Simple blood tests could help doctors pick better treatments for head and neck cancer
Researchers propose combining standard cancer staging with quick, inexpensive blood tests that measure inflammation markers to personalize treatment decisions for head and neck cancer patients. If validated clinically, the approach could improve outcomes while reducing costs—a significant advantage for healthcare systems struggling with cancer care expenses.
Originaltitel: The use of rapid and cost-effective blood-based biomarkers in combination with tumour TNM stage for individual head and neck cancer patient treatment selection
<p>Head and neck (Hamp;N) cancer is an aggressive disease and the incidence has increased in younger population worldwide. Tumour TNM staging is the main basis for treatment decision despite significant variation in clinical outcome. Survival time of these patients has marginally improved during the last 30 years. Various biomarkers with cumbersome analysis, high cost, time consumption and requirement of special laboratory facilities have been investigated. However, none of these biomarkers have been shown to be suitable to use for individual Hamp;N cancer patient treatment selection in the clinic. For practical use in clinical settings, the given biomarkers must be simple to analyse, rapid, cost effective and available in routine laboratories. With this intension, we suggested the combination of standard TNM staging and biomarkers associated with inflammation such as neutrophils, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, plasma C-reactive protein or plasma tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFa) and single-nucleotide polymorphism in TNFa rs1800629 using blood-based analysis. The optimal treatment outcome of Hamp;N cancer by using combination of TNM stage and these blood-based biomarkers for individual patient selection need further investigation.</p>