BACKGROUND: Prediction of which laryngeal dysplasia cases will progress to cancer is poorly achieved. The differential expression of biomarkers in dysplastic and cancerous lesions may help to improve this. METHODS: We carried out a systematic review of laryngeal dysplasia biomarkers. Risk ratios were calculated for each biomarker. Individual study data were pooled only for the biomarker p53. RESULTS: In all, 286 potential studies were identified; 9 met the inclusion criteria with 13 biomarkers assessed. Relative risks ranged from 0.60 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.10, 3.75) for mdm2 to 84.55 (95% CI 5.30, 1348.56) for Cortactin. A meta-analysis of studies using p53 failed to show this biomarker having a significant predictive ability. CONCLUSIONS: Currently there is no good evidence for the use of biomarkers in predicting the future behavior of laryngeal dysplastic lesions. Only 3 studies showed statistically significant results. Better reporting of studies using the REMARK (REporting recommendations for tumor MARKer prognostic studies) consensus guidelines should help to improve this in the future.
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