The phosphorylation levels of the serine-threonine kinase Akt, of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and of protein kinase C (PKC) beta and epsilon were measured in a series of 94 biopsy specimens, corresponding to 47 HNSCCs and paired controls taken from clinically uninvolved tissue of the same patients.
Results:
Akt and MAPK were significantly underphosphorylated (two-sided p < .004) in tumors, whereas PKCs showed no differences from control samples.Second, although in control tissue there was a significant correlation between phosphorylation levels of Akt, MAPK, and PKC (all two-sided p < .05), many correlated activations were lost in tumors and even more in lymph node-positive tumors. Finally, p44 MAPK and Akt pThr308 were phosphorylated in a coordinated fashion only in lymph node-positive tumors (two-sided p < .01).
Conclusions:
This novel evidence documents important changes in the phosphorylation program during cancer progression of HNSCC.
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