Microsatellite Instability of Head and Neck Cancer and Field Cancerization

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A key to improve the prognosis of head and neck cancers is an early diagnosis of the disease. No screening method to detect these cancers has been developed yet. Molecular techniques using polymerase chain reaction are a sensitive method to detect a small population of cancer cells among normal cells. We conducted a series of microsatellite analysis to detect cancer cells in saliva from 23 oral and pharyngeal cancer patients. Eight microsatellite markers were selected to test for microsatellite instability (MSI) in the tumor and saliva samples. Of 23 samples, 5 (22%) had MSI in the tumor samples. No correlation between MSI and clinicopathological feature was identified. In 4 of 5 (80%) MSI positive samples, we detected the identical MSI in saliva. The possibility of the molecular screening and molecular follow-up is discussed.