|
|
British Journal of Cancer (2007) 97, 670-677.
doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6603907 www.bjcancer.com Published online 7 August 2007
Expression of CC chemokine receptor 7 in tonsillar cancer predicts cervical nodal metastasis, systemic relapse and survival
L Pitkin1, S Luangdilok2, C Corbishley3, P O G Wilson3, P Dalton3, D Bray1, S Mady1, P Williamson1, T Odutoye1, P Rhys Evans4, K N Syrigos4, C M Nutting1,4, Y Barbachano5, S Eccles2 and K J Harrington1,4,6
1Thomas Tatum Head and Neck Unit, St George's Hospital, London, UK
2The Institute of Cancer Research, McElwain Laboratories, Sutton, UK
3Department of Cellular Pathology, St George's Hospital, London, UK
4Head and Neck Unit, Royal Marsden Hospital, London, UK
5Statistics Unit, Royal Marsden Hospital, London, UK
6The Institute of Cancer Research, Chester Beatty Laboratories, London, UK
Correspondence to: Dr KJ Harrington, Targeted Therapy Laboratory, The Institute of Cancer Research, Cancer Research UK Centre for Cell and Molecular Biology, Chester Beatty Laboratories, 237 Fulham Road, London SW3 6JB, UK. E-mail: kevinh@icr.ac.uk
Received 10 January 2007; revised 28 June 2007; accepted 29 June 2007; published online 7 August 2007
The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of CC chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) in squamous cell cancer of the tonsil with respect to patterns of spread, relapse-free, overall and disease-specific survival. Eighty-four patients with squamous cell cancer of the tonsil were identified. There was a male predominance of 3 : 1 and the median age at diagnosis was 53 (range 35-86) years. The median duration of follow-up was 33 (range 2-124) months. There was a significant association between CCR7 immunopositivity and synchronous cervical nodal metastasis in patients with tonsillar cancer (Spearman's correlation coefficient 0.564; P<0.001). Relapse-free (P=0.0175), overall (P=0.0136) and disease-specific (P=0.0062) survival rates were significantly lower in patients whose tumours expressed high levels of CCR7. On multivariate analysis, high-level CCR7 staining predicted relapse-free (hazard ratio 3.0, 95% confidence intervals 1.1-8.0, P=0.026) and disease-specific (hazard ratio 10.2, 95% confidence intervals 2.1-48.6, P=0.004) survival. Fifteen percent of patients with the highest level of tumour CCR7 immunopositivity relapsed with systemic metastases. These data demonstrated that CCR7 expression was associated with cervical nodal and systemic metastases from tonsillar cancers. High levels of CCR7 expression predicted a poor prognosis.
Keywords: CCR7; chemokine receptor; head and neck cancer; metastasis; survival; tonsil
back to top  |
| Article links | |
| ||
| ||
 | Send to a friend | |
 | Download PDF | |
| ||
| ||
| ||
 | Full text | |
| ||
| ||
| ||
 | Preceding article | |
 | Next article | |
 | Table of Contents | |
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
|
|
|
|
| |||
| Print ISSN: 0007-0920 | Online ISSN: 1532-1827 | © 2007 Cancer Research UK | ||
| |||
| Privacy Policy | |||