This technology is a set of microRNA-based markers for mortality risk assessment for patients with early stage oral cancer.
Oral cancer is the most common type of head and neck cancer, presenting high mortality rates and growing incidence among younger people. However, there remains a limited understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying the inception and proliferation of oral cancers. In order to better stratify patients with oral cancers based on their mortality risk, prognostic molecular biomarkers of the disease must be identified. Once identified as ‘high-risk’, these individuals can receive additional treatments to improve overall survival.
This technology is a series of prognostic microRNA signatures of oral cancer mortality risk, identified with next generation sequencing. MicroRNA are an attractive candidate for studying oral cancer progression because they regulate many cellular processes disrupted by the disease. The microRNA signatures are incorporated into a 5-plex prognostic model to assign a mortality risk score to patients. As a result, this is a promising tool for identifying mortality risk in oral cancer patients and helping to develop successful treatment protocols for those at high-risk of cancer-specific mortality.
This technology has been validated with heterogeneous populations in the Northeastern US, Midwestern US, and Hawaii.
Yoon AJ*, Wang S, Wang T, Kutler DI, LaRoche D, Philipone E, Peters SM, Hernandez B, McDowell BD, Stewart CR, Santella RM. MicroRNA-based risk scoring system to identify early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma patients at high-risk for cancer-specific mortality. Head Neck 2019 (in press)
IR CU20033
Licensing Contact: Joan Martinez
