This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Partridge, M. Articles by Langdon, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Partridge, M. Articles by Langdon, J.

Profiling Clonality and Progression in Multiple Premalignant and Malignant Oral Lesions Identifies a Subgroup of Cases with a Distinct Presentation of Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Maxillofacial Surgery/Oncology, King’s College Hospital, London SE5 8RX, United Kingdom

A cohort of head and neck cancer patients, without exposure to tobacco and alcohol, presented with multiple preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions, the natural history of which may span several decades. Examination of these cases provides an opportunity to study the relationship between genetic, morphological, and clonal progression in these fields and establish whether they represent a unique presentation of squamous cell carcinoma. The presence of a common novel microsatellite allele, a common breakpoint or concordant allelic imbalance at multiple loci, reveals that a high proportion of these serial lesions arise due to spread of a precursor. The tumors arising in these patients were typically nonaggressive, although metastases developed at a late stage, supporting the notion that the genotype results in a phenotype with a propensity for lateral spread, rather than invasion. Different genetic aberrations were detected in morphologically similar phenotypes such that no consistent early or late events were associated with development of premalignant lesions. Combining information about the clinicopathological features and histological examination of the margins with that derived from clonality analysis reveals that a subgroup of patients, without exposure to the traditional risk factors associated with this disease, developed multiple clonally related oral lesions and represents a unique presentation of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. We suggest the term clonal cancerization to describe multiple premalignant and malignant lesions when there is conclusive evidence that they arise due to lateral spread from a common precursor.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B Perez-Ordonez, M Beauchemin, and R C K Jordan Molecular biology of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. J. Clin. Pathol., May 1, 2006; 59(5): 445 - 453. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Mao A New Marker Determining Clonal Outgrowth Clin. Cancer Res., July 1, 2002; 8(7): 2021 - 2023. [Full Text] [PDF]