Diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Classical prognostic factors for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) are based on general parameters such as tumor stage or histological grading and only allow for a rough estimation of the clinical course. However, predicting individual responses to treatment remains challenging and diverging clinical courses of same-stage HNSCC stage remain obscure. The need for a better understanding of the individual genomic or proteomic signature of HNSCC resulted in a great number of publications on novel biomarkers. Still, in most cancer centres therapy planning and risk appraisal are solely based on the classical factors with only a few exceptions such as HPV status in oropharyngeal carcinoma. Future improvements in biomarker research will probably be achieved with sets of various genomic and proteomic markers as provided by microarray technology. This review highlights the criteria for a successful biomarker candidate, gives an overview on the most important new biomarkers, and introduces the principles of genomic and proteomic biomarker chips.