Subscribe to RSS
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1728932
Trop-2 protein is highly expressed in salivary gland cancers and represents a therapeutic target
Objectives Treatment options for unresectable, recurrent or metastatic salivary gland cancers (SGC) are scarce. Trophoblast cell surface antigen 2 (Trop-2) is involved in tumorigenesis and its potential as a target for the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan has already been demonstrated in a number of different tumor entities. In metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, the United States Food and Drug Administration has already approved this antibody drug conjugate. Here, we aimed to investigate the role of Trop-2 in SGC.
Materials and methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients that underwent surgery for a primary SGC in a tertiary referral center between 1990 and 2014. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for Trop-2 was performed. Additionally, cases were analyzed by MALDI-mass spectrometry (MS) imaging to confirm the IHC results.
Results The cohort consisted of 114 tumors of the parotid gland (90.4%) and submandibular gland (9.6%). It mainly included mucoepidermoid carcinomas, salivary duct carcinomas and adenoid cystic carcinomas. 43.9% showed a high, 37.7% a moderate and 9.6% a low expression of Trop-2 (91.2% Trop-2 positive SGCs in total) with a highly homogenous pattern in all tumors. MALDI-MS imaging confirmed the presence of Trop-2 in all tested tumor samples.
Conclusion This is the first study to determine the protein expression of Trop-2 in SGC using different techniques. The homogeneous and highly positive expression of Trop-2 in SGC makes it an interesting biomarker and promising target for therapy e.g. with sacituzumab govitecan in future clinical studies for tumors with otherwise limited treatment options.
Poster-PDF A-1688.pdf
Publication History
Article published online:
13 May 2021
© 2021. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany