Tumour markers and radiological examinations in the follow-up of patients with oral cancer

Current concepts of surveillance and its significance in head and neck cancer

Follow-up in head and neck cancer (hNC) is essential to detect and manage locoregional recurrence or metastases, or second primary tumours at the earliest opportunity. A variety of guidelines and investigations have been published in the literature. This has led to oncologists using different guidelines across the globe. The follow-up protocols may have unnecessary investigations that may cause morbidity or discomfort to the patient and may have significant cost implications. In this evidence-based review we have tried to evaluate and address important issues like the frequency of follow-up visits, clinical and imaging strategies adopted, and biochemical methods used for the purpose. This review summarises strategies for follow-up, imaging modalities and key investigations in the literature published between 1980 and 2009. A set of recommendations is also presented for cost-effective, simple yet efficient surveillance in patients with head and neck cancer.

The use of surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry to detect putative breast cancer markers in saliva: a feasibility study

BACKGROUND

Technologies are now available enabling saliva to be used to diagnose disease, predict disease progression, and monitor therapeutic efficacy. This pilot study describes the use of surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI) to detect putative breast cancer markers in saliva.

METHODS

Salivary specimens were analyzed as either pooled cancer saliva specimens, or individual specimens from healthy women and women diagnosed with carcinoma of the breast. The specimens were applied to a variety of protein chip arrays, washed extensively to remove unbound analytes and analyzed on a SELDI mass spectrometer.

RESULTS

The results of this initial study suggest that the WCX protein chip array prepared and washed at pH 3.5 yielded the most promising results. Additionally, the analyses revealed a number of proteins that were higher in intensity among the cancer subjects when compared with controls. These salivary proteins were present at the 18, 113, 170, 228 and 287 km/z ranges using SELDI analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

The study suggests that saliva may be useful for high-throughput biomarker discovery.

Isolation and characterisation of adenoid squamous carcinoma cells highly producing SCC antigen and CEA from carcinoma of the maxillary sinus

A serially transplantable adenoid squamous carcinoma tumour line (SCCMM) derived from carcinoma of the maxillary sinus of a 56-year-old male with high serum levels of SCC antigen (SCC-Ag) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was established in athymic nude mice. Nude mouse tumours produced by transplantation of operated material showed similar histological features to those of the original tumour and expression of SCC-Ag and CEA immunohistochemically. In addition, SCC-Ag and CEA in sera of tumour-bearing nude mice were detected at high levels in proportion to the relative tumour weight. The primary cultured tumour cells demonstrated the expression of SCC-Ag and CEA and the production of these antigens into culture medium. The serum levels of these tumour antigens were decreased concomitant with tumour regression by antitumour drug administration. Therefore, this tumour line and its cultured cells could provide a useful model for investigation of the relationship between tumour growth and expression of these tumour antigens.