Analysis of Prognostic Factors in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients Treated with Docetaxel and Concurrent Radiotherapy

半合成紫杉醇在头颈部鳞状细胞癌(HNSCC)中显示出显著的抗肿瘤活性，并被认为可以增强肿瘤的放射敏感性。然而，可能用于预测HNSCC患者预后和对多西紫杉醇和放射治疗敏感性的分子标记尚未见报道。目前的研究旨在解决这一问题，并评估细胞周期控制蛋白Cyclin D1和p16作为预后标志物的意义。采用免疫组织化学方法对53例头颈部肿瘤患者进行了Cyclin d1和/或p16蛋白表达的回顾性研究。这些患者接受4~6次10 mg/m2/周的多西紫杉醇联合放化疗(总剂量65~66Gy6.5~8周)。Kaplan-Meier单因素分析显示，细胞周期蛋白D1表达阳性或p16表达阴性的肿瘤患者的预后明显差于细胞周期蛋白D1表达阴性或p16表达阳性的肿瘤(p=0.0004和p=0.025)。用比例风险回归模型也证实了细胞周期蛋白D1的表达对预后的意义。

The semi-synthetic taxane, docetaxel, has demonstrated significant anti-tumor activity in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and is thought to enhance tumor radiosensitivity. However, molecular markers that might be of use in pre icting the prognosis and sensitivity of HNSCC patients to docetaxel and radiotherapy treatment have not yet been reported. The current study aimed to address this issue and evaluate the significance of the cell-cycle-control proteins cyclin D1 and p16 as prognostic markers. Cyclin D1 and/or p16 protein expression was retrospectively evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 53 head and neck cancer patients who were treated with 10 mg/m2/week docetaxel four to six times and received concurrent chemoradiotherapy (total radiation therapy dose 65-66 Gy) over a 6.5-8 week period. 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 Dl-negative tumors or p16-positive tumors (p=0.0004 and p=0.025, respectively). The prognostic significance of cyclin D1 expression was also confirmed using a proportional hazard regression model.