Overexpression of Aurora-A promotes laryngeal cancer progression by enhancing invasive ability and chromosomal instability

The purpose of the study was to investigate the expression of Aurora-A in human laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) and to explore the effects of Aurora-A silencing on invasion and chromosomal instability in laryngeal cancer HEp-2 cells. The expression of Aurora-A mRNA and protein were studied using reverse transcription-PCR and Western blot in LSCC tissues and corresponding normal epithelium, respectively. In addition, the correlation between Aurora-A expression and clinicopathologic characteristics was analyzed in LSCC patients. Furthermore, HEp-2 cells were transfected with Aurora-A short hairpin RNA and the effects of knockdown of Aurora-A on tumor invasion and chromosomal instability were investigated. The results showed that expression of Aurora-A mRNA was significantly upregulated in laryngeal tumor tissue compared with that in normal tissue (P = 0.001), and overexpression of Aurora-A was found in 64.0% (16 of 25) of the patients by Western blotting. Upregulation of Aurora-A mRNA was significantly correlated with regional lymph node metastasis (P = 0.007) and clinical stage III/IV (P = 0.022). Overexpression of Aurora-A was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (P = 0.027). Furthermore, disruption of Aurora-A using RNA interference technique suppressed invasive ability and chromosomal instability in HEp-2 cells. In conclusion, Aurora-A expression is elevated in human LSCC and associated with regional lymph node metastasis and late clinical stage. Overexpression of Aurora-A may contribute to LSCC carcinogenesis and progression partially due to enhancement of invasion ability and chromosomal instability.