Péter Révész

Effects of cytochrome P450 1A1 and uridine-diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 allelic polymorphisms on the risk of development and the prognosis of head and neck cancers.

We studied the effect of allelic polymorphisms of cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) and uridine-diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 (UGT1A1) on the risk of development of head and neck cancers and overall survival. One hundred and forty-two head and neck cancer patients (48 with laryngeal, 42 with hypopharyngeal and 52 with mesopharyngeal tumours) were included in the study. The control group (150 individuals) included volunteers without malignant tumours. There was no statistically significant difference in age, sex distribution, or smoking habits between the two groups. The participants were genotyped for the CYP1A1 isoleucine/valine (Ile/Val) polymorphism in exon 7 and for the UGT1A1 thymine–adenine-repeat polymorphism (*1 and *28 alleles) in the promoter region of the gene. The effect of the allelic variants on survival was studied using the log-rank test, whereas the &khgr;2-test and odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to compare the allelic frequencies between patients and controls. Our study revealed a significant link between the occurrence of the CYP1A1 Ile/Val, Val/Val (OR: 1.72, 95% CI: 1.02–2.96, P=0.044) and UGT1A1*28 alleles (OR: 2.74, 95% CI: 1.45–5.18, P=0.002) and an increased risk of head and neck cancers. These alleles decreased the duration of survival significantly (P=0.018 and 0.006). The survival was significantly more strongly reduced when the two high-risk alleles were carried simultaneously (OR: 2.149, 95% CI: 1.111–4.157, P=0.001). Our results suggest that the use of the CYP1A1 Ile/Val and Val/Val variants and UGT1A1*28 as biomarkers can aid risk assessment while their prognostic value can aid planning of individual therapy.

Childhood Laryngeal Rhabdomyosarcoma Causing Acute Airway Obstruction

A 17-year-old boy was urgently referred to the ENT Department of Pécs University with a 2-week history of inspiratory stridor, irritative cough, and respiratory distress. Flexible nasal endoscopy revealed a papilloma-like subglottic growth almost totally obstructing the laryngotracheal lumen (Figure 1). During an urgent microlaryngoscopy, the tumor mass was resected endolaryngeally with a CO 2 laser, and the tumor bed was vaporized with a KTP laser until the skeleton of the arytenoid cartilage restored patent

Erratum to: Diagnostic value of cone-beam CT in histologically confirmed otosclerosis

The authors have missed to include a statement in the ‘‘Materials and methods’’ section of the published article. The statement is as follows: All stapes surgeries were performed at the ENT Department of Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Hospital, Budapest, Hungary, and stapes footplates were collected and histologically managed from April 2012 until May 2013 at University of Debrecen, Medical and Health Science Center, Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Debrecen, Hungary.

[MicroRNA expression profiles in squamous cell carcinomas of the meso- and hypopharynx].

INTRODUCTION MicroRNAs play a role in carcinogenesis through their genome regulatory function. AIM The aim of the authors was to identify and compare microRNA expression signatures of meso- and hypopharynx squamous cell cancers on the basis of the cancer field hypothesis. METHOD Using standard mapping biopsy (tumour tissue and macroscopically normal tissues obtained 1, 2 and 3 cm from margin) 13 snap frozen sample series were analysed for microRNA expression with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS MiR-221 was significantly overexpressed in mesopharynx cancers, whole miR-21, miR-143 and miR-155 showed significant overexpression in hypopharynx cancers. CONCLUSIONS Using microRNA expression profiles the authors were able to distinguish peritumoural tissues according to distance from the primary tumour site. Future application of the method may prove to be useful in early detection of the altered epigenetic regulation in tissue fields representing normal phenotype. This may be helpful in cancer risk assessment and prevention.

Application of ionomer cement onto the stapedial footplate: Impact on the perilymphatic aluminum level

From an acoustic aspect, fixation of the medial end of an ossicular replacement prosthesis to the stapedial footplate would be desirable. Technically, ionomer cement seems an ideal material for this purpose. The objective was to determine the aluminum level of the perilymph after the application of ionomer cement on the stapedial footplate.