New York researchers identified genetic markers that signal poor outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer, according to UPI. The findings, published in the American Journal of Pathology, could one day lead to a genetic test that could help select or predict successful treatment options for patients with tumors in the mouth, throat or larynx. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are the main treatment options but cause serious side effects that can affect quality of life. Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University focused on microRNAs, a recently identified class of short RNA molecules that play key roles in regulating gene expression. Abnormal microRNA levels have been associated with all types of cancer. The Einstein team analyzed samples from 104 head and neck cancer patients from Montefiore Medical Center, The University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for Einstein. The patients were treated and tracked for five years. At the time of cancer diagnosis and before any therapy, researchers removed samples tumor tissue from patients, as well as normal tissue adjacent to the tumor and measured microRNA levels in the two types of tissue.
