Aberrant Expression of Beclin-1 and LC3 Correlates with Poor Prognosis of Human Hypopharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Beclin-1, a key regulator of autophagy. Microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3), is involved in autophagsome formation during autophagy. The autophagic genes beclin-1 and LC3 paly an important role in the development and progression of tumor. This study was designed to investigate the expression of beclin-1 and LC3 and to clarify their clinical significance in hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HSCC).Eighty-two surgical hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma specimens and fifty-four adjacent non-cancerous mucosal epithelial tissues were obtained. Beclin-1 and LC3-II expression was examined by immunohistochemistry, real-time RT-PCR and Western blotting assays. Correlations with patient clinical characteristics and overall survival were evaluated.=0.0145, respectively). Multivariate analysis revealed that beclin-1 was an independent prognositic factor for overall survival.Beclin-1 and LC3-II are downregulated in HSCCs and their aberrant expression correlates with poor prognosis of HSCCs