Differential clinical significance of COL COL 5A1 and COL COL 5A2 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma

摘要

Abstract Background Type V collagen ( COL 5), in the functional heterotrimer [α1(V) 2 α2(V)] isoform, participates in the malignancies of various cancers. However, its role in tongue squamous cell carcinoma ( TSCC ) remains unclear. Materials and Methods The expression levels of COL 5A1 and COL 5A2 polypeptide chains were examined using the tissue microarray from 245 TSCC patients with immunohistochemistry. Paired t test and Wilcoxon signed‐rank test were performed for comparisons among the groups. Survival rates were estimated by using the Kaplan‐Meier method and compared with log‐rank tests. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to evaluate the impact of protein expression level on survival rate. Results Expression level of COL 5A1 was significantly increased in tumor tissues ( P? ? 0.001) compared to that in corresponding adjacent normal tissues. High expression level of COL 5A1 was associated with advanced pathological stage ( III , IV , P? = ? 0.015) and lymph node metastasis ( P? = ? 0.005) of TSCC patients. High expression level of COL 5A1 was also correlated with poor disease‐specific survival ( DSS , P? = ? 0.001) and disease‐free survival ( DFS , P? = ? 0.003) in TSCC patients. However, high expression level of COL 5A2 was correlated with better DFS in TSCC patients ( P? = ? 0.043). Moreover, co‐expression level of high ( COL 5A1) 2 /low ( COL 5A2) heterotrimer was correlated with worse DSS ( P ?=?0.004) and DFS ( P ?=?0.004). Conclusion COL 5A1 is an unfavorable factor for tumorigenesis, clinicopathological outcomes, and prognosis, whereas COL 5A2 is only a favorable factor for prognosis in TSCC . The co‐expression of high ( COL 5A1)2/low ( COL 5A2) heterotrimer is a more potential unfavorable factor for prognosis in TSCC .