Figure 1.

SQLE is a critical mediator of cisplatin resistance in HNSCC. a) Schematic representation of the in vivo model development for cisplatin resistance using HNSCC cell line, SCC‐1, in mice bearing HNSCC xenografts. b) Cholesterol content comparison in vehicle, cisplatin‐sensitive, and cisplatin‐resistant tumors (n = 6). c) Quantitative real‐time PCR (qRT‐PCR) analysis of cholesterol‐related metabolic enzyme expression in cisplatin‐sensitive and cisplatin‐resistant tumors (n = 6). d) Western blot analysis of SQLE expression in cisplatin‐sensitive and cisplatin‐resistant tumors (n = 6). e) Time‐course analysis of dynamic changes in SQLE protein expression in SCC‐1 and SCC‐23 cells treated with cisplatin (0.75 µg mL⁻¹) at indicated time points. f,g) IHC staining scores of SQLE in pre‐ and post‐treatment paired tumor samples from HNSCC patients (n = 20) unresponsive to cisplatin‐based chemotherapy. h) Representative images of SQLE expression in tumor samples from patients with CR, PR, SD, and PD. i) Correlation between SQLE expression in clinical HNSCC specimens from an in‐house cohort before neoadjuvant chemotherapy and therapeutic efficacy (n = 102). j) Kaplan–Meier survival curve representing overall survival in chemotherapy‐treated basal HNSCC patients (n = 102) based on median SQLE expression. k) Identification of independent risk factors for predicting overall survival in HNSCC. Scale bar: 200 µm. Data were presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD). ns (not significant), *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 for Student's t‐test and one‐way ANOVA test.