두경부 편평세포암종에서의 HuR 발현

Abstract

The human ELAV(embryonic lethal abnormal vision)-like protein HuR stabilizes a certain group of cellular mRNAs that contain AU-rich elements in their 3'-untranslated region. To test the significance of HuR in carcinogenesis of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas(HNSCCs), we have investigated HuR expression from 32 benign epithelial lesions, 14 premalignant epithelial lesions and 80 HNSCCs. There were two different staining patterns of HuR in HNSCCs: nuclear expression was seen in 78.7% (63 of 80) of cases; and an additional cytoplasmic expression was seen in 28.7%(23 of 80) of cases. Nuclear expression of HuR was significantly increased in premalignant lesions and HNSCCs, whereas increased cytoplasmic expression of HuR was only observed in HNSCCs. Cytoplasmic HuR expression was significantly increased in patients of HNSCC younger than 60 years. Although there was no significant correlation between anatomic sites of HNSCCs and HuR expression, cytoplasmic HuR expression was highly increased in HNSCCs of larynx. There was no significant correlation between HuR expression and other clinicopathological parameters such as histological type, tumor size, or nodal status. In conclusion, this study suggests that overexpression of HuR in HNSCCs may be part of a regulatory pathway that controls the mRNA stability of several important targets in carcinogenesis of HNSCCs.