BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF LARYNGEAL SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMA

The traditional prognostic factors, including stage of disease and tum our grade, have shown a limited prognostic significance and an inabili ty to predict clinical response to specific treatment in patients with laryngeal squamous-cell carcinoma. More recent data suggest that cell kinetics indices, DNA-ploidy, lysosomal cysteine proteinase expressio n adn genetic changes of both tumour suppressor genes and protooncogen es may be considered as reliable and reproducible indicators of biolog ical aggressiveness in these patients. Moreover, the frequency of diff erent genetic alterations suggests that several pathways are involved in the genesis of these neoplasias and, in particularly, it is very pr obable that p-53 expression and PCNA indices (increased in normal muco sa and preinvasive lesions) may constitute more important biomarkers f or the early steps of laryngeal carcinogenesis.