Alpha-B-crystallin expression in human laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma tissues

BackgroundLaryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), being an aggressive malignancy, is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignant types of head and neck SCC worldwide. The recent studies suggested that B-crystallin might play an important role in tumorigenesis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the B-crystallin expression level in metastatic and nonmetastatic laryngeal SCC tissues and to determine its prognostic significance. MethodsAlpha-B-crystallin expression status in metastatic, nonmetastatic laryngeal SCC, and normal tissue samples was investigated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). ResultsWe demonstrated that the expression of B-crystallin was significantly upregulated in laryngeal SCC tumor tissue samples in comparison with the corresponding normal tissues (p<.001), although no significant association has been found between B-crystallin expression and either the metastatic potential or the T classification of the specimens. ConclusionAlthough expression of B-crystallin is not statistically correlated with neck metastases, we demonstrated that B-crystallin is significantly overexpressed in laryngeal cancer. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 37: 1344-1348, 2015