Expression of the tumour‐suppressor maspin in temporal bone carcinoma

Aims Although it accounts for fewer than 0.2% of all head and neck tumours, temporal bone squamous cell carcinoma ( SCC ) is an aggressive malignancy with a poor prognosis in advanced cases. Novel therapeutic strategies should be developed focusing on specific targeted therapies. Maspin is a serpin showing tumour‐suppressing activity which has therapeutic potential. The present study is the first to investigate maspin expression in temporal bone SCC s, using a series of 29 cases. Methods and results Cytoplasmic maspin expression was significantly higher in the group of patients whose SCC did not recur than in the group experiencing recurrences ( P  =   0.029), and in G1–G2 SCC s than in G3 cases ( P  =   0.001). cT correlated with recurrence rate ( P  =   0.05), disease‐free survival ( DFS ) ( P  =   0.008) and disease‐specific survival ( DSS ) ( P  =   0.0043), and pT and pathological regional lymph node status correlated with recurrence rate ( P  =   0.008 and P  =   0.03, respectively), DFS ( P  = 0.017 and P  =   0.0049, respectively) and DSS ( P  =   0.008 and P  =   0.0009, respectively). Conclusions Although further studies using larger series are required, our preliminary findings suggest that cytoplasmic maspin expression has promise as a prognostic indicator of disease recurrence in temporal bone SCC , and that reactivating maspin functions in association with apoptosis‐inducing or anti‐angiogenic chemotherapeutic agents might be an important goal in the treatment of temporal bone SCC .