Decreased gene expression of human β-defensin-1 in the development of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity

Defensins and their role in the maintenance of the oral cavity homeostasis – a literature review

“…Meanwhile Joly et al described a significant loss of HBD-1 and HBD-2 expression in the cell lines derived from the oral squamous cell carcinoma together with the decreased response to inducing factors like TNF-α, IFN-γ and IL-1β in comparison to a normal tissue [46]. Very significant limitation in HBD-1 expression in squamous cell carcinoma was also found by Wenghoefer et al, which may indicate the role of this defensin in the malignant transformation of some benign conditions [37,43].…”

“…The increased expression of HBD-3 was also detected in lichen planus and leukoplakia; this observation was especially evident in lichen planus patients [42]. The increased HBD-3 expression in leukoplakia was also described by Wenghoefer et al, who simultaneously observed the significant limitation in the expression of HBD-1 and HBD-2 in diseased tissues in comparison to healthy mucosa specimens [43]. Elevated salivary HNP-1 concentrations compared to healthy volunteers were described in patients with leukoplakia, lichen planus and glossitis related with the iron deficiency anemia [44].…”

Human Defensins: Potential Tools for Clinical Applications

“…A decreased hBD-1 expression has also been reported in oral squamous cell carcinoma [82]. As human defensins are involved in chronic periodontal inflammation as well as the carcinogenesis of oral tumors, it is an interesting new hypothesis that they might act as key-molecules in the inflammation-tumorsequence [7,8,16,[83][84][85][86]. On the one hand DEFB1 encoding for hBD-1 has been identified as a major periodontitis-associated gene [87] with important functions in local host defense.…”

“…On the one hand DEFB1 encoding for hBD-1 has been identified as a major periodontitis-associated gene [87] with important functions in local host defense. On the other, hBD-1 was found to be an important factor in proliferation control of oral cancers [7,8,16,83,85]. In regulating proliferation in oral squamous cell carcinoma cells, hBD-1 inhibits proliferation as a tumorsuppressor [80][81][82][83] whereas hBD-3 promotes proliferation as a potential protooncogene [83,84] (Figure 4).…”

Role of Defensins in Oral Diseases: An Overview

“…The loss of its function might contribute to the malignant progression of these tumors. 15 Recently HBD3 has been found to have role in the progression of oral cancer. Premalignant cells in carcinoma in situ lesions overexpress HBD3, but not HBD1 and HBD2, correlate with specific recruitment and infiltration of macrophages.…”