Biological and clinical significance of p75^NTRexpression in laryngeal squamous epithelia and laryngocarcinoma

Abstract

The expression of p75(NTR) was only located in basal cells of normal laryngeal epithelia, consistent with the staining features of epithelial stem cells as evidenced by parallel staining of p63, a putative keratinocyte stem cell marker. p75(NTR) is differentially expressed in LSCC, although no significant relationship was found with many clinicopathologic factors, this expression and distribution may correlate to malignant transformation and tumor proliferation. Co-expression of p75(NTR) and CD133 was confirmed, showing the association of p75(NTR)-positive cells with cancer stem cells in Hep-2 cells.