Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors and Everolimus Reduce IGF1R Expression in HPV16-positive and -negative Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background/aim The effects of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) in head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) are not fully understood. We investigated the effects of selective TKIs erlotinib, gefitinib, nilotinib, and dasatinib and the mTOR-inhibitor everolimus on the expression of insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) in HPV-positive and HPV-negative squamous cancer cell lines. Materials and methods HPV-negative UMSCC-11A and UMSCC-14C cells and HPV-positive CERV196 cells were treated with TKIs or everolimus. Protein concentration of IGF1R was measured using ELISA. Results IGF1R expression was significantly reduced by all tested TKIs and everolimus in both HPV-negative cancer cell lines. In HPV-positive squamous cancer cells we observed significant protein inhibition. Conclusion The crosstalk between epidermal growth factor receptors and IGF1R could be of central interest for the development of novel medical approaches for individualized therapy.