Expression of aldo-keto reductase AKR1C3 in oral squamous cell carcinoma tis-sues and its relationship with prognosis
10.13315/j.cnki.cjcep.2025.09.013
- VernacularTitle:口腔鳞状细胞癌组织中醛酮还原酶AKR1C3的表达及与预后的关系
- Author:
Ting ZHOU
1
;
Xiaoxin ZHANG
;
Lei ZHANG
;
Wanyong JIN
;
Yanhong NI
;
Qingang HU
Author Information
1. 南京大学医学院附属口腔医院/南京市口腔医院/南京大学口腔医学研究所口腔颌面外科,南京 210008
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
oral squamous cell carcinomas;
AKR1C3;
clinicopathological characteristics;
prognosis
- From:
Chinese Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology
2025;41(9):1200-1205
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Purpose To analyse the expression of aldo-keto reductase AKR1C3 in the tumour tissues of oral squa-mous carcinoma(OSCC)and the correlation of clinical prognosis of patients.Methods Immunohistochemical(IHC)staining was performed to analyze the expression characteristics of AKR1C3 in 86 cases of OSCC tumor tissues and paired paratumor normal tissue.The correlation between AKR1C3 expression and clinical prognosis was evaluated.Ka-plan-Meier survival analysis was conducted to assess the survival outcomes of OSCC patients.Univariate and multivari-ate Cox regression analyses were employed to identify prognostic factors.The findings were further validated by compar-ison with the Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)database.Results The expression of AKR1C3 was significantly higher in OSCC tumor tissues than in paratumor normal tissue,with higher expression observed at the invasive front relative to the tumor centers.Immunohistochemical analysis revealed high expression in both tumor cells and tumor-associated fibro-blasts,while no expression was detected in tumor-infiltrating immunocytes.The x2 test was used to compare the rela-tionship between different expression levels of AKR1C3 and clinicopathological features in OSCC,the results showed that high expression of AKR1C3 was strongly associated with higher tumour stage(P=0.001),lymph node metastasis(P=0.023),differentiation(P=0.018),worst pattern of invasion(P=0.024)and depth of invasion(P=0.012).Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed high expression of AKR1C3 was associated with overall survival(P=0.004),disease-free survival(P=0.019),and metastasis-free survival(P=0.05)in OSCC patients.Cox re-gression model was performed for prognostic analysis.Univariate analysis showed that high expression of AKR1C3 in tumour cells was a high-risk factor for patients' tumour stage(P<0.001),lymph node metastasis(P<0.001),dif-ferentiation(P<0.001),worst pattern of invasion(P<0.001),depth of invasion(P<0.001).Multivariate analy-sis further showed that high expression of AKR1C3 in tumour cells was an independent prognostic factor in OSCC pa-tients(P=0.025).Conclusion The AKR1C3 expression is closely related to the prognosis of OSCC patients,and patients with high AKR1C3 expression have a poor prognosis,suggesting that AKR1C3 plays an important role in the occurrence and development of OSCC.