Expression of CK19 is an independent predictor of negative outcome for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue

// Jutta Ernst 1, * , Kristian Ikenberg 2, * , Barbara Apel 2 , Desiree M. Schumann 1 , Gerhard Huber 3 , Gabriela Studer 4 , Tamara Rordorf 5 , Oliver Riesterer 4 , Matthias Rossle 6 , Dimitri Korol 7 , Marius G. Bredell 1 1 Department of Cranio-, Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 2 Department of Pathology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 3 Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 4 Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 5 Department of Oncology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 6 Department of Pathology, Cantonal Hospital Chur, Chur, Switzerland 7 Cancer Registry Zurich and Zug, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Marius G. Bredell, email: marius.bredell@usz.ch Keywords: tongue cancer, cytokeratin 19 (CK19), Ki-67, head and neck cancer (HNC) Received: May 04, 2016      Accepted: September 12, 2016      Published: October 15, 2016 ABSTRACT Objectives: To explore the prognostic role of CK19 expression in squamous cell carcinomas within a well-defined cohort of oral tongue cancer patients. Methods: In our retrospective study, we investigated 129 patients with tongue cancer that had suitable material for inclusion in a tissue microarray (TMA). Where possible, samples were taken from central and peripheral regions of the tumor to generate a representative sample of the tumor. The expression level of CK19 was assessed by immunohistochemical staining. Results: Expression of CK19 in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue was identified as a negative predictor for overall survival (OS; p<0.000) and disease specific survival (DSS; p=0.001). No significant difference could be shown for disease free survival (DFS) between patients with positive and negative CK19 staining (p=.094). Conclusion: This is the first description of the highly significant role of CK19 in a selective, organ specific head and neck cancer cohort. Our results are of special importance against the background that CK19 positive carcinomas revealed a significantly poorer prognosis and therefore emphasize its prognostic and possible diagnostic role in tongue cancer.