Correlation of numerical aberrations of chromosomes X and 11 and poor prognosis in squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prognostic significance of chromosomal aberrations of chromosomes X and 11 in relation to disease-specific survival in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.


METHODS
University hospital.


METHODS
A 10-year retrospective clinical study. Information about clinical findings, treatment, and follow-up has been recorded prospectively.


METHODS
By means of the fluorescence in situ hybridization technique with centromeric probes for chromosomes X and 11, we analyzed 40 randomly selected patients before treatment for T1 to T4 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Numerical aberrations were scored and evaluated in frozen sections.


METHODS
The significance of prognostic parameters was tested by the log-rank and Kaplan-Meier methods for the univariate analysis. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used for multivariate analysis.


RESULTS
Numerical aberrations of chromosome 11 correlated positively with T and N classification (P = .03 and P = .02, respectively) and with clinical stage (P = .02). Patients with higher frequencies of numerical aberrations for both chromosome X (>48%, mean) and chromosome 11 (>57%, mean) had shortened disease-specific survival compared with those with lower frequencies of numerical aberrations (P = .008 and P<.001, respectively). Of patients who died from disease within 3 years, 7 (50%) had a trisomic value of chromosome 11 of 35% or higher of nuclei (P<.001). Moreover, patients with a higher value (>or=8%) of amplification of chromosome 11 (>4 signals) were associated with having poor prognosis compared with those with a lower value (P = .02).


CONCLUSIONS
Numerical aberrations of chromosomes X and 11 had prognostic value in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and higher frequencies of numerical aberrations correlated with poor prognosis.
Xie
Xin
X
Department of Otolaryngology, Institute of Pathology, Rikshospitalet, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. xinx@online.no
Clausen
Ole Petter F
OP
Boysen
Morten
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality; D002503:Centromere / Q000235:genetics; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D002880:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 11; D041321:Chromosomes, Human, X; D015342:DNA Probes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008297:Male; D008432:Mathematical Computing; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000473:pathology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010039:Otorhinolaryngologic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012729:Sex Chromosome Aberrations; D015996:Survival Rate
D015342:DNA Probes