Gene expression profiles of Head & Neck Squamous and Lung Squamous Cancers

The differential diagnosis between head & neck squamous cell carcinomas and lung squamous cell carcinomas is often unresolved because the histologic appearance of these two tumor types is similar. In the development of a gene expression profile test (GEP-HN-LS) that distinguishes these 2 cancer types, a collection of poorly differentiated primary and metastatic tumor specimens were used. Here we describe 76 such tumor specimens that were used for validation of GEP-HN-LS. The specimens are either head & neck squamous cell carcinomas or lung squamous cell carcinomas. All tissue specimens were formalin fixed paraffin embedded specimens. Gene expression was profiled using Affymetrix GeneChip platform.