Protein marker profiling in different T classification in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

The identification of specific biomarkers related to laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) will be helpful in early detection and determination of reasonable treatment options, which are crucial for the prognosis of patients with laryngeal SCC. The purpose of this study was to profile the protein markers that can be used for diagnosis and prognosis of laryngeal SCC and to observe laryngeal SCC progression with distinct stages of malignant transformation.

Two hundred twenty-five proteins were tested in 84 pairs of tumors and adjacent nontumor mucosa samples using protein pathway arrays (PPAs). Ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) enrichment analysis was performed and protein expression profiles in different T classification were mapped by grid analysis of time-series expression (GATE).

Among 16 proteins differently expressed between tumors and normal tissues, we selected 9 proteins (TTF-1, CDK2, Eg5, proliferating cell nuclear antigen [PCNA], Bcl-xL, 14-3-3β, p27, SRC-1, cytokeratin 18) as markers for classification. From the IPA analysis, we observed a more malignant transformation from T3 to T4 at the protein level and described the changing patterns of the proteins' expression in this progression. JAK2, keratin 10, and IL-3Rα were identified as markers for prognosis. The risk model based on histological grade, T classification, N classification, JAK2, and IL-3Rα can predict the prognosis with 85.5% accuracy.

This study indicated that dysregulated signaling proteins can be selected as useful biomarkers for tumor classification and predicting the outcome in patients with laryngeal SCC. The changing patterns of the proteins' expression in different stages were related to the more malignant transformation and further studies will focus on the role of these proteins in laryngeal SCC progression.