Deregulation of paralogous 13 HOX genes in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Many oncogenic drivers related to the pathogenesis of OSCC have identified, but the discovery of new molecular markers for early detection of this cancer, remains one the main goals of clinical research. HOX genes regulate normal embryonic development, cell differentiation and other critical processes in eukaryotic cell life. Several studies have demonstrated that the deregulation of HOX genes play a significant role in cancer development and progression. In this study, we built a prognostic TMA with 119 OSCC samples, representative of deep and superficial part of the tumour, to investigate, the paralogous 13 HOX proteins expression, correlating them with clinicpathological parameters, outcomes and therapy information. Our results show an aberrant expression of HOX A13 and HOX D13 in OSCC pathogenesis and tumour progression. HOX A13 overexpression is related to an OSCC better prognosis (P=0.029) and better therapy response in patients treated with both radiotherapy and chemotherapy (P=0.015). HOX D13 overexpression is inversely related to an overall survival (P=0.004). These data highlight the potential prognostic role of HOX paralogous group 13 genes in OSCC.