MAMMALIAN TARGET OF RAPAMYCIN (mTOR) EXPRESSION AND LARYNGEAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA PROGNOSIS: NOVEL PRELIMINARY EVIDENCE

Gino Marioni (1) , Alberto Staffieri , Luciano Giacomelli , Marco Lionello , Vincenza Guzzardo , Alessandra Busnardo , Stella Blandamura

1 Dept of Medical and Surgical Specialties

AIMS Rapamycin has powerful antineoplastic properties against mammalian cells. The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) has a key role in regulating cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis, cell migration and angiogenesis. mTOR pathway activation has been found in several tumor types. This is the first study to assess the relationships between mTOR and clinico-pathological and prognostic parameters in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). METHODS/RESULTS mTOR expression was determined in 103 consecutive operable LSCCs. In the mTOR-positive cases, the loco-regional recurrence rate was higher (p=0.048) and the disease-free survival (DFS) rate shorter (p=0.031) in patients with mTOR expression >50.7%. In the N0 subgroup, the disease recurrence rate was higher (p=0.034) and the DFS shorter (p=0.009) in patients with mTOR expression >50.7%. In mTOR-positive patients, multivariate analysis found that N-stage (p=0.0001) and mTOR status (p=0.042) were independent indicators of a poor prognosis for LSCC. CONCLUSIONS mTOR appeared a significant predictor of DFS in univariate and multivariate models. mTOR expression in LSCC may be useful to detect cases at higher risk of recurrence, and N0 patients at higher risk of early loco-regional recurrence who might benefit from more aggressive therapy. The role of modern mTOR inhibitors in multimodality or multi-target strategies against LSCC warrants investigation.

Mots clés: Medicine

Gino Marioni, Alberto Staffieri, Luciano Giacomelli, Marco Lionello, Vincenza Guzzardo, et al.. MAMMALIAN TARGET OF RAPAMYCIN (mTOR) EXPRESSION AND LARYNGEAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA PROGNOSIS: NOVEL PRELIMINARY EVIDENCE. Histopathology, 2011, 58 (7), pp.1148. ⟨10.1111/j.1365-2559.2011.03864.x⟩. ⟨hal-00655184⟩