Methods of diagnosing and prognosing cancers of the head and neck

Abstract

Methods are provided for diagnosing, prognosing, and treating cancers expressing SSTR2, in particular cancers of the head and neck, such as skull base malignancies, head and neck cancers and brain cancers, such as nasopharyngeal cancer and olfactory neuroblastoma. Provided is a non-invasive imaging method, where an imaging agent is administered to an individual with a tumor; where said imaging agent is then quantified within the tumor using PET-CT imaging to provide an indirect measurement of somatostatin receptor expression and to serve as a prognostic biomarker and companion diagnostic biomarker for treatment stratification in sinonasal cancers. Also provided are methods to directly measure SSTR2 expression from biopsied tumors. These methods robustly identify which patients will have increased rates of survival based on indirect and/or direct measurements of the level of expression of somatostatin receptors in tumors. In some embodiments, prognostic power of the non-invasive imaging method can be further increased by utilizing immunohistochemical analysis of tumor biopsies. In some embodiments, the methods further comprise selecting a treatment regimen for the individual based on the analysis.

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