Homotypic Interaction of Stabilin-2 Plays a Critical Role in Lymph Node Metastasis of Tongue Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Lymph node (LN) metastasis of solid types of tumors has important clinical significance and it is therefore critical to identify molecular biomarkers that would enable the selection of patients with LN metastases. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We evaluated the expression of stabilin-2 in primary oral tongue tumors and metastatic LNs using immunohistochemical staining. The correlation between risk factors and nodal metastasis was assessed and disease-free survival was analyzed. RESULTS: Stabilin-2 expression remained a significant predictor of LN metastasis and the factor affecting recurrence in tongue cancer. Most importantly, all metastatic tumors of tongue, lung, stomach and colon cancers stained positive for stabilin-2 and stabilin-2 was expressed strongly in the sinusoidal endothelial cell of metastatic LNs. CONCLUSION: Stabilin-2 can play a critical role in the first entrapping step of LN metastasis through homotypic interaction with the lymphatic endothelium and appears to be a tumor biomarker predicting for LN metastasis in patients with solid tumors.