Affiliations: [a] Department of Otolaryngology, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy | [b] Department of Endocrinology, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Eugenia Allegra, Otolaryngology, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, Viale Europa, Germaneto, 88100, Catanzaro, Italy. Tel.: +39 09613647130; Fax: +39 09613647131; E-mail:eualle@unicz.it
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The soluble fraction of the CD44 protein (solCD44) may
constitute a valuable biological marker of Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs), useful
for screening/early detection of laryngeal cancer, and for the prognosis. In
previous papers, in fact, we have studied the expression of salivary solCD44
in patients with laryngeal tumors, supporting its use for early diagnosis of
laryngeal carcinoma with high sensitivity and specificity, also with
prognostic role, useful for clinical outcome. OBJECTIVE: The
purpose of present study was to verify the levels of solCD44 isoform v6,
sCD44var (v6), in saliva samples of patients with laryngeal carcinoma in our
tumoral biobank, to evaluate possible correlations with clinical-anamnestic
and prognostic data. METHODS: Study design was retrospective.
Salivary samples of 66 patients with laryngeal cancer recruited from January
2012 to December 2013 were selected from our tumoral biobank. For each
salivary sample was performed the determination of solCD44 and its isoform
v6, sCD44var (v6), by ELISA. Qualitative and quantitative results of the
test were correlated with clinical and medical history data. For statistical
analysis we used the software MedCalc (versione 12.2.1.0). RESULTS: Concentrations of salivary sCD44var v6 were significantly higher according
to the size of the primary tumor (T) (p= 0.001), the tumor site glottic or
supraglottic-transglottic (p= 0.005) and according to the metastatic lymph
node involvement (p= 0005). Furthermore, tumors in advanced disease (stage
III-IV) showed values of salivary sCD44var v6 higher than the tumors in
early stage, with a statistically significant difference (p= 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: The determination of the levels of salivary solCD44 v6
may represent a promising prognostic test in laryngeal carcinomas.
