Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) may acquire a chemokine-mediated mechanism during the process of metastasis. To investigate the involvement of chemokines in metastasis from ACC, expression of CXCR4 in surgical specimens of ACC and two tumor lines transplantable to nude mice was examined immunohistochemically. In addition, the expression levels of CXCR4 protein and mRNA were examined by Western blotting and reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Our results showed that patients whose tumors expressed high levels of CXCR4 had metastases to the regional lymph nodes and the lung, resulting in poor outcomes. ACCs showing a solid or cribriform pattern with distant metastasis were strongly positive for CXCR4, while those showing a tubular or cribriform pattern without metastasis were weakly positive for CXCR4. In the in vivo model, ACCY tumor showed increasing expression levels of CXCR4 with tumor growth, and the histological pattern changed from cribriform to solid. The histological pattern of ACCI, associated with spontaneous metastasis to the neck, changed from cribriform to undifferentiated carcinoma and was highly metastatic to the lung. This tumor showed high levels of CXCR4 protein and mRNA. These results suggest that CXCR4 expression, histological patterns, and metastatic potential are closely related in ACC.

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