Abstract 5595: Multifaceted role Cornulin in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: From tumor suppressor pathophysiology to prognosticating biomarker
Authors: Kaur Rajandeep , Chauhan Anshika , Ghoshal Sushmita , Bakshi Jaimanti , Srinivasan Radhika , Pal Arnab 
Published: March 2024

Background: In our previous study, based on LC-MS/MS analysis, the salivary Cornulin, a relatively less explored protein, was found to be ~10-fold downregulated in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. However, the exact role of Cornulin in the pathophysiology of HNSCC is not reported. Here, we investigated its role in the pathophysiology of HNSCC and elucidated its potential as a prognostic marker as well as its antitumour effect.

Methods: Sandwich ELISA and immunohistochemistry were performed to estimate the salivary and tissue levels of Cornulin, respectively, in HNSCC patients, along with an analysis of the effects of Cornulin levels on disease outcome. To investigate the antitumor effects ,its levels were upregulated through lentiviral transduction in low expressing Cal27, FaDu cell lines. Subsequently, various assays were conducted to examine the antitumor effects of Cornulin upregulation. The molecular signalling pathway was elucidated by analysing transcriptome. Additionally, the effects of increased Cornulin expression were also evaluated in an in vivo nude mice model.

Results: The pre-treatment salivary Cornulin levels were significantly low (p=0.0001) in HNSCC patients (n=128,146.4±5.589pg/mL) and in oral premalignant disease patients (n=25, 174.6 ± 9.924 pg/mL) with respect to healthy controls (n=84,185.2±7.170pg/mL). Also, the tumor tissue expression of Cornulin (n=113,H-score=12.70±2.396) was significantly downregulated (p&lt;0.0001) compared to the tumor-free margin (n=72,H-score=139.6±10.34). The patients showing complete clinical response regained normal salivary levels within 6 months of completion of treatment (p&lt;0.0001). More importantly, low salivary Cornulin level at diagnosis was associated with poor overall survival (p=0.0282), indicating it to be a potential prognostic marker. On upregulation of Cornulin in low-expressing HNSCC cell lines (Cal27 and FaDu), the cellular viability, migration, and invasion showed a significant decrease. These indicate its potential as a tumor suppressor. RNAseq data of Cornulin overexpressed cell lines and further Gene set enrichment analysis, the G2/M checkpoint pathway was found to be positively enriched. Cornulin overexpression also arrests the G1/S phase of the cell cycle. GSEA and in vitro experiments revealed Cornulin to be involved in the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling pathway. In the nude mice xenograft model, decreased tumor progression, and tumor volume, was

documented after Cornulin overexpression. There was an increase in differentiation in the xenograft tumors formed by Cornulin overexpressed cells.

Conclusion: Here, we report for the first time that intrinsic Cornulin has a role as a potent antitumor and has potential as a prognostic marker. However the exact molecular mechanism needs to be further evaluated.

Citation Format: Rajandeep Kaur, Anshika Chauhan, Sushmita Ghoshal, Jaimanti Bakshi, Radhika Srinivasan, Arnab Pal. Multifaceted role Cornulin in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: From tumor suppressor pathophysiology to prognosticating biomarker [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 5595.