Journal: Cellular Oncology

Article Title: Stiffness-related stress granules promote the metastasis of early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma via anoikis resistance

doi: 10.1007/s13402-026-01198-2

Figure Lengend Snippet: Early-stage OSCC samples with lymph node metastasis showing elevated matrix stiffness and SGs level. ( a ) Masson staining showed fibrosis degree between pN0 (cancer tissue of pN0) and pN+ (cancer tissue of pN+) group. ( b ) Comparisons of the expression of G3BP1 between pN0 and pN+ group. ( c ) Comparisons of the expression of TIA1 between pN0 and pN+ group. ( d ) Correlation analysis showing the relation between SGs level and percentage collagen fiber content (%CFC) in early-stage OSCC. ( e ) Representative immunofluorescence staining of G3BP1 between pN0 and pN+ group. *p value<0.05, **p value<0.01, ***p value <0.001, ****p value<0.0001. The imagescales of ( a ), ( b ) and ( c ) represent 100μm. The imagescales of ( e ) represent 20μm

Article Snippet: OSCC cell lines Cal27 (ATCC Cat# CRL-2095, RRID: CVCL_1107) was purchased from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC).

Techniques: Staining, Expressing, Immunofluorescence

Journal: Cellular Oncology

Article Title: Stiffness-related stress granules promote the metastasis of early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma via anoikis resistance

doi: 10.1007/s13402-026-01198-2

Figure Lengend Snippet: Elevated matrix stiffness increased early-stage OSCC lymph node metastasis and SGs level in vivo. ( a ) Schematic of the in vivo experiment. ( b ) Masson staining showed fibrosis degree between NC (Normal Control) and FI (Fibrosis) group. ( c ) Comparisons of the expression of G3BP1 between NC and FI group. ( d ) Comparisons of the expression of TIA1 between NC and FI group. ( e ) HE and immunohistochemistry of CK5/6 showed the lymph nodes condition with negative metastatic focus and positive metastatic focus. The bar chart showed the condition of mice with lymph-nodes metastasis in each group. ( f ) Representative immunofluorescence staining of G3BP1 between NC group and FI group. *p value<0.05, **p value<0.01, ***p value <0.001, ****p value<0.0001. The imagescales of ( b ), ( c ) and ( d ) represent 100μm. The imagescales of ( e ) represent 200μm. The imagescales of ( f ) represent 20μm

Article Snippet: OSCC cell lines Cal27 (ATCC Cat# CRL-2095, RRID: CVCL_1107) was purchased from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC).

Techniques: In Vivo, Staining, Control, Expressing, Immunohistochemistry, Immunofluorescence

Journal: Cellular Oncology

Article Title: Stiffness-related stress granules promote the metastasis of early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma via anoikis resistance

doi: 10.1007/s13402-026-01198-2

Figure Lengend Snippet: Mechanical stress triggered SGs assembly in vitro. ( a ) Immunofluorescence showed SGs production of Cal27 stimulating by mechanical force. ( b ) Immunofluorescence showed SGs production of SAS stimulating by mechanical force. ( c ) Western bolt showed mechanical force up-regulated SGs level with a strength-dependent manner in Cal27 (upper) and SAS (lower). ( d ) Western bolt showed mechanical force up-regulated SGs level with a time-dependent manner in Cal27 (upper) and SAS (lower). ( e ) Representative electron microscopy image of SAS after stimulating by mechanical force. Red boxes mark the ER; red dotted lines indicate SG. The imagescales of ( b ) and ( c ) represent 10μm. The imagescales on the left of ( e ) represent 1μm, on the right represent 500nm

Article Snippet: OSCC cell lines Cal27 (ATCC Cat# CRL-2095, RRID: CVCL_1107) was purchased from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC).

Techniques: In Vitro, Immunofluorescence, Western Blot, Electron Microscopy

Journal: Cellular Oncology

Article Title: Stiffness-related stress granules promote the metastasis of early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma via anoikis resistance

doi: 10.1007/s13402-026-01198-2

Figure Lengend Snippet: In vitro assays showed matrix stiffness facilitated anoikis resistance of OSCC through SGs formation in SAS. ( a ) Transwell assay showed the ability of migration and invasion for 48h after stimulating by mechanical force with or without G3la. ( b , c ) Flow cytometry showed the percentage of G0 cells after stimulating by mechanical force with or without G3la. ( d ) Analysis of resistance to anoikis stimulating by mechanical force with or without G3la. ( e ) Immunofluorescence showed morphological changes of SAS stimulating by mechanical force with or without G3la. ( f ) Representative images of the lung condition with negative metastatic focus and positive metastatic focus. The bar chart showed the condition of mice with lung metastasis in each group. *p value<0.05, **p value<0.01, ***p value <0.001, ****p value<0.0001. The imagescales of ( a ) represent 100μm. The imagescales of ( e ) represent 50μm. The imagescales on the left of ( f ) represent 1mm, on the right represent 100μm

Article Snippet: OSCC cell lines Cal27 (ATCC Cat# CRL-2095, RRID: CVCL_1107) was purchased from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC).

Techniques: In Vitro, Transwell Assay, Migration, Flow Cytometry, Immunofluorescence

Journal: Frontiers in Oncology

Article Title: MUC21 is downregulated in oral squamous cell carcinoma and associated with poor prognosis

doi: 10.3389/fonc.2026.1767261

Figure Lengend Snippet: MUC21 Expression by analyzing high-throughput dataset including Affymetrix GeneChip ® Human Transcriptome Array 2.0(HTA), GSE34105 from GEO and TCGA RNAseq data. (A-F) , the heatmaps of hierarchical clustering and volcano plots of differential gene expressions revealed by HTA based on 10 paired OSCC and adjacent normal oral tissue; GSE34105 based on 62 OSCC and 16 normal oral tissue; TCGA base on 266 OSCC and 19 normal oral tissue. Genes with a fold change >2 and adj-P-value of <0.05 were highlighted. (G, H) the up and down regulated genes in the three datasets were intersected and it was showed that 73 was up and 102 were down regulated in the intersection which comprised only MUC15 and MUC21 from Mucin family. (I) relative expression level (the median of the three datasets) comparison showed that MUC21 was more down regulated than MUC15, the chart was created from Excel (Microsoft ® for Excel). OSCC, oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Article Snippet: Human OSCC cell lines Cal27 and HN6 were acquired from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, USA).

Techniques: Expressing, High Throughput Screening Assay, RNA sequencing, Comparison

Journal: Frontiers in Oncology

Article Title: MUC21 is downregulated in oral squamous cell carcinoma and associated with poor prognosis

doi: 10.3389/fonc.2026.1767261

Figure Lengend Snippet: Quantitative qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry analysis of MUC21, KRT4, KRT13, and CRNN in OSCC and para-OSCC. (A-D) showed that MUC21, KRT4, KRT13 and CRNN were down regulated in OSCC than para-OSCC (P< 0.0001), the expression levels were normalized against GAPDH. (E) Spearman correlation analysis showed that MUC21was related with KRT4, KRT13 and CRNN at mRNA level. (F-I) showed that MUC21 and KRT4 were down regulated in OSCC than para-OSCC (P<0.0001); KRT13 was down regulated in OSCC than para-OSCC (P <0.05); and CRNN was also down regulated in OSCC than para-OSCC (P<0.001). (J) Spearman correlation analysis showed that MUC21 was related with KRT4, KRT13 and CRNN at protein level too.

Article Snippet: Human OSCC cell lines Cal27 and HN6 were acquired from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, USA).

Techniques: Quantitative RT-PCR, Immunohistochemistry, Expressing

Journal: Frontiers in Oncology

Article Title: MUC21 is downregulated in oral squamous cell carcinoma and associated with poor prognosis

doi: 10.3389/fonc.2026.1767261

Figure Lengend Snippet: MUC21 expression analysis in OSCC and para-OSCC via immunohistochemistry (IHC) and its relation with critical clinical characters. (A) a whole block of OSCC and para-OSCC tissue analyzed by IHC showed that MUC21 was expressed in para-OSCC epithelium and lost in OSCC. (B) MUC21 expression between OSCC and para-OSCC in 102 paired patient samples was quantified by mean optical density (MOD) values. MUC21 decreased significantly in OSCC (P < 0.0001). Box plots represent the median, 25th, and 75th percentiles of the data. (C–H) displayed matched para-OSCC and OSCC. (D, F, H) represented well, moderate, and poor differentiation of OSCC, respectively. Unannotated Scale bar = 100 μm. The Scale bar of the block tissue was 1mm. (I) decreased MUC21 expression level was related with cervical lymphatic metastasis and OSCC differentiation. “pN0” means no lymphatic metastasis, “pN1-PN3” referred to different degrees of lymphatic metastasis; “well +moderate” and “poor” referred to different degrees of differentiation.

Article Snippet: Human OSCC cell lines Cal27 and HN6 were acquired from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, USA).

Techniques: Expressing, Immunohistochemistry, Blocking Assay

Journal: Frontiers in Oncology

Article Title: MUC21 is downregulated in oral squamous cell carcinoma and associated with poor prognosis

doi: 10.3389/fonc.2026.1767261

Figure Lengend Snippet: Kaplan–Meier survival analyses for postoperative OSCC patients based on MUC21 expression. (A, B) Overall Survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS)with low MUC21 expression were significantly shorter than those with high MUC21 expression (P = 0.012 for OS, P<0.0001 for DFS). (C, D) , Forest map: The univariate analysis of OS and DFS in OSCC patients. (E, F) , Forest map: The multivariate analysis of OS and DFS in OSCC patients.

Article Snippet: Human OSCC cell lines Cal27 and HN6 were acquired from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, USA).

Techniques: Expressing

Journal: Frontiers in Oncology

Article Title: MUC21 is downregulated in oral squamous cell carcinoma and associated with poor prognosis

doi: 10.3389/fonc.2026.1767261

Figure Lengend Snippet: In vitro cell lines experiment post overexpression and knockdown of MUC21. (A) MUC21 was significantly overexpressed and knocked down in CAL27 and HN6. (B) CCK-8 assay on CAL27 and HN6 post MUC21 manipulation. (C) Transwell assay without Matrigel coated filter of CAL27 and HN6 post MUC21 manipulation. (D) Transwell assay with Matrigel coated filter of CAL27 and HN6 post MUC21 manipulation. (E) wound-healing assay conducted at 24 hours post MUC21 manipulation in CAL27 and HN6 cells. NC: negative control, SH: MUC21 knockdown, OE: MUC21 overexpression. Statistical significance is denoted by *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001, ****P<0.0001.

Article Snippet: Human OSCC cell lines Cal27 and HN6 were acquired from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, USA).

Techniques: In Vitro, Over Expression, Knockdown, CCK-8 Assay, Transwell Assay, Wound Healing Assay, Negative Control

Journal: Cell Death & Disease

Article Title: Histone lactylation-driven feedback loop modulates pyrimidine metabolism to promote oral carcinogenesis

doi: 10.1038/s41419-026-08580-w

Figure Lengend Snippet: A UMAP plot of the clustering results for eight major cell types from OLK and OSCC tissues. B Marker genes of each cluster. C UMAP plot showing the cell distribution across all 14 samples. D Reactome pathway analysis of DEGs with gradually increased expression between epithelial cells from OLK and primary OSCC. E Lactate content in normal ( n = 30), OLK ( n = 30), and OSCC ( n = 30) tissues. F Lactate content in HOK, DOK, and OSCC cells (HSC3, HN4, HN6, and CAL27). The representative images (×200) ( G ) and quantification analysis of Pan Kla ( H ) and H3K18la ( I ) protein levels in normal ( n = 30), OLK ( n = 30), and OSCC ( n = 30) tissues were assessed by immunohistochemical staining. Scale bar: 100 μm. ( J ) Pan Kla and H3K18la levels in human HOK, DOK, and OSCC cells (HSC3, HN4, HN6, and CAL27) were analyzed by western blotting assays. Error bars, mean ± SD; * P < 0.05.

Article Snippet: The human OSCC cell lines (HSC3, CAL27 and UPCI-SCC-154) were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (VA, USA).

Techniques: Marker, Expressing, Immunohistochemical staining, Staining, Western Blot

Journal: Cell Death & Disease

Article Title: Histone lactylation-driven feedback loop modulates pyrimidine metabolism to promote oral carcinogenesis

doi: 10.1038/s41419-026-08580-w

Figure Lengend Snippet: A TK1 mRNA levels in normal ( n = 30) and OSCC ( n = 308) tissues were analyzed using the data from TCGA-OSCC cohort. B Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was performed to analyze overall survival based on TK1 mRNA levels (Low TK1 versus High TK1) in patients with OSCC in TCGA cohort ( n = 308). C TK1 mRNA levels in normal ( n = 30), OLK ( n = 30), and OSCC ( n = 30) tissues were measured using real-time RT-PCR. D – I DOK and CAL27 cells stably expressing NC or sh-TK1 were used to assess the effects of TK1 silencing on cell proliferation. The TK1 protein levels were measured using western blotting assays ( D ). Cell growth was evaluated using CCK-8 assay ( E ) and colony formation assay ( F , G ). The cell cycle distribution was measured using flow cytometry ( H , I ). Each experiment was performed in triplicate. Error bars, mean ± SD; * P < 0.05.

Article Snippet: The human OSCC cell lines (HSC3, CAL27 and UPCI-SCC-154) were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (VA, USA).

Techniques: Quantitative RT-PCR, Stable Transfection, Expressing, Western Blot, CCK-8 Assay, Colony Assay, Flow Cytometry