Prognostic value of some tumor markers in unresectable stage IV oropharyngeal carcinoma patients treated with concomitant radiochemotherapy

BACKGROUND The aim of the study was to investigate how the expression of tumor markers p21, p27, p53, cyclin D1, EGFR, Ki-67, and CD31 influenced the outcome of advanced inoperable oropharyngeal carcinoma patients, treated with concomitant radiochemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS The pretreatment biopsy specimens of 74 consecutive patients with inoperable stage IV oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma treated with concomitant radiochemotherapy were in retrospective study processed by immunochemistry for p21, p27, p53, cyclin D1, EGFR, Ki-67, and CD31. Disease-free survival (DFS) was assessed according to the expression of tumor markers. RESULTS Patients with a high expression of p21 (≥10%), p27 (>50%), Ki-67 (>50%), CD31 (>130 vessels/mm2) and low expression of p53 (<10%), cyclin D1 (<10%) and EGFR (<10%) (favorable levels - FL) had better DFS than patients with a low expression of p21 (<10%), p27 (≤50%), Ki-67 (≤50%), CD31 (<130 vessels/mm2) and high expression of p53 (≥10%), cyclin D1 (≥10%) and EGFR (≥10%) (unfavorable levels - UL). However, statistical significance in survival between FL and UL was achieved only for p27 and cyclin D1. DFS significantly decreased with an increasing number of markers with an unfavorable level per tumor (1-4 vs. 5-7) (78% vs. 32%, respectively; p = 0.004). The number of markers per tumor with UL of expression retained prognostic significance also in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS Statistical significance in survival between FL and UL emerged only for p27 and cyclin D1. The number of markers per tumor with UL of expression was an independent prognostic factor for an adverse outcome.