Marked epithelial to mesenchymal transition in surgical margins of oral cancer‑an in vitro study

Lazarevic,Milos; Milosevic,Maja; Jelovac,Drago; Milenkovic,Sanja; Tepavcevic,Zvezdana; Baldan,Federica; Suboticki,Tijana; Toljic,Bosko; Trisic,Dijana; Dragovic,Miroslav; Damante,Giuseppe; Milasin,Jelena

doi:10.3892/ol.2020.11494

Marked epithelial to mesenchymal transition in surgical margins of oral cancer‑an in vitro study

Authors:
- Milos Lazarevic
- Maja Milosevic
- Drago Jelovac
- Sanja Milenkovic
- Zvezdana Tepavcevic
- Federica Baldan
- Tijana Suboticki
- Bosko Toljic
- Dijana Trisic
- Miroslav Dragovic
- Giuseppe Damante
- Jelena Milasin
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Affiliations: Department of Human Genetics, School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade 11000, Serbia, Clinic for Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade 11000, Serbia, Department of Clinical Pathology, Clinical‑Hospital Center ‘Zemun’, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade 11000, Serbia, Department of Pathology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade 11000, Serbia, Department of Medical Area, University of Udine, I‑33100 Udine, Italy, Department of Molecular Oncology, Institute for Medical Research, University of Belgrade, Belgrade 11000, Serbia
Published online on: March 29, 2020 https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2020.11494
Pages: 3743-3750
Copyright: © Lazarevic et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a feature of several types of human cancer, including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). In the present study, tumor and margin cell cultures obtained from patients with OSCC were used to determine the expression patterns of certain EMT‑associated markers, including vimentin, α‑smooth muscle actin, SLUG and SNAIL. In addition, other EMT‑associated features, including clonal, proliferative and migratory potential were compared between the two cell types. Cell cultures were generated from tumor and margin tissue samples from 6 patients and cultured up to the fifth passage. EMT marker expression was assessed by reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR. Cell proliferation, colony formation and scratch wound healing assays were conducted to characterize the two cell types in terms of proliferation rates, clonality and motility. All of the studied markers were expressed in tumor and margin cells. Although no significant differences were noted with regard to the aforementioned markers, their expression tended to be higher in margin cultures than in tumor cultures. The expressions of the EMT markers were also higher in the fifth passage compared with those noted at the first with a few exceptions. The rates of proliferation and cell migration were decreased during passages, while the number of colonies was increased in both types of cell culture. Tumor and margin cells indicated certain similarities with regard to EMT transition characteristics.

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