Autor: |
Carina Strohmayer, Andrea Klang, Stefan Kummer, Ingrid Walter, Christoph Jindra, Christiane Weissenbacher-Lang, Torben Redmer, Sibylle Kneissl, Sabine Brandt |
Jazyk: |
angličtina |
Rok vydání: |
2022 |
Předmět: |
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Zdroj: |
Pathogens, Vol 11, Iss 2, p 266 (2022) |
Druh dokumentu: |
article |
ISSN: |
2076-0817 |
DOI: |
10.3390/pathogens11020266 |
Popis: |
Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) is a common malignant tumor in humans and animals. In humans, papillomavirus (PV)-induced HNSCCs have a better prognosis than papillomavirus-unrelated HNSCCs. The ability of tumor cells to switch from epithelial to mesenchymal, endothelial, or therapy-resistant stem-cell-like phenotypes promotes disease progression and metastasis. In equine HNSCC, PV-association and tumor cell phenotype switching are poorly understood. We screened 49 equine HNSCCs for equine PV (EcPV) type 2, 3 and 5 infection. Subsequently, PV-positive versus -negative lesions were analyzed for expression of selected epithelial (keratins, β-catenin), mesenchymal (vimentin), endothelial (COX-2), and stem-cell markers (CD271, CD44) by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence (IF; keratins/vimentin, CD44/CD271 double-staining) to address tumor cell plasticity in relation to PV infection. Only EcPV2 PCR scored positive for 11/49 equine HNSCCs. IHC and IF from 11 EcPV2-positive and 11 EcPV2-negative tumors revealed epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition events, with vimentin-positive cells ranging between 50%. CD44- and CD271-staining disclosed the intralesional presence of infiltrative tumor cell fronts and double-positive tumor cell subsets independently of the PV infection status. Our findings are indicative of (partial) epithelial–mesenchymal transition events giving rise to hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal and stem-cell-like tumor cell phenotypes in equine HNSCCs and suggest CD44 and CD271 as potential malignancy markers that merit to be further explored in the horse. |
Databáze: |
Directory of Open Access Journals |
Externí odkaz: |
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