Decreased Expression of Folate Transport Proteins in Oral Cancer

Publication date: Available online 26 September 2018

Source: Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology

Author(s): Joanna Goral, current medical student at William Carey University, Lenore Pitstick, Alice Meyer, Bruno Jham, Eduardo Pereira Guimaraes, João Adolfo Costa Hanneman, Jacalyn M. Green

Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to assess the expression of the three major folate transporters – folate receptors (FR), reduced folate carrier (RFC), and proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT) – in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). We hypothesized that patterns of expression of folate transporters would be different in OSCC when compared to normal oral epithelium.

Study Design

We used immunohistochemistry to examine the expression of FR, RFC, and PCFT in fifteen primary specimens collected from OSCC patients, two human cadaveric samples of OSCC, and twelve normal human cadaveric oral tissues from a medical gross anatomy laboratory. Possible correlations were determined between expression of each folate transporter with patients' clinical data.

Results

All three folate transporters were highly expressed in normal oral epithelium. In contrast, OSCC samples generally demonstrated low expression of FR, RFC, and PCFT, with wide distribution in the invading cancer cells. There were no differences in folate transporter expression between OSCC collected from patients and from human cadavers. The lowest expression of FR and PCFT characterized less-differentiated tumors, and the lowest expression of RFC correlated with higher lymph node involvement.

Conclusions

Human oral cancer samples expressed decreased amounts of all three major folate transport proteins when compared to controls from normal cadaveric oral tissues.

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