Intratumor heterogeneity could inform the use and type of postoperative adjuvant therapy in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

ABSTRACT:

Background

After surgery for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), decisions regarding adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) or chemoradiotherapy (CRT) are based on staging and the presence of high-risk pathology. Because higher mutant allele tumor heterogeneity (MATH; a measure of intratumor genetic heterogeneity) is associated with shorter overall survival (OS) in patients with HNSCC, the authors sought to determine whether MATH analysis might further inform these decisions.

Methods

Adjuvant therapy-associated relationships between MATH and OS were analyzed for 389 patients with HNSCC who were treated surgically. Data were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas and analyzed with Cox proportional hazards multiple regression accounting for 7 other patient characteristics.

Re

SUBMITTER: Mroz EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7160035 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature