Allelic loss and tumor pathology in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Allelic loss is a common occurrence in head and neck tumors and has been shown to be an independent predictor of prognosis; however, the relationship between allelic loss and tumor pathology is not well-known. We studied 139 patients who were newly diagnosed with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck to determine whether tumor pathology was correlated with allelic loss at one or more of eight different regions on chromosomes 3p, 5q, 8p, 9p, 10p, 18q, and 21q. At each chromosomal region, loss of heterozygosity at any one of three or four highly polymorphic microsatellite markers that spanned the region in question was considered evidence for allelic loss.