抄録
Malignant salivary gland tumors are devasting neoplasm that is associated with a poor prognosis in the head and neck regions. Elevated expression of fibroblast growth factors (FGFs)in malignant salivary gland tumors has implicated the FGF family of mitogens in the initiation and progression of salivary gland-derived tumors. In this study, we demonstrated that human salivary gland tumor undergo parallel changes in FGF receptor (FGFR) expression during their progression from a benign to a malignant phenotype. An FGFR2-(IIIb) expression was abundant in normal human salivary gland-derived epithelial (HSGE) cells and in all benign salivary gland tumors but was not seen in malignant salivary adenocarcinoma cells. On the other hand, FGFR1 and FGFR4 expression was absent in HSGE cells and in all benign salivary gland tumors but was significantly elevated in malignant salivary gland adenocarcinoma cells. These results suggest that differential expression and alternative splicing of FGFRs may be critical in the malignant progression of salivary gland tumors.
