Prognostic and Predictive Protein Biomarkers in Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma—A Systematic Review

Background: Despite recent advances in clinical management of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), the overall 5-year survival continues to be poor. Consequently, biomarkers of treatment response will need to be identified. Proteomic strategies are one way to attempt to identify such biomarkers. Methods: The Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library databases were systematically searched until 1st March 2014 using the terms “larynx”, “squamous cell carcinoma”, “proteomic”, and “biomarker”. Articles which met inclusion criteria were assessed for the type of biomarker investigated, the proteomic technique used, and whether any validation had been performed. Results: Six studies identified biomarkers, including UCRP, ceramides, uPA, MT1-MMP, stratifin, transferrin, albumin, S100 calcium-binding protein A9, stathmin, enolase, PLAU, IGFBP7, MMP14, THBS1, and transthyretin. Transferrin was the only biomarker to appear in more than one study. Conclusions: Our review identified several potential biomarkers of outcome in LSCC. Well designed studies will need to further validate their use in the future.