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. 2020 Jul-Aug;34(4):1805-1809.
doi: 10.21873/invivo.11975.

Increased Expression of p-GSK3β Predicts Poor Survival in T -III/IV Stage OSCC Patients

Bharath Kumar Velmurugan #  1 , Chun-Wen Chiu #  2 , Yueh-Min Lin  3   4   5 , Mahalakshmi Bharath  6 , Chung-Min Yeh  3   7 , Yu-En Chen  3 , Chia-Min Chung  8   9 , Shu-Hui Lin  10   5
Affiliations

Increased Expression of p-GSK3β Predicts Poor Survival in T -III/IV Stage OSCC Patients

Bharath Kumar Velmurugan et al. In Vivo. 2020 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Background/aim: Glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3-β) acts either as a tumor suppressor or an oncogene in various human cancers. The present study aimed to investigate the expression and activity of p-GSK3-β (Ser9) in oral cancer patients.

Materials and methods: We investigated the levels of p-GSK3β in 152 oral cancer tissues by immunohistochemistry, and explored their prognostic impact.

Results: To investigate the role of p-GSK3β (Ser9) in OSCC progression, we first analyzed the expression levels of protein p-GSK3β in normal and oral cancer tissues using immunohistochemical staining. p-GSK3β immunostaining was detected in 32 of 152 (21.1%) oral cancer specimens. High p-GSK3β expression was significantly associated with T (III/IV) stage. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that high levels of p-GSK3β were correlated with poor survival (p=0.001) in T stage (III/IV) OSCC patients. Multivariate analyses indicated that TN stage, AJCC tumor stage, tumor differentiation status and clinical therapy, but not p-GSK3β levels, were independent prognostic factors. Significant mortality risk was found in T stage (III/IV) oral cancer patients with high levels of p-GSK3β (p=0.0006).

Conclusion: GSK3β inactivation is a key event in oral cancer patients and targeting GSK3β might be valuable in treating oral cancer patients.

Keywords: AJCC; IHC; OSCC; T stage; pGSK3β; prognostic factors; survival.

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Conflict of interest statement

The Authors have no conflicts of interest to declare regarding this study. This study was funded by Changhua Christian Hospital (108-CCH-IRP-044).

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. p-GSK3β protein levels in OSCC samples. (A) Immunohistochemical analysis of p-GSK3β levels in non-tumor and tumor tissues. (B) Overall survival of T-III/IV stage oral cancer patients with high or low levels of p-GSK3β was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier log-rank test
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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