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Abnormal activation of the Akt signaling pathway in adenoid cystic carcinoma

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Abstract

Purpose

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is an intriguing lesion because it shows a slow growth in the beginning, but a late poor prognosis due to perineural invasion, metastasis and recurrence. This study aimed to investigate whether Akt signaling would be deregulated in adenoid cystic carcinoma and its consequence in the expression of associated proteins.

Methods

The expression of the Akt, p-Akt, NFκB, β-catenin, cyclin D1 and COX-2 was assessed by immunohistochemistry in 10 cases of ACC, 17 cases of pleomorphic adenoma (PA), and 7 cases of normal salivary gland (NSG).

Results

p-Akt was overexpressed in ACC when compared to NSG. NFκB, β-catenin, and COX-2 were overexpressed in ACC and PA when compared to NSG. Most proteins were slightly higher expressed in ACC than in PA, but they never reached significance. p-Akt expression positively correlated with NFκB, β-catenin, cyclin D1 and COX-2 in ACC and PA, while this correlation trended to be negative in for these proteins (except for NFκB) in NSG using Person’s correlation analysis, but without reaching significance.

Conclusions

Our results indicate an abnormal activation of Akt signaling pathway, which can be an important regulator of tumor biology in ACC. Activated Akt correlated with the expression of NFκB, β-catenin and COX-2, which can potentially influence cell survival in ACC.

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Acknowledgements

The author Andre Luis Ribeiro Ribeiro is grateful to CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil, for funding his PhD scholarship (Grant no. 0698130).

Funding

This research was not funded by any grant.

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Author notes

  1. Karla Flaviana Carneiro Castelo Branco and Andre Luis Ribeiro Ribeiro have contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cell Culture Laboratory, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Pará (UFPA), Belém, PA, Brazil

    Karla Flaviana Carneiro Castelo Branco, Raíssa Pinheiro de Mendonça, João de Jesus Viana Pinheiro, Maria Sueli da Silva Kataoka & Sérgio de Melo Alves Junior

  2. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, University Center of Pará-CESUPA, Travessa 9 de Janeiro, 827, Belem, PA, 66013 090, Brazil

    Andre Luis Ribeiro Ribeiro

  3. MPCO Graduate Program, School of Dentistry, University Centre of Pará-CESUPA, Belém, PA, Brazil

    Andre Luis Ribeiro Ribeiro

  4. Department of Pathology, Ophir Loyola Hospital, Belém, Brazil

    Maria Vanda Catão Arnaud

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  1. Karla Flaviana Carneiro Castelo Branco
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Correspondence to Andre Luis Ribeiro Ribeiro.

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Ethical approval

This study was approved by the ethics committee of the Institute of Health Sciences at the Federal University of Pará (protocol number: 0047.0.073.000-11) and all procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Branco, K.F.C.C., Ribeiro, A.L.R., de Mendonça, R.P. et al. Abnormal activation of the Akt signaling pathway in adenoid cystic carcinoma. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 275, 3039–3047 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-018-5182-2

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