High expression of CXCR2 is associated with tumorigenesis, progression, and prognosis of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

The laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is one of the most common cancers threatening people’s life. CXC-chemokine receptor type 2 (CXCR2) was reported to play critical roles in angiogenesis, tumorigenesis, and metastasis of several cancers such as colon cancer, melanoma, lung cancer, and so on. However, the expression of CXCR2 in LSCC and its association with clinical characters of LSCC remain unclear. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR and immunohistochemistry were used, respectively, to analyze the mRNA level and protein level of CXCR2 in 109 cases of LSCC tissues and 28 cases of tumor-adjacent normal tissues. The expression of CXCR2 in LSCC was significantly higher than that in tumor-adjacent tissues. Moreover, the expression level of CXCR2 protein in LSCC was significantly related to lymph node metastasis (P = .022), histopathological grade (P = .038), and 5 years’ survival (P = .007). Cox regression analysis revealed that CXCR2 expression (P = .031), as well as lymphatic metastasis (P = .026) and TNM classification (P = .042), is an independent prognostic marker of LSCC. High expression of CXCR2 is also associated with short survival of LSCC patients. Our data indicate that the expression of CXCR2 is associated with the development and progression of LSCC. CXCR2 expression may serve as an independent prognostic marker for LSCC patients.