Head and neck cancer: Markers to facilitate better treatment in the future

Malignant tumours in the head and neck region are very heterogeneous and therefore difficult to treat. In addition, the lack of prognostic markers is a significant impediment to personalised treatment. A joint study by MedUni Vienna and the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Applied Metabolomics focused on the development and identification of specific markers to improve risk assessment for patients. The study was published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. So far, only limited research has been done on the genetic characteristics of the extremely diverse tumours in the head and neck region. There are also no suitable parameters for risk assessment in high-risk patients. This is the context for the recent study conducted by the research team led by Lukas Kenner from MedUni Vienna's Clinical Institute of Pathology and Alexander Haug from MedUni Vienna's Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine in cooperation with the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Metabolomics and its corporate partner Siemens Healtheneers. Based on DNA sequencing of 127 tissue samples from affected patients, the researchers analysed the cellular characteristics of the tumours using artificial intelligence (AI) and positron emission tomography (PET) as an imaging method. The aim of the retrospective study (lead author Clemens Spielvogel) was to calculate specific numbers that can be used as markers for risk assessment in patients by combining the data from the genetic analysis and imaging. Calculated on the basis of genetics and imaging