Slug Is A Surrogate Marker of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in Head and Neck Cancer.

ABSTRACT: Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) promotes therapy resistance in head and neck cancer (HNC) cells. In this study, EMT was quantified in HNC tumor samples by the cellular co-localization of cytokeratin/vimentin, E‑cadherin/β‑catenin and by Slug expression. Tissue samples from HNC patients were stained with antibody pairs against cytokeratin/vimentin and E-cadherin/β-catenin. Epithelial-mesenchymal co-localization was quantified using immunofluorescence multichannel image cytometry. Double positivity was confirmed using confocal microscopy. Slug was semi-quantified by 2 specialists and quantified by bright field image cytometry. Tumor samples of 102 patients were investigated. A loss of E-cadherin positive cells (56.9 ± 2.6% vs. 97.9 ± 1.0%; p < 0.0001) and E-cadherin/β-catenin doub

SUBMITTER: Steinbichler TB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7408865 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature