Murakami N, Mori T, Machida R, et al. - Researchers performed this ancillary analysis of a multi-institutional randomized non-inferiority phase III trial of accelerated fractionation (AF) vs standard fractionation (SF) radiation therapy for T1-2N0M0 glottic cancer (JCOG0701), to determine the link between clinical results and histopathologic characteristics such as expression of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), p53, and p16. For this purpose, they used biopsy specimens of tumors from the patients enrolled in the JCOG0701. The 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) was 70.6% and 77.5% for tumors with strong expression of EpCAM and for tumors without strong expression of EpCAM, respectively, with no remarkable difference between groups. Similarly, 3-year PFS did not differ significantly between tumors irrespective of p53 or p16 status. However, better 3-year PFS was demonstrated by AF than SF, in a subgroup study for 17 patients with a strong expression of EpCAM. In the light of these observations, experts could not infer that EpCAM, p16, and p53 serve as prognostic factors for early-stage glottic cancer post-primary radiation therapy. For tumors with a strong expression of EpCAM, AF might afford a suitable fractionation.