Abstract. Over 2,200 cases of carcinoma of the larynx are diagnosed in the UK annually, with an overall 5-year survival rate of 67%. Angiogenesis is vital for the growth and metastasis of solid tumours and the expression of key angiogenesis-related proteins has been shown to be of prognostic significance. In this study we reported the expression of key angiogenesis-related factors, selected from a pilot array study, in a cohort of laryngeal tumours and associated metastatic lymph nodes. Forty patients diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx were recruited. Tissue specimens were obtained intra-operatively, prior to chemo-and/or radiotherapy, from the tumours and secondary lymph nodes. The patient group comprised 32 men and 8 women with a mean age of 68 years (range, 51-89 years). The relative expression of the angiogenesis-related proteins angiogenin, interleukin (IL)-8, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-basic and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP3) was determined in the tissue lysates by ELISA. The expression of angiogenin was higher in early-stage compared with late-stage tumours (P=0.034) and the expression of IGFBP3 was higher in tumours compared with the metastatic lymph nodes (P=0.016). No statistically significant differences were recorded for VEGF, FGF, TIMP-1 or IL-8 between tumour stages or primary tumours and lymph nodes. To the best of our knowledge, this study was the first to investigate multiple angiogenic factors in the lysates of laryngeal carcinomas and metastatic nodes and identified angiogenin and IGFBP3 as factors possibly involved in tumour progression. A greater understanding of their function may offer novel prognostic and/or therapeutic options.

Malignant tumours of myofibroblasts are rare lesions. Post radiation sarcoma is a rare potential late sequel of ionizing radiation. We present the first case of myofibrosarcoma of the hypopharynx in a 67-year-old man, occurring 16 years after radiotherapy for laryngeal carcinoma.

Abstract. The expression of angiogenesis-related proteins was determined in laryngeal tumour tissue, associated tumour involved lymph nodes, apparently normal mucosa and control tissue and were related to tumour stage. Both laryngeal tumour tissue and associated metastatic nodes were obtained from seven patients undergoing surgical resection; in four cases apparently normal mucosa was also dissected from the tumour specimen margins. Control uvula mucosa was obtained from five healthy volunteers undergoing uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. The relative expression of 55 angiogenesis-related proteins was determined in tissue lysates using a Proteome Profiler human angiogenesis array kit. The level of 32/55 angiogenesis-related proteins was higher in tumour tissue compared with controls. Furthermore, in these tumour biopsies higher levels of proteins were associated with increasing tumour stage. A similar trend was seen for 29/32 of these proteins in the nodal tissue. In T4 stage tumour tissue samples, 29/55 angiogenensis-related proteins were more highly expressed compared with the adjacent normal mucosa from the same patient, and this decreased to 8 proteins in tumour tissue from the T1 stage patients. In contrast, the expression of 23 angiogenesis-related proteins in metastatic lymph node tissue from T4 stage patients was lower compared with that found in the normal mucosa adjacent to the tumour. In conclusion, this study has identified a number of factors involved in angiogenesis that are likely to contribute to the growth and metastasis of laryngeal tumours. Furthermore, a number of factors were also substantially altered in metastatic deposits compared with the primary tumour mass or adjacent normal tissue. This study requires confirmatory analysis of the selected key factors in a larger cohort of patients.