A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
LIMA1-alpha staining predicts curative intent surgery response in HPV negative head and neck cancer
Authors: Qiao, Xi; Routila, Johannes; Tienhaara, Mari; Irjala, Heikki; Santhi, Priyadharshini Parimelazhagan; Huusko, Teemu; Nissi, Linda; Paatero, Ilkka; Lehtinen, Noora; Rantala, Juha; Viljanen, Toni; Leivo, Ilmo; Koivunen, Petri; Jouppila-Matto, Anna; Taulu, Rami; Back, Leif; Wilkman, Tommy; Haapio, Eeva; Kinnunen, Ilpo; Kurppa, Kari; Westermarck, Jukka; Ventelä, Sami
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publishing place: LONDON
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Embo molecular medicine
Journal name in source: EMBO Molecular Medicine
Journal acronym: EMBO MOL MED
Number of pages: 20
ISSN: 1757-4676
eISSN: 1757-4684
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44321-025-00266-8
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1038/s44321-025-00266-8
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/499271586
In many solid cancer types, surgery alone could be a sufficient first therapy option for a significant number of cancer patients. However, there are currently no diagnostic solutions to identify patients who could be stratified to surgery alone. To identify a biomarker predicting cancer surgery response, candidate biomarkers were studied in a non-metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (nmHNSCC) cohort well representative of the HPV-negative patient population. LIMA1 immunohistochemistry (IHC) with specificity-validated antibodies outperformed all other biomarkers in multivariable survival analyses of patients with nmHNSCC (n = 128, HR 2.10, P = 0.006). The prognostic effect was selective to LIMA1-alpha isoform IHC detection in patients who had received surgical therapy (n = 184, HR 2.39, P > 0.001). Strikingly, our real-world validation results, using two prospectively collected cohorts (n = 15 and n = 86), demonstrate that none of the LIMA1 negative patients died of HNSCC during the follow-up. Collectively, we report here the discovery of a diagnostic LIMA1-alpha IHC assay for HPV-negative HNSCC patient stratification to surgery-only therapy. Application of LIMA1 detection in routine nmHNSCC diagnostics would revolutionize the clinical management of HNSCC patients.
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Funding information in the publication:
The authors thank the Auria Biobank for their kind collaboration in preparing the TMA. The authors acknowledge the Turku Bioscience Centre Zebrafish core facility funded by Biocenter Finland. The histological methods were performed by the Histology core facility of the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Finland. The authors acknowledge Professor Carlos Caldas for informative discussions about biomarker study criteria and Professor Johanna Ivaska for sharing their results related to LIMA1 in breast cancer. This research was funded by the Finnish Medical Foundation, the Finnish ORL-HNS Research Foundation, Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation (JW and SV), State Research Funding, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Academy of Finland (Decision number: 354599) and Business Finland Research to Business Funding (Diary number: 1278/31/2021). Research Council of Finland's Flagship InFlames (Decision numbers: 337530 and 357910).
