Tumor specimens were obtained from 38 consecutive cases from 2013 to 2017 of hypopharyngeal cancer at Miyagi Cancer Center (Natori, Japan), in which patients underwent biopsy before treatment. All of the cases were pathologically diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma. Immunostaining of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue was performed as previously described8 (link) using the following antibodies: anti-CD271 (1:2500; C40-1457; BD Biosciences), anti-phosphorylated (p)-RELA (1:1500; ab86299; Abcam, Cambridge, UK), and EnVision + Dual Link System-HRP (anti-mouse and anti-rabbit; Dako, Glostrup, Denmark). Heat-induced epitope retrieval was performed by microwaving the sections in target retrieval solution for CD271 staining (pH 9.0; Dako) or Immunosaver (Fujifilm Wako Pure Chemical Corp., Osaka, Japan) for p-RELA staining.
Free full text: Click here