Stathmin as a surrogate marker of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase pathway activity: Towards precision medicine in HPV-negative head & neck squamous cell carcinoma

Andrew T Turk; Dario Garcia-Carracedo; David T Kent; Elizabeth Philipone; Juana Maria Garcia-Pedrero; Salvatore M Caruana; Lanny G Close; Gloria H Su

doi:10.1016/j.gendis.2020.12.002

Stathmin as a surrogate marker of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase pathway activity: Towards precision medicine in HPV-negative head & neck squamous cell carcinoma

Genes Dis. 2020 Dec 13;9(3):820-825. doi: 10.1016/j.gendis.2020.12.002. eCollection 2022 May.

Authors

Andrew T Turk¹, Dario Garcia-Carracedo², David T Kent³, Elizabeth Philipone¹, Juana Maria Garcia-Pedrero⁴, Salvatore M Caruana², Lanny G Close², Gloria H Su²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, and Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
² Department of Otolaryngology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
³ Department of Otolaryngology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
⁴ Department of Otolaryngology, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias and Instituto Universitario de Oncología Del Principado de Asturias, Oviedo 33006, Spain.

Abstract

In order to assess Stathmin as an immunohistochemical (IHC) indicator of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway activity in HPV-negative head & neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), we compared Stathmin IHC to expression of other pathway components. We also evaluated the relationship between Stathmin IHC and the mutational status of four key pathway genes. Finally, we ascertained whether Stathmin IHC correlates with tumor grade or primary site. Correlation exists between high Stathmin expression and high pAKT1 expression, indicating a role for Stathmin IHC as a marker of pathway activity. Our analysis did not show correlation between Stathmin IHC and mutation of the four genes evaluated. We also observed an association between high Stathmin expression and oropharyngeal primary site. Our results suggest utility of Stathmin IHC as an indicator of PI3K pathway activity, and thereby demonstrate potential relevance of Stathmin IHC in the context of HNSCC.

Keywords: Cancer; Head & neck squamous cell carcinoma; Pathology; Stathmin.