A novel prognostic score model incorporating CDGSH iron sulfur domain2 (CISD2) predicts risk of disease progression in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

// Lin Yang 1, 2, 3, * , Shaodong Hong 1, 2, 3, * , Yan Wang 1, 2, 3, * , Zhenyu He 1, 2, 3 , Shaobo Liang 4 , Haiyang Chen 5 , Shasha He 1, 2, 3 , Shu Wu 1, 2, 3 , Libing Song 1, 2, 3 , Yong Chen 1, 2, 3 1 Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou 510060, China 2 State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Guangzhou 510060, China 3 Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China 4 The First Hospital of Foshan, Foshan 528000, China 5 The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Yong Chen, e-mail: chenyong@sysucc.org.cn Keywords: CDGSH iron sulfur domain2 (CISD2), laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), progression free survival (PFS), biomarker Received: October 09, 2015 Accepted: February 23, 2016 Published: March 17, 2016 ABSTRACT Background: The role of CDGSH iron sulfur domain 2 (CISD2) in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) remains unclear. Results: CISD2 were up-regulated in LSCC tissues compared with adjacent noncancerous tissues both at mRNA and protein levels. CISD2 was significantly correlated with T stage, lymph node metastasis, clinical stage and disease progression. A prognostic model (C-N model) for PFS was subsequently constructed based on independent prognostic factors including CISD2 and N classification. This model significantly divided LSCC patients into three risk subgroups and was more accurate than the prediction efficacy of TNM classification in the training cohort (C-index, 0.710 vs 0.602, P = 0.027) and validation cohort (C-index, 0.719 vs 0.578, P = 0.014). Methods: Real-time PCR and Western blotting were employed to examine the expression of CISD2 in eight fresh paired LSCC samples. Immunohistochemistry was performed to assess CISD2 expression in 490 paraffin-embedded archived LSCC samples. A prognostic model for progression-free survival (PFS) was built using independent factors. The concordance index (C-Index) was used to evaluate the prognostic ability of the model. Conclusions: CISD2 was up-regulated in LSCC. The novel C-N model, which includes CISD2 levels and N classification, is more accurate than conventional TNM classification for predicting PFS in LSCC.