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. 2024 Jun;29(6):755-763.
doi: 10.1007/s10147-024-02505-3. Epub 2024 Mar 16.

Salivary gland-type cancers: cross-organ demographics of a rare cancer

Aika Tanzawa  1   2 , Kengo Saito  3 , Masayuki Ota  4 , Koji Takahashi  1 , Izumi Ohno  1 , Toyoyuki Hanazawa  5 , Katsuhiro Uzawa  2 , Yuichi Takiguchi  6
Affiliations

Salivary gland-type cancers: cross-organ demographics of a rare cancer

Aika Tanzawa et al. Int J Clin Oncol. 2024 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Salivary gland-type cancers (SGTCs) are histologically heterogeneous and can affect organs other than the salivary glands. Some tumors outside the salivary glands are diagnosed on their unique histological characteristics. Comprehensive cross-organ studies on SGTCs are limited.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of patients with salivary duct carcinoma (SDC), adenoid cystic carcinoma (AdCC), mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC), epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma (EMC), acinic cell carcinoma (AcCC), and polymorphous adenocarcinoma (PAC) who visited our institution between 2009 and 2019. The primary tumor sites were classified into four categories; major salivary glands, head/neck (H/N) excluding (exc) major salivary glands (MSG) regions, broncho-pulmonary regions, and "others". H/N exc MSG was further divided into three subcategories, nasal/paranasal sinus, oral and pharynx/larynx.

Results: We identified 173 patients with SGTCs, with SDC, AdCC, MEC, EMC, AcCC, and PAC accounting for 20%, 42%, 27%, 3%, 8%, and 1% of the cases, respectively. The most frequent primary site was the major salivary glands (64%), followed by H/N exc MSG regions (27%), broncho-pulmonary regions, and "others", thus non-salivary gland origins accounted for 9% of all cases. Patients with SDC, MEC, AcCC, or SGTC of the major salivary glands and broncho-pulmonary regions were more frequently treated by surgery. The overall survival time of the patients with MEC was significantly better than that of patients with SDC or EMC.

Conclusions: This cross-organ study highlights the clinical significance of SGTCs, underscoring the need for developing novel therapies for this rare disease entity.

Keywords: Acinic cell carcinoma; Adenoid cystic carcinoma; Broncho-pulmonary; Cross-organ; Epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma; Mucoepidermoid carcinoma.

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Conflict of interest statement

In relation to conflict of interests pertaining to the present study, Izumi Ohno has received lecture fees from AstraZeneca, Daiichi-Sankyo, Novartis, Chugai pharmaceutical co., Ono pharmaceutical co., Bristol Meyers Squib, and Merck Sharp and Dohme. Toyoyuki Hanazawa has received lecture fees from Ono pharmaceutical co., and Merck Sharp and Dohme. Yuichi Takiguchi has received lecture fees from AstraZeneca, Daiichi-Sankyo, Novartis, Chugai pharmaceutical co., Bristol Meyers Squib, Pfizer, and Merck Sharp and Dohme, and research funds from AstraZeneca, Chugai pharmaceutical co., Ono pharmaceutical co., Pfizer, and Merck Sharp and Dohme. The other authors have no conflict of interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age distribution of the patients with SDC (a), AdCC (b), MEC (c) and AcCC (d) are depicted. The horizontal axis represents the age groups, while the vertical axis indicates the number of patients. Patients with SDC and AdCC were predominantly in their 70s, whereas patients with MEC were predominantly in their 60s. Patients with AcCC distribute evenly throughout all age group without a peak
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overall survival curves are presented based on the histological type (a), and according to the primary site (b), together with overall survival curves of the three subcategories of H/N exc MSG (c). The curves for all patients are duplicated in (a) and (b). Vertical lines denote censored cases. The log-rank test was conducted to compare among all groups together
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