OBJECTIVES:
* To identify 100 patients from the Head and Neck Tumor Tissue Repository and Clinical Database treated with cetuximab monotherapy or cetuximab-containing combination therapy as a standard of care for recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
* To assay the diversity of gene and protein expression patterns seen in these patients.
* To identify predictive patterns associated with treatment response and survival of these patients by correlating the laboratory data with clinical data.
OUTLINE: Tumor tissue specimens and clinical data are obtained from the Head and Neck Tumor Tissue Repository and Clinical Database protocol VU-VICC-HN-0356. Specimens are analyzed for patterns of gene and protein expression predictive of cetuximab treatment response and survival by DNA microarray, tissue microarray, reverse transcriptase-PCR, and mass spectroscopy.
