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The expression and clinical significance of connective tissue growth factor in advanced head and neck squamous cell cancer

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Abstract

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) has been reported to play critical roles in the tumorigenesis of several human malignancies. This study was performed to evaluate CTGF protein expression in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Surgical specimens from 76 primary HNSCC were obtained with written informed consents and the expression level of CTGF was immunohistochemically evaluated. The cytoplasmic immunoreactivity of CTGF in cancer cells was semiquantitatively classified into low and high expression. Among all 76 cases with or without neoadjuvant therapy, low CTGF showed significantly longer (P = 0.0282) overall survival (OS), but not disease-free survival (DFS) than high CTGF. Although low CTGF in patients with stage I, II and III did not result in any significant difference of the OS and DFS, stage IV HNSCC patients with low CTGF showed significantly longer OS (P = 0.032) and DFS (P = 0.0107) than those with high CTGF. These differences in stage IV cases were also confirmed using multivariate analyses. These results suggest that low CTGF in stage IV HNSCC is an independent prognostic factor, despite with or without neoadjuvant therapy.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for the Promotion of Defense Medicine from the Ministry of Defense of Japan (H.T., O.M.); a grant from the Foundation for the Promotion of Defense Medicine from the Ministry of Defense of Japan (H.T.); and a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (R.K.). We thank Ms. Kozue Suzuki for technical assistance.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Surgical Oncology, Sasaki Institute, Sasaki Foundation, 2-2 Surugadai Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-0062, Japan

    Ryoko Kikuchi & Masaru Sakamoto

  2. Department of Gynecology, Ohki Memorial Kikuchi Cancer Clinic for Women, Saitama, Japan

    Yoshihiro Kikuchi

  3. Department of Basic Pathology, National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan

    Ryoko Kikuchi, Hitoshi Tsuda, Keiichi Iwaya & Osamu Matsubara

  4. Department of Otolaryngology, National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan

    Hitoshi Maekawa & Akihiro Shiotani

  5. Department of Molecular Cytogenetics, Medical Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

    Ken-ichi Kozaki

  6. Department of Human Genetics, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan

    Issei Imoto

  7. Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan

    Seiichi Tamai

  8. Department of Obstetrics Gynecology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Masaru Sakamoto

  9. Department of Molecular Genetic Oncology, Sasaki Institute, Sasaki Foundation, 2-2 Surugadai Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-0062, Japan

    Takao Sekiya

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  1. Ryoko Kikuchi
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  2. Yoshihiro Kikuchi
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  3. Hitoshi Tsuda
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  4. Hitoshi Maekawa
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  5. Ken-ichi Kozaki
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  6. Issei Imoto
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  7. Seiichi Tamai
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  8. Akihiro Shiotani
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  9. Keiichi Iwaya
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  10. Masaru Sakamoto
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  11. Takao Sekiya
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  12. Osamu Matsubara
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Correspondence to Ryoko Kikuchi.

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Kikuchi, R., Kikuchi, Y., Tsuda, H. et al. The expression and clinical significance of connective tissue growth factor in advanced head and neck squamous cell cancer. Human Cell 27, 121–128 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13577-014-0092-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13577-014-0092-0

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