EGOT lncRNA in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas

• Main Authors: Tomasz Kolenda, Magdalena Kopczyńska, Kacper Guglas, Anna Teresiak, Renata Bliźniak, Izabela Łasińska, Jacek Mackiewicz, Katarzyna Lamperska
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Termedia Publishing House 2019-01-01
• Series: Polish Journal of Pathology
• Subjects: eosinophil granule ontogeny transcript; lncRNA; head and neck cancers; biomarker
• Online Access: https://www.termedia.pl/EGOT-lncRNA-in-head-and-neck-squamous-cell-carcinomas,55,34931,1,1.html

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are one of the most challenging cancers to cure. In this study, we focused on eosinophil granule ontogeny transcript (EGOT), a transcriptional regulator of granule protein expression during eosinophil development that has been previously associated with cancers. Expression levels of EGOT and other selected genes as well as clinical pathology data from HNSCC samples, were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and analysed using GraphPad Prism 5. Our results indicated that the expression of EGOT is slightly down-regulated in HNSCC, depending on tumour grade and location, and is only up-regulated in grade 4 tumours and those located in the pharynx. EGOT expression levels were found to vary according to age, N-stage, grade, lymph node dissection and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Patients with higher levels of EGOT expression have longer disease-free survival and overall survival outcomes. Further analysis revealed that EGOT targets are associated with cell division, proliferation, protein modification, drug response and cell motility. Taken together, our findings suggest that the EGOT is involved in the progression of HSNCC and seems particularly associated with virus-related forms of HNSCC.