Annually, some 2,500 people in the Netherlands are diagnosed with head and neck cancer. In 20% of patients, the tumour returns after surgery. Up to now, it was impossible to predict among which patients this could occur. In her PhD study, Netherlands Proteomics Centre researcher Tieneke Schaaij-Visser used proteomics techniques to compare hundreds of proteins of normal and (pre)cancer tissues of patients. She has managed to identify a number of proteins (biomarkers), with which one can effectively predict which treated patients have a significant risk of a recurring tumour.

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