Transcriptional activity of human epidermal growth factor receptor family and angiogenesis effectors in locoregionally recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and correlation with patient outcome

Abstract

Locoregional recurrence is the most common failure pattern in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). We retrospectively identified 41 HNSCC patients with locoregional relapse and used kinetic reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (kRT-PCR) in order to study fresh-frozen tumour messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of the Human Epidermal growth factor family members HER1-4, the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors (VEGFs) A, B, C, D, and their receptors VEGFR1, 2, 3. High VEGF-C and VEGFR3 tumour mRNA expression correlated with relapse beyond the primary locus (neck nodes or soft tissues, P