Human beta-defensin-1 suppresses tumor migration and invasion and is an independent predictor for survival of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients.

• Main Authors: Qi Han, Ruinan Wang, Chongkui Sun, Xin Jin, Dongjuan Liu, Xin Zhao, Lili Wang, Ning Ji, Jing Li, Yu Zhou, Ling Ye, Xinhua Liang, Lu Jiang, Ga Liao, Hongxia Dan, Xin Zeng, Qianming Chen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3962354?pdf=render

BACKGROUND: Human beta-defensin-1 (hBD-1) has recently been considered as a candidate tumor suppressor in renal and prostate cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of hBD-1 in the progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and its potential as diagnostic/prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for OSCC. METHODS: HBD-1 expression in tissues at different stages of oral carcinogenesis, as well as OSCC cell lines was examined. HBD-1 was overexpressed in HSC-3, UM1, SCC-9 and SCC-25 cells and subjected to cell growth, apoptosis, migration and invasion assays. Tissue microarray constructed with tissues from 175 patients was used to examine clinicopathological significance of hBD-1 expression in OSCC. RESULTS: HBD-1 expression decreased from oral precancerous lesions to OSCC and was lower in OSCC with lymph node metastasis than those without metastasis. In vitro, the expression of hBD-1 was related to the invasive potential of OSCC cell lines. Induction of exogenous expression of hBD-1 inhibited migration and invasion of OSCC cells, probably by regulation of RhoA, RhoC and MMP-2; but had no significant effect on proliferation or apoptosis. In a cohort of patients with primary OSCC, cases with no expression of hBD-1 had more chance to be involved in lymph node metastasis. Eventually, the positive expression of hBD-1 was associated with longer survival of patients with OSCC, and multivariate analysis and ROC curve analysis confirmed hBD-1 positivity to be an independent prognostic factor of OSCC, especially OSCC at early stage. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, these data indicated that hBD-1 suppressed tumor migration and invasion of OSCC and was likely to be a prognostic biomarker and a potential target for treatment of OSCC.