Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T17:27:50.994Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Predictive value of flow cytometric analysis in DNA contents in patients with locally advanced head and neck carcinoma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Gene Wong*
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA.
Christine Stidley
Affiliation:
Tumour Registry, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA.
Lynn Dressler
Affiliation:
Tumor Facility, Cancer Center, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA.
Michael Castillo
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA.
Lida Crooks
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA.
Susan Bartow
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA.
*
Address for correspondence: Gene Wong, M.D., F.R.C.P.C., Department of Radiation Oncology, St Joseph Cancer Center, 601 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Avenue, Albuquerque, NM 87102, USA.

Abstract

A restrospective study was performed on 61 eligible patients with stage III and IV (AJC/UICC Staging System) squamous carcinomas of the head and neck region who were treated with definitive radiotherapy with, or without, surgery. DNA contents were measured by flow cytometric analysis of archival paraffin blocks and were correlated with clinicopathological findings, tumour response and patient survival. Comparison of variables including treatment modality was performed for identification of significant prognostic factors. There were 28 diploid, 27 aneuploid tumours and the remaining six were questionable. All patients were followed-up for at least two years or until death.

Aneuploid tumours had a significantly higher S-phase fraction (percentage S-phase) (p<0.001). Neither ploidy nor percentage S-phase were found to have predictive value in tumour response or patient survival within the power of a sample size of 61. Twenty of the 27 (74 per cent) aneuploid tumours had a complete response (CR) whereas 19 out of 28 (68 per cent) diploid tumours achieved CR. Five-year survival by the Kaplan-Meier method was 33 per cent for both aneuploid and diploid tumours. However, nodal stage (N stage) was found to have significant predictive value in both tumour response and patient survival. The complete response for stage N0 patients was 96 per cent, N1 patients 61 per cent, N2 patients 60 per cent and 43 per cent for N3 patients (p<0.002). Similarly, the five year survival for the N0 and N3 groups of patients was 53 per cent and 29 per cent respectively (p<0.05).

Type
Main Articles
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Balijham, G., Schulte, B., Reynders, M., Wiggers, T., Arends, J., Volvoics, L., Bosman, F. (1985) Flow cytometric determination of ploidy level and life cycle analysis on 297 paraffin-embedded colorectal carcinoma specimens. Proceedings of American Society of Clinical Oncology 4: 22.Google Scholar
Boyd, N. M., Reade, P. C. (1988) Differences between preneoplastic cells, neoplastic cells and their normal counterparts. Journal of Oral Pathology 17: 257265.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bundgaard, T., Sorensen, F. B., Gaihede, M., Sogaard, H., Overgaad, J. (1992) Stereologic, histopathologic, flow cytometric and clinical parameters in the prognostic evaluation of 74 patients with intraoral squamous-cell carcinoma. Cancer 70: 113.3.0.CO;2-S>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cancer Facts and Figures, 1995, p 6. Published by American Cancer Society Inc.Google Scholar
Dressler, L. G., Bartow, S. A. (1992) DNA flow cytometry in solid tumours: Practical aspects and clinical applications. Seminars in Diagnostic Pathology 6: 5582.Google Scholar
Dressier, L. G., Seamer, L., Owens, M., Clark, G. M, McGuire, W. L. (1987) Evaluation of a modeling system for S-phase estimation in breast cancer by flow cytometry. Cancer Research 47: 52945302.Google Scholar
Ewers, S. B., Langstrom, E., Baltorp, B., Killander, D. (1984) Flow cytometric DNA analysis in primary breast carcinomas and clinical pathological correlations. Cytometry 5: 408419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrar, W. B., Sickle-Santanello, B. J., Keyhani-Rofagha, S.. DeCenzo, J. F., O'Toole, R. V. (1989) Follow-up on flow cytometric DNA analysis of squamous-cell carcinoma of the tongue. American Journal of Surgery 157: 377380.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fleiss, J. L. (1981) Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions. Wiley, New York, pp 2426.Google Scholar
Goldsmith, M. M., Cresson, D. H., Arnold, L. A., Postma, D. S., Askin, F. B., Pillsburg, H. C. (1987) Part 1: DNA flow cytometry as a prognostic indicator in head-and-neck cancer. Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgerv 96: 307318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemmer, J., Schon, E., Kreidler, J., Haase, S. (1990) Prognostic implications of DNA ploidy in squamous-cell carcinomas of the tongue assessed by flow cytometry. Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology 116: 838886.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kerasley, J. H., Bryson, G., Battistutta, D., Collins, R. J. (1991) Prognostic importance of cellular DNA content in head-and-neck squamous-cell cancers. A comparison of retrospective and prospective series. International Journal of Cancer 47: 3137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, E. T.Statistical 'methods for Survival Data Analysis. (1992) 2nd Edition, John Wiley, New York, pp 6778. 109112, 250263.Google Scholar
Look, A. T., Douglas, E. C, Meyer, W. H. (1988) Clinical importance of near-diploid tumour stem lines in patients with osteosarcoma of an extremity. New England Journal of Medicine 318: 15671572.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rua, S., Comino, A., Fruttero, A., Cera, G., Semeria, C.Lanzillota, L., Boffetta, P. (1991) Relationship between histological features, DNA flow cytometry, and clinical behavior of squamous-cell carcinoma of the larynx. Cancer 67: 141149.3.0.CO;2-E>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SAS Institute Inc. (1989) SAS/STATR User's Guide, Version 6, 4th Edition, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina, USA. pp 9971025.Google Scholar
SAS Institute Inc. (1991) SASR Technical Report, p 229. SAS/STAT Software: Changes and Enhancements, Released 6.07, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina, USA, pp 433–479.Google Scholar
Tannock, I. F. (1989) Combined modality treatment with radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Radiotherapy and Oncology 16: 83101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tytor, M., Franzen, G., Olofsson, J., Brunk, U., Nordenskjold, B. (1987) DNA content malignancy grading and prognosis in Ti and T2 oral cavity carcinomas. British Journal of Cancer 56: 647652.CrossRefGoogle Scholar