Heterogeneity of primary site biopsies in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Aim: There is no common standard defining how biopsies for translational research purposes should be performed. In our study, the impact of two different biopsy methods on the results of immunohistochemical staining of the samples for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and the proliferation antigen Ki-67 were evaluated. Patients and Methods: Twenty-four patients who underwent surgical treatment of their HNSCC tumour were included. From each surgically resected tumour, one superficial biopsy and one core-needle biopsy through the cross-section of the tumour were taken. As a positive control, a tissue slide through the primary tumour was made. Results: The analysis showed that neither the superficial nor the core biopsy expression of EGFR correlated significantly with that of the tumour. The analysis showed that the superficial biopsy expression of Ki-67 correlated significantly with that of tumour. Conclusion: Translational research projects based on biopsy tissues should be using whole surgical resection specimens of a tumour.