Clinical relevance of oncogene expression in head and neck tumours

A study was undertaken to determine whether the variation in the increased expression of three oncogenes (Ha-ras, Ki-ras and myc) could be correlated with various clinicopathological parameters of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck region. No correlation was found with sex, age, site of primary tumour, level of differentiation of the tumour, previous X-ray treatment, or fate. The one exception was myc expression with TNM staging of SCC. A significant increase was found for myc expression in TNM Stage III and IV as compared to the combined stages of I and II. Elevated expression of Ha-ras, Ki-ras and myc oncogenes was found in pleomorphic salivary adenoma (PSA), but at a lower level than SCC. It is proposed that in a percentage of cases the elevated expression of these oncogenes in PSA corresponds to a relatively early event in the multistep process of carcinogenesis.