ZNF-281 as the Potential Diagnostic Marker of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Zinc-finger-281’s (ZNF-281’s) influence on carcinogenesis, progression and metastasis (through epithelial–mesenchymal transition induction) and its association with poor prognosis have been reported in many cancers. However, while reviewing the literature, there has been no mention of ZNF-281’s activity in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). In this pilot study, we analyzed ZNF-281′s expression and the impact of various clinical factors on its levels in OSCC patients. We aimed to verify whether ZNF-281 could potentially become a marker that will enable early OSCC diagnosis and help in assessing its prognostic value, specifically in terms of overall survival. Our findings show that the ZNF-281 H-score and mRNA expression were significantly decreased in OSCC when compared to healthy tissue, proving that ZNF-281 could become an OSCC-specific marker. ZNF-281’s role in OSCC should be further investigated as it is a promising candidate for an OSCC marker. ABSTRACT: ZNF-281 is a zinc finger factor which can lead to cancer progression and metastasis. Its up-regulation reported in many cancers was correlated with metastasis and worsened patients’ prognosis. This is the first study describing ZNF-281 in the context of OSCC. Oral tissue samples drawn from 66 OSCC patients and 36 control patients were collected to determine protein (using immunochemistry and the semi-quantitative H-score method) and mRNA expression levels (using the RT-qPCR reaction). Our aim was to assess the ZNF-281 expression level in OSCC and the control group. Moreover, we determined the impact of ZNF-281 on survival parameters and the association of diversified clinical parameters with ZNF-281 expression. Clinical factors such as grade, AJCC stage and radiotherapy have an impact on the ZNF-281 H-score level, whereas AJCC stage and grade have an influence on ZNF-281 mRNA expression. Our survival analysis indicated that the impact on overall survival is not statistically significant, and the prognostic potential of ZNF-281 is rather limited. Our findings show that both levels of the ZNF-281 H-score and mRNA are decreased in OSCC in comparison to normal tissue. Moreover, we estimated that the H-score can differentiate normal tissue from OSCC with a sensitivity of 97% and specificity of 93.7%.