Potential therapeutic target and independent prognostic marker of TROP2 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND The human trophoblastic cell surface antigen 2 (TROP2) gene is associated with the development of malignancies, but its expression in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and its relationship with clinical characteristics of the disease remain undetermined. METHODS Expression of TROP2 protein was detected by immunohistochemistry with a self-made anti-TROP2 antibody in laryngeal SCC tissue microarrays. RESULTS Elevated expression of TROP2 was detected in laryngeal SCC tissues compared with adjacent noncancerous tissues. TROP2 expression in laryngeal SCC was related to tumor differentiation (p = .0001) and lymph node metastasis (p = .0352). Cox regression analyses confirmed that TROP2 expression (p = .015), lymph node metastasis (p = .001), degree of differentiation (p = .002), tumor site (p = .021), and T classification (p = .003) were independent prognostic factors. CONCLUSIONS TROP2 can be used as an independent prognostic indicator for laryngeal SCC.