In addition, representative normal salivary tissue samples were chosen from five of the ACC patients: cases 2, 14, 16, 19, and 22 in Table. Institutional review board approval was obtained and UCSF guidelines for handling human tissue were followed. Slides

were reviewed to determine tissue suitability for genomic analysis and gene expression analysis and to determine the histologic tumor pattern (tubular, cribriform, Galunisertib solubility dmso or solid). To examine c-Kit, SCF, or active ERK1/2 protein expression in ACC tumors, we performed immunohistochemistry (IHC) on unstained sections with antibody-based staining kits for c-Kit (104D2; Dako, Carpinteria, CA), SCF (C19H6; Cell Signaling Technology [CST], Danvers, MA), Phospho-p44/42 ERK1/2 (D13.14.4E; CST), and a rabbit isotype control (3900; CST). The staining procedure has been described [3]. c-Kit, SCF, and P-ERK1/2 staining was visually estimated by a head and neck pathologist (AvZ). Assessment included the percentage of tumor cells staining positive and the intensity of staining on a five-point scale from negative (0) to very strongly positive (4 +). Genomic DNA from each case of ACC was isolated from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue sections with a QIAampDNA FFPE Tissue kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA) [3]. DNA samples were amplified

by PCR with the primer sets listed below and proofreading capability platinum Taq DNA polymerase (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA). Direct sequencing of PCR Selleckchem VE-821 products was performed at the UCSF Genomics Core Facility with ABI BigDye v3.1 dye terminator sequencing chemistry (Applied Biosystems, Carlsbad, CA), an ABI PRISM 3730xl capillary DNA analyzer (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA), and Mutation Surveyor v2.5 (SoftGenetics, State College, PA). We used the following oligonucleotide primer Anidulafungin (LY303366) sequences for detecting the KIT gene: 5′-CAGATTCTGCCCTTTGAACTTG-3′ and 5′-AAAAAGCCACATGGCTAGAAAAA-3′ (Exon 8; 392 bp); Gene expression was analyzed in triplicate with TaqMan quantitative PCR. Total RNA was isolated with RNAeasy kits (Qiagen, Valencia, CA) from FFPE tumor tissue sections composed of at least 70% tumor cells. cDNA from 500 ng

of total RNA was synthesized with an RT First Strand Kit (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA). cDNA (5 ng) was mixed with RT qPCR master mixes, and aliquots were placed with gene-specific primer sets. We used the following TaqMan assays (all from Life Technologies): KIT (Hs00174029_m1), SCF (Hs00241497_m1), and EGFR (Hs01076078_m1). Expression levels normalized to endogenous GAPDH were determined by real-time PCR and analyzed at the UCSF Core noted above. Statistical analyses were performed and graphs made with Microsoft Office Excel and XL-Stat (Addinsoft, New York, NY). Statistical comparisons between data sets were made with two-tailed Student’s t tests and Wilcoxon tests according to the manufacturers’ instructions, with P < .05 considered significant.