ABSTRACT
Salivary gland aquaporins (AQPs) are essential for the control of saliva production and maintenance of glandular structure. However, little is known of their role in salivary gland neoplasia. Salivary gland tumors comprise a heterogeneous group of lesions, featuring variable histological characteristics and diverse clinical behaviors. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) is the most common salivary gland malignancy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of AQP1, AQP3, and AQP5 in 24 MEC samples by immunohistochemistry. AQP1 expression was observed in vascular endothelium throughout the tumor stroma. AQP3 was expressed in epidermoid and mucosal cells and AQP5 was expressed in mucosal cells of MEC. These proteins were expressed in the human MEC cell line UH-HMC-3A. Cellular ultrastructural aspects were analyzed by electron microscopy to certificate the tumor cell phenotype. In summary, our results show that, despite the fact that these molecules are important for salivary gland physiology, they may not play a distinct role in tumorigenesis in MEC. Additionally, the in vitro model may offer new possibilities to further investigate mechanisms of these molecules in tumor biology and their real significance in prognosis and possible target therapies.
Subject(s)
Aquaporin 1/metabolism , Aquaporin 3/metabolism , Aquaporin 5/metabolism , Carcinoma, Mucoepidermoid/pathology , Salivary Gland Neoplasms/pathology , Adult , Carcinoma, Mucoepidermoid/metabolism , Carcinoma, Mucoepidermoid/mortality , Cell Line, Tumor , Epithelial Cells/pathology , Epithelial Cells/ultrastructure , Female , Humans , Immunohistochemistry , Male , Microscopy, Electron , Middle Aged , Phenotype , Pilot Projects , Salivary Gland Neoplasms/metabolism , Salivary Gland Neoplasms/mortality , Survival RateABSTRACT
Proteomic techniques have become popular in medicine and dentistry because of their widespread use in analyzing bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, urine, and gingival crevicular fluids as well as hard tissues such as enamel, dentine, and cementum. This review is a guide to proteomic techniques in general dentistry, summarizing techniques and their clinical application in understanding and diagnosing diseases and their use in identifying biomarkers of various diseases.
Subject(s)
Proteome , Proteomics/methods , Saliva/chemistry , Salivary Proteins and Peptides/chemistry , Biomarkers/chemistry , Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel/methods , Humans , Mass Spectrometry/methods , Mouth Neoplasms/diagnosis , Sjogren's Syndrome/diagnosisABSTRACT
Graft versus host disease (GVHD) occurs after bone marrow transplantation and is one of the most important causes of death worldwide. Reviews demonstrated GVHD patients with involvement of various tissues and organs, such as salivary glands. The diagnosis of acute GVHD has been the biopsies and the histopathologic evaluation of tissue from an involved organ. These procedures are invasive. Saliva proteins as possible biomarker for GVHD could facilitate the management and diagnosis accuracy. For support the proposed hypotheses, in this pilot study we collected whole saliva samples from patients with undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and from healthy subjects. Samples were collected prospectively between pre-transplant, thirty days, one hundred and, two hundred days after transplant. The proteomic profile was analyzed using SDS-PAGE and LCMS-ESI-IT-TOF mass spectrometry. The relevant personal data, past medical history were also recorded. The most relevant proteins found exclusively in GVHD patients were: CSF2RB, Protocadherin (Pcdh) Fat 2 precursor, protein capicua homolog isoform CIC-S, MUC16 and RGPD8_HUMAN RANBP2. This study aims to conduct an initial evaluation of the possible presence of such biomarkers in saliva from GVHD patients, and suggested a potential application of proteomics analysis as a alternative method to diagnose GVHD.
