Background: We aimed at identifying molecular markers predictive of clinical outcome in patients with head and neck cancer based on the expression profile of cells showing epithelial-like (EL) or mesenchymal-like (ML) phenotypes.
Materials and methods: We analyzed the association between EL and ML cells and migration, drug resistance, or tumor growth. The differential gene expression profile between cell types was used to build a model to stratify patients according to survival.
Results: EL cells were sensitive to cisplatin and cetuximab, showed low migration, and generated squamous differentiated tumors in mouse. A differential 93-gene expression signature between ML and EL cells was used to build a three-gene (EFS, GPX2, and SPRR1A) survival model by analyzing the RNA-seq data of the TCGA-HNSC project. Its prognostic value was confirmed in two independent cohorts.
Conclusion: EFS, GPX2, and SPRR1A are prognostic markers able to distinguish clinical outcome among subtypes sharing an EL phenotype.
Keywords: EFS; GPX2; SPRR1A; epithelial-like; gene-expression profile; head and neck cancer; mesenchymal-like; prognosis; survival.
© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.