Annett Linge, Fabian Lohaus, Steffen Löck, Alexander Nowak, Volker Gudziol, Chiara Valentini, Cläre von Neubeck, Martin Jütz, Inge Tinhofer, Volker Budach, Ali Sak, Martin Stuschke, Panagiotis Balermpas, Claus Rödel, Anca-Ligia Grosu, Amir Abdollahi, Jürgen Debus, Ute Ganswindt, Claus Belka, Steffi Pigorsch, Stephanie E Combs, David Mönnich, Daniel Zips, Frank Buchholz, Daniela E Aust, Gustavo B Baretton, Howard D Thames, Anna Dubrovska, Jan Alsner, Jens Overgaard, Mechthild Krause, Michael Baumann
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of the tumour volume, HPV status, cancer stem cell (CSC) marker expression and hypoxia gene signatures, as potential markers of radiobiological mechanisms of radioresistance, in a contemporary cohort of patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), who received primary radiochemotherapy (RCTx). MATERIALS AND METHODS: For 158 patients with locally advanced HNSCC of the oral cavity, oropharynx or hypopharynx who were treated at six DKTK partner sites, the impact of tumour volume, HPV DNA, p16 overexpression, p53 expression, CSC marker expression and hypoxia-associated gene signatures on outcome of primary RCTx was retrospectively analyzed...
December 2016: Radiotherapy and Oncology