The
annexin protein superfamily has been implicated in multiple physiological and
pathological processes, including
carcinogenesis. Altered expression of various
annexins has frequently been observed and linked to the development and progression of various human
malignancies. However, information is lacking on the expression and clinical significance of
annexin A9 (ANXA9) and
A10 (ANXA10) in
head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (
HNSCC). ANXA9 and ANXA10 expression was evaluated in a large cohort of 372 surgically treated HPV-negative
HNSCC patients and correlated with the clinicopathologic parameters and disease outcomes. Down-regulation of ANXA9 expression was found in 42% of
HNSCC tissue samples, compared to normal epithelia. ANXA9 expression in
tumors was significantly associated with oropharyngeal location and histological differentiation grade (P < 0.001). In marked contrast, ANXA10 expression was absent in normal epithelium, but variably detected in the cytoplasm of
cancer cells. Positive ANXA10 expression was found in 64% of
tumors, and was significantly associated with differentiation grade (P < 0.001), being also more frequent in oropharyngeal
tumors (P = 0.019). These results reveal that the expression of both ANXA9 and ANXA10 is frequently altered in
HNSCC and associated to the
tumor differentiation grade, suggesting that they could be implicated in the pathogenesis of these
cancers.