CCR4 expression is associated with poor prognosis in patients with early stage (pN0) oral tongue cancer

Publication date: Available online 11 October 2018

Source: Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Author(s): Lei Wang, Mei Zhang, Yuntao Zhu, Xin Zhang, Yongmei Yang, Chuanxin Wang

Abstract

Purpose

Chemokine receptors are well known to be involved in tumor metastasis and may predict poor prognosis; however, the expression and clinicopathological significance of chemokine receptors in early-stage cancer patients remain largely unknown. In this study, we measured the association between CCR4 expression and prognosis in patients with histologically node-negative (pN0) oral tongue cancer.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective analysis of CCR4 expression data from a consecutive case series of patients with pN0 oral cancer tongue. We investigated the expression of CCR4 by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and evaluated the association between CCR4 expression and clincopathological variables as well as overall and disease-free survivals using Kaplan-Meier analysis and a Cox regression model.

Results

CCR4 expression was examined in 128 human tongue cancerous (109 TSCC and 19 other types) and 10 normal tongue tissues, which was found to be highly expressed in tumor tissues compared to normal tissues. CCR4 expression was observed in 64.2% patients with TSCC and showed a significant association with T-stage (P=0.037). Patients with CCR4 positive expression exhibited poorer overall and disease-free survivals compared to those with CCR4 negative expression (P<0.001 and P=0.001), and CCR4 positive expression was an independent factor of unfavorable overall and disease-free survivals (P=0.002 and P=0.007).

Conclusions

This study identified CCR4 as a potential prognostic biomarker for recurrence and survival of patients with pN0 oral tongue cancer. Thus, CCR4 might be a possible therapy target for early stage cancer patients.

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