Inducible nitric oxide synthase: Correlation with extracapsular spread and enhancement of tumor cell invasion in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

iNOS protein seems to be associated with extracapsular spread and invasion in head and neck cancer. Further studies are required to understand this role more fully.

Inclusion of Extracapsular Spread in the pTNM Classification System

“…10 In multivariate analyses performed in large series of patients, the presence of nodes with ECS was an important prognostic factor in relation to regional failure, appearance of distant metastases, and adjusted survival.…”

Inducible nitric oxide synthase expression correlates with angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis, and poor prognosis in gastric cancer patients

“…iNOS expression potentially serves as a global regulator of carcinogenesis and tumor behavior, because NO modulates some signal transduction pathways in cancer cells via posttranslational protein modification. iNOS is constitutively overexpressed in many cancers, including hepatoma, breast cancer, colon cancer, head and neck carcinomas, and melanoma [10,[26][27][28][29]. Increased iNOS activity has also been seen in patients with chronic gastritis, precancerous lesions, and gastric adenocarcinoma [30].…”

Increased NOS2 predicts poor survival in estrogen receptor–negative breast cancer patients

“…In addition, mammary tumor latency is increased in NOS2-knockout mice (43). Aberrant expression of NOS2 has been observed in human breast (12,13), colon (14,15), stomach (44,45), non-small cell lung (23), esophageal (46), and squamous cell head and neck cancer (47). In the two breast cancer studies, increased NOS2 correlated with tumor grade (12) and tumor angiogenesis and p53 protein accumulation (13).…”