Detecting Head and Neck Cancers in Time


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- Detecting Head and Neck Cancers in Time

- New test focuses on signature protein patterns

MONDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDayNews) -- Newly discovered signature protein patterns may enable earlier detection of certain head and neck cancers, says a study in the January issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology.

Despite advances in treating head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC), there has been little progress in improving survival rates. One reason for this is that HNSCC is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. Early diagnosis is essential for successful treatment, but there is no accepted screening test for HNSCC.

The new technology rapidly screens blood samples for multiple protein biomarkers of disease. Researchers from Eastern Virginia Medical School tested with this new technology, and it could help identify protein signatures specific to people with HNSCC.

They screened 99 people with HNSCC, 25 "healthy" smokers, and 102 healthy people used as a control group.

The researchers identified several protein profiles that were more common in people with HNSCC than in the healthy smokers or the control group.

Using these protein patterns to develop a classification system, the researchers distinguished with high accuracy (80 percent to 92 percent) between people with HNSCC and people in the other two groups.

"We propose that this technique may allow for the development of a reliable screening test for the early detection and diagnosis of HNSCC, as well as the potential identification of tumor biomarkers," the researchers write.

More information

Here's where you can learn more about head and neck cancer.

- --Robert Preidt

- SOURCE: JAMA/Archives journals, news release, Jan. 19, 2004

- This is a story from HealthDay, a service of ScoutNews, LLC.

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