Background: Genome analysis could provide tools to assess predictive molecular biomarkers of radioresistance.
Methods: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients included in ProfiLER study and who underwent a curative radiotherapy were screened. Univariate and Cox multivariate analyses were performed to explore the relationships between molecular abnormalities, infield relapse and complete tumor response after radiation.
Results: One hundred and forty-three patients were analyzed. PIK3CA mutation and genomic instability of MAP kinases pathway were found to be prognostic factors of loco-regional relapse in multivariate analysis with respectively HR 0.33, 95% CI 0.13-0.83, p = 0.005 and HR 0.61, 95% CI 0.38-0.96, p = 0.025. Instability of apoptosis pathway was found to be a prognostic factor of complete response after radiotherapy with HR 0.24, 95% CI 0.07-0.88, p = 0.04.
Conclusion: This sub analysis suggests that PIK3CA mutation, variation of copy number of MAP kinases and apoptosis pathways play a significant role in the radioresistance phenomenon.
Keywords: MAP kinases; PIK3CA; apoptosis; genome profiling; head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; radioresistance.
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