Updated racial disparities in incidence, clinicopathological features and prognosis of hypopharyngeal squamous carcinoma in the United States

Disparities in Survival of Head and Neck Cancer in the Hispanic Population: Systematic-Review and Meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

The Hispanic health paradox (HHP), the observation that Hispanic people in the United States often experience better health outcomes than non-Hispanic people despite having worse prognostic factors, has not been evaluated for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), a malignancy with marked racial disparities in outcomes. The objective of this study is to evaluate the HHP within the context of HNSCC.

DATA SOURCES

CINAHL, PubMed, and Scopus.

REVIEW METHODS

Studies that compared survival between Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients with HNSCC in the United States were included. Meta-analysis of adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was conducted to compare overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) between Hispanic white (HW) and non-Hispanic white (NHW) patients with HNSCC.

RESULTS

Of 2106 unique abstracts reviewed, 25 studies were included in the systematic review and 22 in the meta-analysis. Among the 657,185 patients in the meta-analysis, 6.9% (95% CI: 5.8%-8.3%) were of Hispanic ethnicity. HW patients had improved OS relative to NHW patients (aHR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.86-0.94) among the 17 studies reporting OS and improved CSS relative to NHW patients (aHR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.80-0.94) among the 4 studies reporting this outcome.

CONCLUSION

HW people with HNSCC exhibit improved survival relative to NHW people with HNSCC, supporting the HHP in the context of HNSCC. Research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms, which could provide insights into improving outcomes for all patients with HNSCC.

The prognosis and treatment of newly diagnosed bone metastasis of head and neck squamous cell cancer: an analysis of racial disparity

OBJECTIVE

There is a lack of research investigating racial disparity in newly diagnosed head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with isolated bone metastases (HNSCC-BM). This study aims to investigate the clinical characteristics and prognostic factors in HNSCC-BM patients from different racial backgrounds to aid clinical decision making and management.

METHODS

We retrieved data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database for 345 cases of HNSCC-BM that were diagnosed between 2010 and 2017. Survival was compared using univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models, Kaplan-Meier analysis, and log-rank tests. We also used propensity score matching to adjust for confounders.

RESULTS

In white patients, those who were over 40 years of age had a significantly shorter survival (HR, 4.49; 95% CI 1.03-19.56; P < 0.05). Female black patients were found to survive longer compared to male patients (HR, 0.34; 95% CI 0.15-0.76; P < 0.01). Single (never married) Asians had shorter survival than married Asians (HR, 4.68; 95% CI 1.34-16.41; P < 0.05). In all three racial groups, patients who received radiotherapy in addition to chemotherapy did not survive longer than those receiving chemotherapy (P > 0.05). In Asian patients, those who underwent surgery at the primary site combined with chemoradiotherapy had significantly better survival outcomes than those who received chemoradiotherapy (HR: 0.10, 95% CI 0.01-0.88; P = 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Prognostic factors differ between HNSCC-BM patients from different racial backgrounds.

Establishment and characterization of a novel hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma cell line CZH1 with genetic abnormalities

Hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HPSCC) has the worst prognosis among head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. The lack of available tumor cell lines poses a significant obstacle to the development of efficient treatments for HPSCC. In this study, we successfully established a novel cell line, named CZH1, from the postcricoid region of a Chinese male patient with a T3N0M0 HPSCC. Short tandem repeat analysis confirmed the uniqueness of CZH1. The cell line was characterized by its phenotypes, biomarkers, and genetics. Importantly, CZH1 cells retained the typical features of epithelial malignancy, similar to the primary tumor tissue. Furthermore, CZH1 demonstrated a greater capacity for invasion and increased susceptibility to irradiation in comparison to FaDu, which is the most commonly used HPSCC cell line. Whole-exome sequencing analysis revealed that CZH1 cells had typical genomic features of HNSCC, including mutations of TP53 and amplifications of multiple transcripts. Therefore, our newly developed CZH1 cell line could serve as an efficient tool for the in vitro investigation of the etiology, pathogenesis, and preclinical treatment of HPSCC.