Abstract: Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the expression of serum ferritin in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma(HNSCC),and to verify whether it could be used as a biomarker for predicting HNSCC metastasis.Methods The different levels of serum ferritin among tumor patients,precancerous lesions,inflammatory patients and normal controls were compared,and ROC curves were used to verify the efficacy of ferritin and Doppler ultrasound in the differentiation between HNSCC patients with lymph node metastasis and without lymph node metastasis.Results The serum level of ferritin in tumor patients was significantly higher than that in non-tumor patients,but there was some overlap compared with precancerous lesions.Compared with non-metastatic HNSCC,the serum level of ferritin was significantly elevated in HNSCC patients with lymph node metastasis.Compared to Doppler ultrasound,ferritin had a larger area under the curve and a higher sensitivity and likelihood ratio for the prediction of cervical lymph node metastasis.Conclusion Ferritin may have some shortcomings in the early diagnosis of HNSCC,but it is a good biomarker for predicting cervical lymph node metastasis in patients with HNSCC.

Key words: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, Ferritin, Doppler ultrasound, Lymph node metastasis