Prognostic significance of plasma osteopontin in patients with loco-regionally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma treated on TROG 02.02 Phase III trial. Authors

Title Prognostic significance of plasma osteopontin in patients with loco-regionally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma treated on TROG 02.02 Phase III trial. Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Prognostic significance of plasma osteopontin in HNSCC. There are no conflicts of interest to declare. Total number of figures and tables: 3 figures (10 images) and 1 table. Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Hypoxia is an adverse factor associated with poor outcome and treatment resistance in head and neck cancers (HNC). There is a need to identify biomarkers of tumor hypoxia that could assist in selection of patients for hypoxia targeted therapy. Plasma osteopontin (OPN) has been reported to be a putative marker of hypoxia in HNC and to be predictive of response to a hypoxic sensitiser. Here, we present the largest body of unbiased evidence from a phase III international prospective study investigating the role of OPN in HNC and the only study assessing its role in the HPV (p16INK4A) negative population. We found no evidence that OPN was a predictive or prognostic marker in unselected patients or in the p16INK4A negative group. This suggests further investigation of OPN as a hypoxic marker in HNC is unlikely to be productive and highlights this as an area of ongoing need. Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. ABSTRACT Background