2005 Volume 14 Issue 2 Pages 168-169
The objective of our study was to assess the possibility of prognostication and monitoring of oral squamous cell carcinoma by microsatellite blood assay. DNA from normal and tumorous tissues and serum DNA obtained at three time points (preoperatively, postoperatively, and 4 weeks postoperatively) from 64 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma was examined at nine microsatellite loci. Thirty-eight (59%) DNA samples from tumorous tissues and 52% from serum showed allelic imbalances in at least one locus. Patterns of allelic imbalances in serum DNA were matched to those detected in tumor DNA. Of them, allelic imbalances were frequently detected preoperatively (44%, 28/64), and postoperatively (20%, 13/64). Moreover, among 12 cases with allelic imbalances during the postoperative period, six had no evidence of an allelic imbalance 4 weeks postoperatively, and they had no recurrence and were disease free. In contrast, six patients with allelic imbalance-positive DNA 4 weeks postoperatively have died with distant metastasis within 44 weeks. Thus, our results suggest that the assessment of microsatellite status in serum DNA could be a useful predictive tool to monitor disease prognosis.
