Prognostic significance of cyclin D1 and p16 in patients with intermediate-risk head and neck squamous cell carcinoma treated with docetaxel and concurrent radiotherapy.
BACKGROUND
The current study aimed to evaluate the significance of the cell-cycle-control proteins cyclin D1 and p16 as prognostic markers in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients treated with docetaxel and radiotherapy.


METHODS
Cyclin D1 and/or p16 protein expression was retrospectively evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 53 patients with stage T1-3N0-2M0 (except T1N0 glottis) HNSCC who were treated with 10 mg/m(2)/week docetaxel 4 to 6 times and received concurrent chemoradiotherapy.


RESULTS
Kaplan-Meier univariate analysis revealed that patients with cyclin D1-positive tumors or p16-negative tumors had a worse prognosis compared with those with cyclin D1-negative tumors or p16-positive tumors (p = .0004 and p = .025, respectively). The prognostic significance of cyclin D1 expression, not p16 expression, was confirmed using a proportional hazard regression model.


CONCLUSIONS
An assessment of cyclin D1 and p16 levels might be of clinical use in defining subgroups of patients with poor prognosis.
Higuchi
Eisaku
E
Department of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan.
Oridate
Nobuhiko
N
Homma
Akihiro
A
Suzuki
Fumiyuki
F
Atago
Yoshihiro
Y
Nagahashi
Tatsumi
T
Furuta
Yasushi
Y
Fukuda
Satoshi
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D019938:Cyclin D1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D019941:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16 / Q000378:metabolism*; D000077143:Docetaxel; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D043823:Taxoids / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019941:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16; D043823:Taxoids; D019938:Cyclin D1; D000077143:Docetaxel