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Genetic Polymorphisms and Head and Neck Cancer Outcomes: A Review

¹ Community Medicine Residency Program and Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; ² Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Department of Medicine, Princess Margaret Hospital and Division of Applied Molecular Oncology, Department of Medical Biophysics, Ontario Cancer Institute; ³ Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine; ⁴ Biostatistical Unit and ⁵ Department of Radiation Oncology, Princess Margaret Hospital; ⁶ Department of Otolaryngology, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ⁷ Centre de recherche en cancérologie de l'Université Laval, l'Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; and ⁸ Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts

Requests for reprints: Geoffrey Liu, Princess Margaret Hospital, Room 7-124, 610 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 2M9. Phone: 416-946-4501 ext. 3428; Fax: 416-946-6546. E-mail: geoffrey.liu{at}uhn.on.ca

Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients have variable prognoses even within the same clinical stage and while receiving similar treatments. The number of studies of genetic polymorphisms as prognostic factors of HNC outcomes is growing. Candidate polymorphisms have been evaluated in DNA repair, cell cycle, xenobiotic metabolism, and growth factor pathways. Polymorphisms of XRCC1, FGFR, and CCND1 have been consistently associated with HNC survival in at least two studies, whereas most of the other polymorphisms have either conflicting data or were from single studies. Heterogeneity and lack of description of patient populations and lack of accounting for multiple comparisons were common problems in a significant proportion of studies. Despite a large number of exploratory studies, large replication studies in well-characterized HNC populations are warranted. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(3):490–9)