gms | German Medical Science

77th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

24.05. - 28.05.2006, Mannheim

Immunohistochemical staining of Ki67 and CD44v6 in oropharynx carcinomas with and without cervical metastasis

Immunhistochemische Färbung von Ki67 und CD44v6 in Oropharynxarzinomen mit und ohne Halslymphknotenmetastasierung

Meeting Abstract

  • corresponding author presenting/speaker Christian Cordes - University ENT Clinic, Kiel, Germany
  • Mareike Hanken - University ENT Clinic, Kiel, Germany
  • Birgit Kasper - University ENT Clinic, Kiel, Germany
  • Christian Vokuhl - Department of Pathology, Kiel, Germany
  • Petra Ambrosch - University ENT Clinic, Kiel, Germany
  • Stefan Gottschlich - University ENT Clinic, Kiel, Germany

German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 77th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Mannheim, 24.-28.05.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. Doc06hno063

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hno2006/06hno063.shtml

Published: September 7, 2006

© 2006 Cordes et al.
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Outline

Text

The exact mechanisms leading to the development of cervical metastasis in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) region are unknown. In carcinomas with N0 nodal status it would be advantageous to have markers to make the decision for elective treatment of cervical lymph nodes easier. At the moment TNM stadium and tumor grading are the most important markers. Identification of biological markers that are involved in metastasis might play a key role in this question to improve therapy and by this also the prognosis of patients with oropharynx carcinoma. Several studies showed that Ki67 and CD44v6 are helpful in predicting the N-status of primary tumors. Therefore we examined the expression of the proliferation marker Ki67 and of the cell adhesion molecule CD44v6 in 125 oropharynx carcinomas without (N0) and with (N+) nodal metastasis. Approximately 30,5% of N0-carcinoma cells were Ki67 positive while approximately 29,8% of N+-carcinoma cells showed positivity with Ki67 antibody. CD44v6 was expressed in 56,2% of tumor cells in N0-oropharynxcarcinomas and in 50,5% of N+ oropharynxcarcinoma cells. There was no statistical significant difference between the two groups. We could show that neither Ki67 nor CD44v6 is able to show significant differences between N0- and N+ oropharynx carcinomas and that those markers are not useful as a prognostic marker for cervical metastasis in oropharyngeal carcinomas.