Gregory S. Weinstein MD, Isaac F. Nuamah PhD,
John Tucker MD, Kathleen Montone MD

Adequate pathologic material and careful clinical follow-up are prerequisites for the analysis of the expression of particular oncogenic proteins that are prognostically important in squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx. The Gabriel Tucker, Jr, Collection of 150 whole organ specimens allows for the potential immunohistochemical study of the entire tumor. Sections from 32 supraglottic carcinomas were studied immunohistochemically for the presence of HER-2/neu (c-erbB-2) oncogene expression. Long term followup data were available in all cases to assist in determining the prognostic significance of the specified oncogene in supragloffic squamous cell carcinoma. Our study revealed that joint presentation of immune staining for c-erbB-2 and positive Iymph node status was significantly associated with distant metastasis (p = .00760).