Dermatopontin: A potential predictor for metastasis of human oral cancer
International Journal of Cancer, 04/27/2012  Clinical Article

Yamotoji M et al. – The data provided strong evidence that downregulation of DPT is a characteristic event in OSCCs and that DPT was correlated with cellular adhesion and invasiveness. Therefore, DPT might play an important role in regulating tumor invasion and metastasis.

• We evaluated DPT expression in human oral cancer and its possible roles including cellular adhesion and invasiveness.
• We first investigated the DPT mRNA and protein expression status in human oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)-derived cells.
• Real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and immunoblotting analysis detected frequent downregulation of DPT in OSCC-derived cells compared to human normal oral keratinocytes.
• To assess the epigenetic regulation of DPT, OSCC-derived cells were treated with a histone deacetylase inhibitor, sodium butyrate (NaB). NaB restored the DPT expression in OSCC-derived cells.
• DPT-overexpressed cells were examined whether DPT could contribute to cellular adhesion and invasiveness.

• Markedly, increased adhesion and decreased invasiveness in DPT-overexpressed cells were found compared to mock-transfected cells.
• Adhesion of DPT-overexpressed cells was inhibited by ?3?1 integrin functional blocking antibody.
• OSCC-derived cells treated with NaB also decreased invasiveness.
• The expression status of DPT in primary OSCCs (n = 97) was analyzed and compared to clinicopathological behavior.
• DPT expression in primary OSCCs was significantly lower (p < 0.05) than in the normal counterparts and was correlated significantly (p < 0.05) with regional lymph node metastasis.