Average 5-year Survival Rate Research Articles

Collaborative Pediatric Bone Tumor Program to Improve Access to Specialized Care: An Initiative by the Lebanese Children's Oncology Group.

BackgroundChildren with malignant bone tumors have average 5-year survival rates of 60% to 70% with current multimodality therapy. Local control modalities aimed at preserving function greatly influence the quality of life of long-term survivors. In developing countries, the limited availability of multidisciplinary care and limited expertise in specialized surgery and pediatric radiation therapy, as well as financial cost, all form barriers to achieving optimal outcomes in this population.MethodsWe describe the establishment of a collaborative pediatric bone tumor program among a group of pediatric oncologists in Lebanon and Syria. This program provides access to specialized local control at a tertiary children’s cancer center to pediatric patients with newly diagnosed bone tumors at participating sites. Central review of pathology, staging, and treatment planning is performed in a multidisciplinary tumor board setting. Patients receive chemotherapy at their respective centers on a unified treatment plan. Surgery and/or radiation therapy are performed centrally by specialized staff at the children’s cancer center. Cost barriers were resolved through a program development initiative led by St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Once program feasibility was achieved, the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon Foundation, via fundraising efforts, provided continuation of program-directed funding.ResultsFindings over a 3-year period showed the feasibility of this project, with timely local control and protocol adherence at eight collaborating centers. We report success in providing standard-of-care multidisciplinary therapy to this patient population with complex needs and financially challenging surgical procedures.ConclusionThis initiative can serve as a model, noting that facilitating access to specialized multidisciplinary care, resolution of financial barriers, and close administrative coordination all greatly contributed to the success of the program.

US Preventive Services Task Force CT Lung Cancer Screening Recommendations: Community Awareness and Perceptions

Although lung cancer is the third most common type of cancer diagnosed, it remains the leading cause of death from cancer in the United States for both men and women [ 1 Siegel R. Naishadham D. Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2013. CA Cancer J Clin. 2013; 63: 11-30 Crossref PubMed Scopus (11436) Google Scholar ]. The average 5-year survival rate is low, hovering under 20%. However, the survival rate is considerably higher (approximately 50%) when lung cancer is diagnosed early, while the tumor remains localized. Yet currently, the large majority of lung cancer patients are diagnosed with more extensive disease [ 2 Wender R. Fontham E.T. Barrera Jr., E. et al. American Cancer Society lung cancer screening guidelines. CA Cancer J Clin. 2013; 63: 107-117 Crossref PubMed Scopus (553) Google Scholar ]. US Preventive Services Task Force CT Lung Cancer Screening Recommendations: Community Awareness and PerceptionsJournal of the American College of RadiologyVol. 12Issue 1PreviewAlthough lung cancer is the third most common type of cancer diagnosed, it remains the leading cause of death from cancer in the United States for both men and women [1]. The average 5-year survival rate is low, hovering under 20%. However, the survival rate is considerably higher (approximately 50%) when lung cancer is diagnosed early, while the tumor remains localized. Yet currently, the large majority of lung cancer patients are diagnosed with more extensive disease [2]. Full-Text PDF

Renewed 2015 Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Hepatitis C by Korean Association for the Study of the Liver; What Has Been Changed? - Treatment of Patients with Decompensated Cirrhosis

HCV-related decompensated liver cirrhosis is a life-threatening illness with an average 5-year survival rate of 50%. Because these patients have higher risk of morbidity and mortality including development of hepatocellular carcinoma, the benefits of eradicating the virus may be greater than in those with less-advanced disease. Recently, direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) are replacing interferon-based regimens that have serious adverse events and low tolerability in the treatment of HCV infection. Many clinical trials using combination of several DAAs with or without ribavirin are now actively on-going in HCV-related decompensated cirrhosis, and encouraging data are beginning to appear. In this review, recent advances in the treatment of HCV-related decompensated cirrhosis are introduced with special focus on new DAAs.

A multi-institutional collaborative pediatric bone tumor program for improving access to specialized care.

e21020 Background: Osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma are the most common malignant bone tumors in pediatrics. Average 5-year survival rates of 60-70% are achieved with current multimodality therapy. L...

US Preventive Services Task Force CT Lung Cancer Screening Recommendations: Community Awareness and Perceptions

Although lung cancer is the third most common type of cancer diagnosed, it remains the leading cause of death from cancer in the United States for both men and women [ 1 Siegel R. Naishadham D. Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2013. CA Cancer J Clin. 2013; 63: 11-30 Crossref PubMed Scopus (11436) Google Scholar ]. The average 5-year survival rate is low, hovering under 20%. However, the survival rate is considerably higher (approximately 50%) when lung cancer is diagnosed early, while the tumor remains localized. Yet currently, the large majority of lung cancer patients are diagnosed with more extensive disease [ 2 Wender R. Fontham E.T. Barrera Jr., E. et al. American Cancer Society lung cancer screening guidelines. CA Cancer J Clin. 2013; 63: 107-117 Crossref PubMed Scopus (553) Google Scholar ].

An Overview of Clinical and Pathological Characteristics and Survival Rate of Colorectal Cancer in Iran

Context: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers and the leading cause of cancer death in Iran. This study aimed to identify the clinical and pathological characteristics, as well as survival rate of colorectal cancer in Iran. Evidence Acquisition: The articles published in PubMed without language and time restrictions were included in this review. Only original clinical articles were included in the review and non-clinical studies, including cellular, molecular, genetics, and animal reports, were excluded. The case reports, letters, reviews, and clinical reports with less than 100 patients were excluded, as well. All the clinical data regarding the patients’ demographics, tumor characteristics, and survival rate were collected. Results: A total of 178 studies were identified at the initial step of literature search. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 27 studies, including 37901 patients were eligible. The mean age of the patients was 57.2 years, and the male-female ratio was 1.38. Colon, rectum, and rectosigmoid junction accounted for 58%, 28%, and 14% of all colorectal primary sites, respectively. Moreover, the average proportion of the patients with stages 0-I, II, III, and IV was 9%, 39%, 36%, and 16%, respectively. Besides, tumor grades 1, 2, and 3 were reported in 52%, 37%, and 11% of the patients, respectively. Adenocarcinoma (96.8%) was the most frequent histological type. The mean and median survival rate was 80.1 and 55.2 months, respectively. Additionally, the average 5-year overall survival rate was 52.5%. Conclusions: In Iran, colorectal cancer tends to manifest at locally advanced stage with poor prognosis. Therefore, public health strategies, such as screening programs, should be planned for early detection of this aggressive neoplasm.

A tailored approach to operative repair of extracranial carotid aneurysms based on anatomic types and kinks

BackgroundTo present outcomes following an operative approach of extracranial carotid artery aneurysm (ECAAs) based on anatomic types and associated kinks. MethodsThis study represents retrospective analysis of anatomic type based approach to operative repair of 84 patients with ECAA from 1994 to 2011, 28 (33.3%) with associated kinking. Patients were followed for neurological ischemic events, hematoma, cranial nerve injury, myocardial infarction, neurological, and overall mortality. The results are presented as early, within 30 days after the surgery, and long term during the follow-up. ResultsIn the early postoperative period, there were no strokes or mortalities, cranial nerve injury rate was 2.4% while 1 patient had myocardial infarction (1.2%). During the follow-up, 4 patients (4.8%) had stroke, out of which 2 patients died (2.3%), while overall mortality was 4.6%. The average 5-year survival rate was 96 ± 3%. ConclusionExcellent outcomes can be obtained with surgical repair of ECAA, which should be tailored to the anatomic types and presence of kinks.

Radiosensitizing Biological Modifiers Enhancing Efficacy in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Treated with Radiotherapy

251 ISSN 1758-1966 10.2217/LMT.13.25 © 2013 Future Medicine Ltd Lung Cancer Manage. (2013) 2(4), 251–255 The leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide is lung cancer, with an average 5-year overall survival rate of only 10–15%, taking all clinical stages together [1]. Lung cancer can be divided into two major histological groups: non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small-cell lung cancer. NSCLC is the dominating group in Sweden, comprising more than 85% of all newly diagnosed lung cancer patients; the rest of this article will focus on this tumor entity. Treatments for these patients are based on surgery if the tumor has not spread and is technically removable, and these patients display a better 5-year survival [2]. However, many patients present with locally advanced disease (stage IIIb), metastatic disease (stage IV) or comorbidities, rendering less than 20% of the patients medically operable [3]. Thus, curatively intended radiotherapy, alone or in combination with chemotherapy, offers in many cases the only possibility of cure in localized NSCLC. The effect of radiotherapy depends on the absorption of radiation, which occurs by interaction with orbital electrons in the atoms that are being exposed [4]. Radiation produces a variety of damage to macromolecular components by altering DNA and RNA bases and sugars, inducing DNA–protein and DNA–DNA crosslinks and further by inducing singleand doublestrand breaks [5]. However, despite this induced damage, the cell is fully capable of repairing itself by using five major DNA repair systems: nucleotide excision repair [6]; base excision repair [7]; mismatch repair [8]; homologous recombinational repair [9]; and nonhomologous end joining [10]. Unfortunately for patients with NSCLC, these systems are well functioning and NSCLC is considered as a relatively radioresistant tumor. In a retrospective study by Holgersson et al., which was a collaborative effort among all the Swedish oncology departments, clinical data were collected for 1146 patients with diagnosed NSCLC subjected to curatively intended irradiation (>50 Gy) during the years 1990–2000 [11]. Among the 1146 patients with nonsmall-cell carcinoma eligible for ana lysis,

Aggressive Multimodal Approach for Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer and Long-Term Survival

Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) comprises 1-2% of all thyroid cancers and is one of the most aggressive cancers with a median survival rate of around four months. The average 5-year survival rate has been reported to be around 3.6%. In this paper, we have discussed management and prognostic variables of a patient with ATC who has survived for more than 5 years. A 59-year-old female was referred to our facility for an elective thyroid and parathyroidectomy for concerns of thyroid papillary cancer and hyperparathyroidism. At the time of surgery, the tumor mass had invaded the muscular layer of esophagus; radicle thyroidectomy parathyroidectomy along with removal of muscle layer of esophagus was performed, and diagnosis of ATC was made. The patient was treated with chemoradiation with a good treatment response and no recurrence of tumor for two and a half years until PET/CT followed by wedge biopsy of lung confirmed ATC recurrence. The patient was treated with another course of radiation treatment with a good treatment response. Since then, the patient has been following in our outpatient oncology clinic and has no evidence of tumor recurrence. Aggressive multimodal approach of combining radicle surgery with chemoradiation treatment in select patients of ATC with no distant metastasis helps improve prognosis.

Mortality, health, social and economic consequences of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a controlled national study

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that imposes a great burden on the patient, the patient's family and society. However, we lack information about the total disease burden at a national level, especially regarding costs before and after diagnosis and the consequences for spouses. We aimed to estimate the factual direct and indirect costs of ALS in a national sample. Using records from the Danish National Patient Registry (1998-2009), 2,394 patients with ALS were identified and subsequently compared with 9,575 randomly chosen control subjects matched for age, gender and geographic area/civil status. Direct costs, including frequencies of primary and sector contacts and procedures, and medication from primary and secondary sectors, were obtained from the Danish Ministry of Health, the Danish Medicines Agency, and the National Health Security. Indirect costs included labour supply and social transfer payments, and were based on income data derived from Coherent Social Statistics. Patients with a diagnosis of ALS had poor survival. The average (95% CI) 5-year survival rate was 0.278 (0.358-0.298) compared with 0.865 (0.858-0.872) among controls. Patients with ALS had significantly higher rates of health-related contact and medication use and higher socioeconomic costs. They also had very low employment rates, while those in employment had a lower income level than control subjects. The annual mean excess health-related cost was <euro>18,918 for each ALS patient. However, spouses showed no excess health usage; in fact, their employment and income rates were higher, and the net cost was reduced by -<euro>3,420. We conclude that ALS has serious mortality, health and socioeconomic consequences for patients. However, the consequences for spouses are complex; they tend to compensate for the social consequences to patients by increasing their net income after ALS diagnosis.

Renal Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumors

Primitive neuroectodermal tumors exist as a part of the Ewing sarcoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor family. These tumors most commonly arise in the chest wall and paraspinal regions; cases with a renal origin are rare entities, but have become increasingly reported in recent years. Although such cases occur across a wide age distribution, the average age for a patient with a renal primitive neuroectodermal tumor is the mid- to late 20s, with both males and females susceptible. Histologically, these tumors are characterized by pseudorosettes. Immunohistochemically, CD99 is an important diagnostic marker. Clinically, these are aggressive tumors, with an average 5-year disease-free survival rate of only 45% to 55%. Given that renal primitive neuroectodermal tumor bears many similarities to other renal tumors, it is important to review the histologic features, immunostaining profile, and genetic abnormalities that can be used for its correct diagnosis.

Larynxkarzinom

Laryngeal cancer is one of the most frequent types of head and neck cancer. The incidence is decreasing for men but still increasing for women. The incidence in Germany is about 5-7/100,000 persons/year for men and 0.6-0.8/100,000 persons/year for women. Due to the increased life expectancy, the average age of patients diagnosed with laryngeal cancer is increasing. Nevertheless, adequately prepared older patients treated by standard protocols can have the same survival and complication rates as younger patients. Tobacco and alcohol are still the primary risk factors responsible for disease in at least 80% of the patients. Despite the many new diagnostic tools, still more than half of the patients are diagnosed at an advanced tumor stage. Survival rates have not improved significantly in the last 10 years in Germany, and the average 5-year overall survival rate is about 60%. However, a decrease in the survival rate, as observed in the USA, cannot be confirmed for Germany.

Gastric surgery at the department of surgery in Graz*

BACKGROUND: Unlike colon surgery, gastric surgery developed only slowly. Standardized stomach surgery can be said to have begun in 1881 with Billroth's successful gastric resection. The Department of Surgery in Graz was involved in the development and then rapid dissemination of gastric surgery, with respect to both ulcer and cancer surgery. Since the introduction of the modern proton-pump inhibitors, surgery for gastric ulcers today is mainly limited to the treatment of complications. In spite of the worldwide decrease in the incidence of stomach cancer, it is still of great clinical importance in Austria. METHODS: The development of gastric surgery at the Department of Surgery in Graz is presented on the basis of the literature. RESULTS: Still today, the only curative option for stomach cancer is radical surgical removal with lymphadenectomy as indicated. In the period of January 1, 1994 to December 31, 2004, 341 patients with stomach cancer were treated at the Division of General Surgery in Graz; 265 of them could be operated and the average 5-year survival rate was 36% without regard to tumor stage. CONCLUSIONS: It may be said that more than one hundred years of development have led to the standardization and optimization of gastric surgery, and that the contributions of surgeons in Austria and in Graz were considerable.

Are ‘omics of Estrogen Receptors Defining Potential Targets for Breast Cancer Treatment?

Among all neoplasias, breast cancer is certainly one of the worlds most frequently diagnosed malignancies in women. Estrogenic hormones have now been characterized for many years as being key players in regulating breast cancer cell growth. The identification in the 1990s of their cognate receptors (estrogen receptors [ERs]), characterized to act as ligand-dependent transcription factors, opened up a golden path in designing drugs targeting ERs and their downstream actions in order to cure cancer. Although some compounds identified exhibited pathological side effects, these approaches nevertheless led to the successful generation and use of active pharmacologicals including tamoxifen and aromatase – the enzyme which synthesizes estradiol – inhibitors [1,2]. Combined with other therapies, these antihormone treatments allowed an average 5-year relapse free survival rate to reach approximately 70%. However, some cancers do not respond to these treatments. A pioneering general comparative ana lysis of breast cancer-cell transcriptomes, published in 2000, rationalized some hypotheses that were raised from these observations of cancer’s estrogeninsensitivity: approximately 70% of breast cancer cells express ER [3]. Owing to the advances made in genomic technologies, our understanding of breast tumorigenesis has evolved significantly in recent years. What has become clear is that, similar to other cancer types, breast cancer is a complex disease involving many epigenetic mechanisms whose outcome is an alteration of transcriptional regulations. For example, one of the best described epigenetic modifications in breast cancer is an overall methylation of CpGs islands included within gene promoters, accompanied with specific hypomethylation of proto-oncogenes involved in cell proliferation and drug resistance [4,5]. Importantly, the loss or downregulation of ERs is linked to epigenetic

Abstract 5457: Contexts of vulnerability mediating TMZ response in metastatic melanoma

Abstract Metastatic malignant melanoma is an incurable disease with average 5-year survival rates for patients with disseminated disease ranging from 5-18%. Despite the recent development of promising targeted and immunological approaches for treatment of melanoma patients, there remains an urgent need to improve the effectiveness of conventional chemotherapeutics such as TMZ treatment for those patients ineligible or unresponsive to these approaches. We hypothesized that genetic alterations or contexts of vulnerability (COVs) exist in melanoma cells that mediate sensitivity to TMZ, and thus developed RNA-interference-based (RNAi) TMZ chemosensitization assays in melanoma cell lines in order to better understand how to pharmacologically augment TMZ response. First, we extensively developed RNAi sensitization assay in 17 melanoma cell lines followed by screening siRNA kinome library in these cell lines. This screening result, combined with our previous melanoma genomic data (gene expression, aCGH, SNP, and gene mutations), would prioritize the critical essential genes in melanoma. In addition, we profiled 17 melanoma cell lines for TMZ sensitivity and subsequently optimized RNAi screening parameters for detection of TMZ sensitization in one sensitive (UACC903) and four resistant (UACC647, UACC1308, UACC91 and UACC1940) cell lines. We then performed high-throughput RNAi screens with a 7,000 gene siRNA library targeting the druggable genome in these five cell lines. The data from the screens were rigorously evaluated and top TMZ-sensitizing hits were identified and confirmed. Based on these data, we prioritized the ATR/ATM/Chk1 pathway for further evaluation. We tested two Chk1 inhibitors for synergistic effects when combined with TMZ. Notably, both Chk1 inhibitors demonstrated good synergistic effects in the TMZ-resistant cell lines, with moderate/marginal effects in the sensitive line UACC903. These data are consistent with previous reports that inhibition of Chk1 can sensitize TMZ-induced cytotoxicity in glioma cells, and suggest that targeting this pathway in melanoma may augment TMZ response in melanoma. We are presently following up these results across a larger panel of melanoma cell lines, as well as evaluating pharmacological inhibitors of additional TMZ-sensitizing siRNA hits and pathways with the hope that these results may serve as a starting point for the development of novel combination therapies for melanoma patients. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5457. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5457

A 26-Year-Old Male with Mesothelioma Due to Asbestos Exposure

Mesothelioma is a malignancy with poor prognosis, with an average 5-year survival rate being less than 9%. This type of cancer is almost exclusively caused by exposure to asbestos. A long exposure can cause mesothelioma and so can short ones, as each exposure is cumulative. We report a case of a 26-year-old male who was exposed to asbestos during his primary school years from the age of 6 to 12. Although the tumor mainly affects older men who in their youth were occupationally exposed to asbestos, malignant mesothelioma can also occur in young adults. A medical history was carefully taken and asbestos exposure was immediately mentioned by the patient. We conducted biopsy on the right supraclavicular lymph node. The patient was not a candidate for surgery, and chemotherapy treatment was initiated. While patient's chemotherapy is still ongoing, no other similar cases of students or teachers have been traced up to date from his school. The school building was demolished in January 2009.

ERCC1 Expression Analysis to Guide Therapy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Worldwide, lung cancer accounts for approximately 1 million deaths each year, making it the most common cause of cancer-related mortality. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for approximately 85% of lung cancer cases and is often associated with a relatively poor prognosis. The majority of NSCLC patients present with advanced disease and have an average 5-year survival rate of 5%. Currently, the standard of care for NSCLC includes treatment with a platinum-based chemotherapy regimen. However, not all patients benefit equally from such treatment. Therefore, recent pharmacogenomic studies have been performed in order to identify specific biomarkers that may allow for patient-tailored treatment strategies. One such biomarker is expression of the excision repair cross-complementation group 1 protein, ERCC1.

Abstract 2957: Characterization of oral tumors by massively parallel ligation sequencing

Abstract Cancers of the head and neck rank as the 6th most commonly observed cancers worldwide with an average 5-year survival rate of only 50% for advanced disease. Nearly 95% of head and neck cancers are squamous cell carcinomas (SSC) and these are frequently highly invasive metastatic tumors. The newly developing technologies of Next Generation Sequencing have allowed for the most comprehensive genetic analysis of these cancers to date. We have taken 3 tumor/normal pairs from patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and performed full transcriptome and mate-pair DNA sequencing analysis using the AB SOLiD system. These runs generated 129-256 million 50bp long sequence reads per sample, with 21 to 56 million reads per sample uniquely aligning to human genome sequence. Analysis of these samples has revealed pathways with aberrant expression in tumor versus normal tissue. Our results show up-regulation of some metalloproteinase genes, HGMA2, which is a prognostic marker for oral carcinoma, and extracellular matrix, adhesion, and motility gene classes in tumors. Our functional analysis also indicates extensive down-regulation, in the tumors, of genes functioning in epidermal development. We were also able to measure allelic specific expression for the 50% most highly expressed genes and detect examples of allelic imbalance linked to pathways with dysregulated gene expression. Additionally, the depth of sequencing that was achieved (5-16X coverage of RefSeq Exons) also allowed us to detect mutations occurring in the transcripts. We have also detected evidence of RNA editing associated with point mutations, which we are validating in a larger group of samples. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2957.

Prognostic Value of Tumor-Related Molecular Expression in Gastric Carcinoma

In order to identify reliable molecular markers for prognostic prediction in gastric carcinoma, we evaluated the expression of six molecular markers, namely bFGF, IGF-2, HGF, MMP-9, integrin beta3 and uPA in gastric cancer. There was a significant correlation between the expression of these markers and the depth of tumor invasion, vessel invasion, lymph node and distant metastasis, TNM stage and microvessel density. The average survival time and 5-year survival rate of patients with positive expression of molecular markers was higher than those with negative expression. Multivariate analysis showed that abnormal expression of bFGF, MMP-9 and uPA, as well as depth of invasion, lymph node and distant metastasis and TNM stage were independently related to poor prognosis of gastric cancer. MMP-9, bFGF and uPA are potential candidates for development as clinically applicable molecular prognostic markers for gastric carcinoma, and may be effective therapeutic targets for the disease in the future.

Searching for molecular markers in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) by statistical and bioinformatic analysis of larynx-derived SAGE libraries

BackgroundHead and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the most common malignancies in humans. The average 5-year survival rate is one of the lowest among aggressive cancers, showing no significant improvement in recent years. When detected early, HNSCC has a good prognosis, but most patients present metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis, which significantly reduces survival rate. Despite extensive research, no molecular markers are currently available for diagnostic or prognostic purposes.MethodsAiming to identify differentially-expressed genes involved in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) development and progression, we generated individual Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (SAGE) libraries from a metastatic and non-metastatic larynx carcinoma, as well as from a normal larynx mucosa sample. Approximately 54,000 unique tags were sequenced in three libraries.ResultsStatistical data analysis identified a subset of 1,216 differentially expressed tags between tumor and normal libraries, and 894 differentially expressed tags between metastatic and non-metastatic carcinomas. Three genes displaying differential regulation, one down-regulated (KRT31) and two up-regulated (BST2, MFAP2), as well as one with a non-significant differential expression pattern (GNA15) in our SAGE data were selected for real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in a set of HNSCC samples. Consistent with our statistical analysis, quantitative PCR confirmed the upregulation of BST2 and MFAP2 and the downregulation of KRT31 when samples of HNSCC were compared to tumor-free surgical margins. As expected, GNA15 presented a non-significant differential expression pattern when tumor samples were compared to normal tissues.ConclusionTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting SAGE data in head and neck squamous cell tumors. Statistical analysis was effective in identifying differentially expressed genes reportedly involved in cancer development. The differential expression of a subset of genes was confirmed in additional larynx carcinoma samples and in carcinomas from a distinct head and neck subsite. This result suggests the existence of potential common biomarkers for prognosis and targeted-therapy development in this heterogeneous type of tumor.