RESUMO
Objective:To investigate the potential prognostic value of cyclin D1 expression in patients with locally advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and its relationship with taxol (Docetaxel)/cisplatin plus 5-fluorouracil (TPF) induction chemothera-py. Methods:A total of 256 patients with locally advanced OSCC were selected from Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital of Shanghai Ji-ao Tong University School of Medicine between March 2008 and December 2010 as the objects of study in this prospective randomized clinical trial. The effect of TPF induction chemotherapy was investigated. Immunohistochemical staining against cyclin D1 was per-formed in the pretreatment biopsy specimen of the patients. The relationship between cyclin D1 expression and prognostic data of the TPF induction arm and control arm was analyzed. Results:Cyclin D1 expression was detected in 232 out of the 256 patients. Patients with low cyclin D1 expression showed significantly better overall survival (OS) (P=0.001), disease-free survival (DFS) (P=0.003), lo-coregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS) (P=0.004), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) (P=0.001) than those with high cy-clin D1 expression. No significant differences existed in OS, DFS, LRFS, or DMFS between the patients with TPF induction chemother-apy and the control. Cyclin D1 expression levels were not predictive of the benefit from TPF induction chemotherapy in the overall pop-ulation. However, patients with nodal stage cN2 and high cyclin D1 expression, who were undergoing TPF chemotherapeutic regimen, showed significantly higher OS (P=0.024) and DMFS (P=0.024) than cN2 patients with high cyclin D1 expression but undergoing stan-dard surgical treatment. Conclusion:Cyclin D1 can be used as a prognostic biomarker for patients with locally advanced OSCC. Fur-thermore, cN2 OSCC patients with high cyclin D1 expression can receive long-term benefit from the addition of TPF induction chemo-therapy to standard surgical treatment.