Immunohistochemical expression of NF2/Merlin and LATS1 in laryngeal carcinoma

Introduction:

The Hippo signaling pathway has a significant role in tissue growth and homeostasis. Its perturbation is associated with carcinogenesis. The Hippo pathway consists of a kinase cascade wherein MST1/2 phosphorylate and activate LATS1/2, which in turn phosphorylate and inactivate oncoproteins YAP and TAZ. NF2/Merlin is an upstream regulator that can directly interact with LATS1 and facilitate its phosphorylation. The present study investigates their role in laryngeal carcinoma. Patients and methods: We examined the expression of NF2/Merlin and LATS1 proteins in tissue samples from 73 patients with laryngeal carcinoma using immunohistochemistry. Chi-squared Test was performed in order to examine correlations with clinicopathological data.

Results:

The immunohistochemical expression of both proteins was significantly higher in laryngeal cancer in comparison to normal tissue. High nuclear expression of NF2/Merlin correlated significantly with early stage tumors (p = 0,001), while its high cytoplasmic expression correlated with low grade tumors (p = 0,030). LATS1 cytoplasmic expression showed no correlation with tumor stage or grade.

Conclusion:

Our findings suggest the implication of NF2/Merlin and LATS1 in the pathogenesis of laryngeal cancer. Deregulation of their expression has been also described in other neoplasms and is attributed to the disruption of their tumor suppressive role. Furthermore NF2/Merlin expression associated with favorable prognostic factors suggesting a less aggressive phenotype. The investigation of their correlation with the major effectors of the Hippo pathway YAP/TAZ would further clarify their role of NF2/Merlin and LATS1 in laryngeal cancer.

Publication History

Publication Date:
23 April 2019 (online)