Abstract
Patients affected by squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) show frequent occurrence of multiple cancers and widespread precancerous lesions in the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract, a phenomenon known as field cancerization. In this study, we investigated the role of genetic instability in the development of HNSCC and in particular in tumour multiplicity phenomena of the upper respiratory tract. For this purpose, we analysed microsatellite instability (MI) and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at 20 loci mapping on five chromosomal arms in 67 HNSCC patients, 45 of whom had a single cancer and 22 had multiple primary tumours. The possible involvement of the hMLH1 gene in genetic instability and as a potential target of 3p21 deletion phenomena in head and neck cancers was also investigated. Our data indicate that mismatch repair-related genetic instability plays a minor role in the carcinogenesis of HNSCC and in tumour multiplicity of the head and neck region. Moreover, our results exclude a role for the hMLH1 gene as a determinant of MI and as a specific gene target of deletion at 3p21 in HNSCC. We conclude that presumably other genetic mechanisms, such as those hypothesized for MI-negative hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer patients, may play a major role in the carcinogenesis of the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 24 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $10.79 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Piccinin, S., Gasparotto, D., Vukosavljevic, T. et al. Microsatellite instability in squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck related to field cancerization phenomena. Br J Cancer 78, 1147–1151 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1998.644
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1998.644
This article is cited by
-
Downregulation of CRNN gene and genomic instability at 1q21.3 in oral squamous cell carcinoma
Clinical Oral Investigations (2015)
-
Identification and experimental validation of G protein alpha inhibiting activity polypeptide 2 (GNAI2) as a microRNA-138 target in tongue squamous cell carcinoma
Human Genetics (2011)
-
The clinical relevance of microsatellite alterations in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a critical review
European Journal of Human Genetics (2007)
-
Analysis of adenomatous polyposis coli gene expression, APC locus-microsatellite instability and APC promoter methylation in the progression of melanocytic tumours
Modern Pathology (2004)
-
Genetic alterations in head and neck cancer: interactions among environmental carcinogens, cell cycle control, and host DNA repair
Current Oncology Reports (2001)