Antigen peptide transporters are upregulated in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue and show sex‑specific associations with survival

Attaran,Nima; Coates,Philip J.; Zborayova,Katarina; Erdogan,Baris; Magan,Mustafa; Sgaramella,Nicola; Nylander,Karin; Gu,Xiaolian

doi:10.3892/ol.2022.13510

Antigen peptide transporters are upregulated in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue and show sex‑specific associations with survival

Authors:
- Nima Attaran
- Philip J. Coates
- Katarina Zborayova
- Baris Erdogan
- Mustafa Magan
- Nicola Sgaramella
- Karin Nylander
- Xiaolian Gu
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Affiliations: Department of Medical Biosciences/Pathology, Umeå University, Umeå 901 87, Sweden, Regional Centre for Applied Molecular Oncology, Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute, Brno 656 53, Czech Republic, Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases, Umeå University, Umeå 901 87, Sweden
Published online on: September 21, 2022 https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2022.13510
Article Number: 390
Copyright: © Attaran et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Transporter associated with antigen processing 1 (TAP1) and TAP2 serve pivotal roles in adaptive immunity. Tumor cells often show reduced antigen presentation on their surface as one mechanism to escape immune recognition. Whether downregulation of TAPs is a common mechanism of tumor immune evasion in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue (SCCOT) is unclear. In the present study, samples from 78 patients with SCCOT and 17 patients with benign hyperplastic tongue lesions were analyzed for TAP1 and TAP2 expression by immunohistochemistry. The percentage of positive cells and staining intensity were scored. Associations with clinicopathological variables and survival outcome were also investigated. The results demonstrated that TAP1 and TAP2 levels were highly associated with each other in individual samples and were upregulated in SCCOT compared with benign lesions (P<0.001). The proportion of TAP1‑ or TAP2‑positive tumor cells was >80% in all but two of the tumors, whereas 25.6 and 23.0% of the tumors showed weak intensity of TAP1 and TAP2, respectively. There were no significant associations with clinicopathological variables or survival outcomes between TAP‑intermediate/strong and TAP‑weak tumors. However, in patients <70 years old and with early stage SCCOT, male patients had better outcomes than female patients (log‑rank P<0.05), and the best outcome was observed in male patients with intermediate/strong TAP expression. In conclusion, loss of TAP was not a frequent event in SCCOT and stronger TAP expression in male patients was associated with improved survival, providing further evidence for sex‑specific immune modulation in cancer.

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