Proteomic Study of HPV-Positive Head and Neck Cancers : Preliminary Results

Abstract EN

Human papillomavirus (HPV) was recently recognized as a new risk factor for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

For oropharyngeal cancers, an HPV+ status is associated with better prognosis in a subgroup of nonsmokers and nondrinkers.

However, HPV infection is also involved in the biology of head and neck carcinoma (HNC) in patients with a history of tobacco use and/or alcohol consumption.

Thus, the involvement of HPV infection in HN carcinogenesis remains unclear, and further studies are needed to identify and analyze HPV-specific pathways that are involved in this process.

Using a quantitative proteomics-based approach, we compared the protein expression profiles of two HPV+ HNC cell lines and one HPV− HNC cell line.

We identified 155 proteins that are differentially expressed (P<0.01) in these three lines.

Among the identified proteins, prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) was upregulated and eukaryotic elongation factor 1 alpha (EEF1α) was downregulated in the HPV+ cell lines.

Immunofluorescence and western blotting analyses confirmed these results.

Moreover, PSCA and EEF1α were differentially expressed in two clinical series of 50 HPV+ and 50 HPV− oral cavity carcinomas.

Thus, our study reveals for the first time that PSCA and EEF1α are associated with the HPV-status, suggesting that these proteins could be involved in HPV-associated carcinogenesis.