Protein Linked With HPV-Positive Head and Neck Cancer May Lead to More Effective Therapies for the Disease
Scientists investigating the molecular mechanism of the protein p16 in cisplatin-treated head and neck cancer cells have found that the drug is able to kill the malignant cells by interacting with the protein gigaxonin. Although p16 is commonly produced in human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive cancers, especially cervical cancers, over the past several years there has been an increase in p16-positive HPV-related head and neck cancers. These cancers often affect nonsmoking younger adults who previously were not considered to be at high risk for head and neck cancer.
The discovery may lead to an enhanced form of personalized targeted therapy for patients with head and neck cancer, reducing the harmful side effects of chemotherapy and radiation. The study by Veena et al is published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Study Methodology and Findings
The researchers analyzed 103 archival tumor samples from patients with head and neck cancer to identify the relationship between p16 nuclear expression and cancer-free survival. They found that patients with cancers with p16 expression had better survival rates than those without p16 expression, indicating the importance of nuclear p16 expression in prognosis.
The researchers also found that the p16 expression is associated with reduced cytokine expression and the presence of HPV in chemoradiation-sensitive basaloid tumors. However, absence of p16 expression is associated with enhanced cytokine expression and absence of HPV in aggressive tumors, according to the study abstract. “Nuclear expression of p16 and gigaxonin are useful markers of cancer cell chemosensitivity,” concluded the researchers.
“This discovery opens new possibilities in the diagnosis and treatmet of HPV-positive head and neck cancers,” said Eri Srivatsan, PhD, Professor in the Department of Surgery at UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and a coauthor of the study, in a statement.
The content in this post has not been reviewed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) and does not necessarily reflect the ideas and opinions of ASCO®.
