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Updated: Mar 19, 2026
Therapy Testing in a Spheroid-based 3D Cell Culture Model for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Published on: April 20, 2018
Identification of new candidate therapeutic target genes in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas
Marie-Paule Sablin1, Coraline Dubot1,2, Jerzy Klijanienko3
1Department of Medical Oncology, Institut Curie, Paris and Saint-Cloud, France.
Background:
We aimed at identifying druggable molecular alterations at the RNA level from untreated HNSCC patients, and assessing their prognostic significance.
Methods:
We retrieved 96 HNSCC patients who underwent primary surgery. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR was used to analyze a panel of 42 genes coding for major druggable proteins. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the prognostic significance of overexpressed genes.
Results:
Median age was 56 years [35-78]. Most of patients were men (80%) with a history of alcohol (70.4%) and/or tobacco consumption (72.5%). Twelve patients (12%) were HPV-positive. Most significantly overexpressed genes involved cell cycle regulation (CCND1 [27%], CDK6 [21%]), tyrosine kinase receptors (MET [18%], EGFR [14%]), angiogenesis (PGF [301%], VEGFA [14%]), and immune system (PDL1/CD274 [28%]). PIK3CA expression was an independent prognostic marker, associated with shorter disease-free survival.
Conclusions:
We identified druggable overexpressed genes associated with a poor outcome that might be of interest for personalizing treatment of HNSCC patients.
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