Radiographic muscle invasion not a recurrence predictor in HPV-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether muscle invasion evident on pretreatment imaging in p16 + oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) correlates with recurrence. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective review. METHODS: Two-hundred and seventy-six patients with p16 + OPSCC treated at a tertiary referral center from 2003 to 2015 were analyzed. All scans were reviewed by a dedicated neuroradiologist with subspecialty expertise in head and neck imaging. Radiographic evidence of muscle invasion to the genioglossus, hyoglossus, medial pterygoid, and prevertebral muscles was analyzed. Local and regional recurrence rates were compared between the muscle invasion and no muscle invasion groups. RESULTS: One hundred and ninety patients met inclusion criteria with adequate follow-up data and pretreatment imaging. Patients were predominantly male (87.5% male) and smokers (65.6% smokers) with a mean age of 56.7 (standard deviation: 9.0 years). Most commonly invaded muscles in the muscle invasion group were hyoglossus (57.8%) and genioglossus (56.3%). There was no statistically significant difference in primary site or nodal recurrence between the combined group, including definite or possible muscle invasion and the group without muscle invasion (P = 0.205 and P = 0.569, respectively). Additionally, no statistically significant difference was present in recurrence-free and disease-specific survival between the two groups at 3- and 5-year follow-up (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Radiographic evidence of muscle invasion does not appear to be a predictor of human papilloma virus (+) OPSCC recurrence. Additional studies are needed to validate our findings. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4 Laryngoscope, 129:871-876, 2019.

Laryngeal muscle surface receptors identified using random phage library.

OBJECTIVES: The ultimate goal of this study is to improve the efficiency of gene transfer in mammalian muscle by developing targeted adenoviral vectors. Altering the tropism of viral vectors to recognize tissue specific antigens is one method to achieve this goal. This approach requires identification of cell-surface receptors and the insertion of target peptide sequences into the adenoviral fiber protein. In this study, phage biopanning was performed on cultured rat skeletal and laryngeal muscle to identify cell-surface receptors. STUDY DESIGN: In vitro cell culture and in vivo animal model. METHODS: M-13 Phage biopanning was used for muscle cell-surface receptor analysis on cultured rat skeletal and laryngeal muscle. Nonbinding and binding phage to cultured skeletal and laryngeal muscle were screened for muscle specific surface peptides. In vivo studies were then performed using muscle specific phage. RESULTS: Skeletal muscle specific binding by the YASTNPM phage was observed by in vivo immunostaining. Phage titering demonstrated a 10(9)-fold increase in skeletal muscle binding compared with nontarget tissue. A peptide sequence (NPSQVKH) specific for laryngeal muscle yielded a 10(7)-fold increase in laryngeal muscle phage titer compared with nontarget tissue. CONCLUSIONS: These results identify muscle cell-surface receptors that may be used as potential targets for genetic modification of adenovirus tropism. Moreover, phage specificity for skeletal and laryngeal muscle indicates specific muscle groups may be targeted.