Group Leader
Sami Ventelä, MD, PhD
Specialist in otorhinolaryngology
Email: satuve [at] utu.fi
Contact Information
Turku Bioscience P.O. Box 123, BioCity
Street addr. Tykistökatu 6 B, 4th floor
FIN-20521
Turku, Finland
Personnel
Publications
Qiao X, Routila J, Tienhaara M, Irjala H, Santhi PP, Huusko T, Nissi L, Paatero I, Lehtinen N, Rantala J, Viljanen T, Leivo I, Koivunen P, Jouppila-Mättö A, Taulu R, Bäck L, Wilkman T, Haapio E, Kinnunen I, Kurppa K, Westermarck J, Ventelä S. LIMA1-alpha staining predicts curative intent surgery response in HPV negative head and neck cancer. EMBO Mol Med. 17(8):2095-2114, 2025.
Koskenniemi AR, Huusko T, Routila J, Jalkanen S, Hollmén M, Vainio P, Ventelä S. Histological tumor necrosis predicts decreased survival after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Oral Oncol. 165:107287, 2025.
Nissi L, Huusko T, Routila J, Vaittinen S, Leivo I, Irjala H, Ventelä S. Added value of HPV-DNA in situ hybridization as an adjunct to p16 Immunohistochemistry in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Acta Otolaryngol. 145(4):340-347, 2025.
Bazina M, Nikkilä R, Haapaniemi A, Bäck L, Ventelä S, Mäkitie A. Risk of early death after treatment with curative intent for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a retrospective population-based study. Acta Oncol. 64:339-348, 2025.
Bradová M, Agaimy A, Laco J, Martínek P, Ing SK, Badoual C, Damjanov I, Leivo I, Bacchi CE, Comperat E, Ihrler S, Rupp NJ, Šíma R, Šteiner P, Vaněček T, Mueller S, Ventelä S, Skálová A, Michal M. Sinonasal adenoid cystic carcinomas accompanied by seromucinous hamartoma and/or atypical sinonasal glands arising from seromucinous hamartoma: insight into their histogenesis. Virchows Arch. 486(6):1269-1287, 2025.
Kauko O, Turunen M, Pihlajamaa P, Häkkinen A, Queiroz RML, Pääkkönen M, Ventelä S, Gaetani M, Lundström SL, Murgia A, Sahu B, Routila J, Wei GH, Irjala H, Griffin JL, Lilley KS, Kivioja T, Hautaniemi S, Taipale J. Diverse oncogenes use common mechanisms to drive growth of major forms of human cancer. Sci Adv. 11(34):eadt1798, 2025.
Skálová A, Bradová M, Agaimy A, Laco J, Badual C, Ihrler S, Damjanov I, Rupp NJ, Bacchi CE, Mueller S, Ventelä S, Zhang D, Comperat E, Martínek P, Šíma R, Vaněček T, Grossmann P, Steiner P, Hájková V, Kovářová I, Michal M, Leivo I. Molecular Profiling of Sinonasal Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma: Canonical and Noncanonical Gene Fusions and Mutation. Am J Surg Pathol. 49(3):227-242, 2025.
Routila E, Salminen S, Mahran R, Toriseva M, Irjala H, Haapio E, Kytö E, Ventelä S, Pettersson K, Routila J, Gidwani K, Leivo J. Evaluation of Integrin Glycovariants as Biomarkers of Metastasis, Invasion, and Therapy Stratification in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Cancer Med. 14(9):e70717, 2025.
Punovuori K, Bertillot F, Miroshnikova YA, Binner MI, Myllymäki SM, Follain G, Kruse K, Routila J, Huusko T, Pellinen T, Hagström J, Kedei N, Ventelä S, Mäkitie A, Ivaska J, Wickström SA. Multiparameter imaging reveals clinically relevant cancer cell-stroma interaction dynamics in head and neck cancer. Cell. 187(25):7267-7284.e20, 2024.
Routila E, Mahran R, Salminen S, Irjala H, Haapio E, Kytö E, Ventelä S, Petterson K, Routila J, Gidwani K, Leivo J. Identification of stemness-related glycosylation changes in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. BMC Cancer. 24(1):443, 2024.
Nissi L, Tuominen S, Routila J, Huusko T, Ketonen P, Sundvall M, Leivo I, Irjala H, Minn H, Grönroos TJ, Ventelä S. xCT as a Predictor for Survival in a Population-Based Cohort of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Cancer Med. 13(21):e70371, 2024.
Olotu O, Koskenniemi AR, Ma L, Paramonov V, Laasanen S, Louramo E, Bourgery M, Lehtiniemi T, Laasanen S, Rivero-Müller A, Löyttyniemi E, Sahlgren C, Westermarck J, Ventelä S, Visakorpi T, Poutanen M, Vainio P, Mäkelä JA, Kotaja N. Germline-specific RNA helicase DDX4 forms cytoplasmic granules in cancer cells and promotes tumor growth. Cell Rep. 23;43(7):114430, 2024.
Pakkanen P, Ilmarinen T, Halme E, Irjala H, Koivunen P, Pukkila M, Ventelä S, Almangush A, Birkman EM, Lindgren O, Pohjolainen V, Sjöblom N, Haglund C, Hagström J, Aaltonen LM. Correction to: Programmed death-ligand 1 and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) – low TIL density may predict poorer long-term prognosis in T1 laryngeal cancer. Virchows Arch. 485(2):383-384, 2024.
Lehtinen N, Suhonen J, Rice K, Välimäki E, Toriseva M, Routila J, Halme P, Rahi M, Irjala H, Leivo I, Kallajoki M, Nees M, Kuopio T, Ventelä S, Rantala JK. Assessment of targeted therapy opportunities in sinonasal cancers using patient-derived functional tumor models. Transl Oncol. 23;44:101935, 2024.
Pakkanen P, Ilmarinen T, Halme E, Irjala H, Koivunen P, Pukkila M, Ventelä S, Almangush A, Birkman EM, Lindgren O, Pohjolainen V, Sjöblom N, Haglund C, Hagström J, Aaltonen LM. Programmed death-ligand 1 and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) – low TIL density may predict poorer long-term prognosis in T1 laryngeal cancer. Virchows Arch. 485(2):315-322, 2024.
Tuominen S, Nissi L, Kukkula A, Routila J, Huusko T, Leivo I, Minn H, Irjala H, Löyttyniemi E, Ventelä S, Sundvall M, Grönroos T. TSPO is a potential independent prognostic factor associated with cellular respiration and p16 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Front Oncol. 14;13:1298333, 2023.
Hyytiäinen A, Korelin K, Toriseva M, Wilkman T, Kainulainen S, Mesimäki K, Routila J, Ventelä S, Irjala H, Nees M, Al-Samadi A, Salo T. The effect of matrices on the gene expression profile of patient-derived head and neck carcinoma cells for in vitro therapy testing. Cancer Cell Int. 24;23(1):147, 2023.
Hyytiäinen A, Mroueh R, Peltonen J, Wennerstrand P, Mäkitie A, Al-Samadi A, Ventelä S, Salo T. Prognostic histological markers in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma patients treated with (chemo)radiotherapy. APMIS. 131(4):142-151, 2023.
Mylly M, Nissi L, Huusko T, Routila J, Vaittinen S, Irjala H, Leivo I, Ventelä S. Epidemiological study of p16 incidence in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma 2005-2015 in representative Northern European population. Cancers (Basel). 21;14(22):5717, 2022.
Denissoff A, Huusko T, Ventelä S, Niemelä S, Routila J. Exposure to alcohol and overall survival in head and neck cancer: A regional cohort study. Head Neck, 44(10):2109-2117, 2022.
Hieta N, Ventelä S, Kujari H. Korvakäytävän punajäkälä – diagnoosiin varhain kuulon heikkenemisen estämiseksi. Duodecim 138:685-9, 2022.
Routila J, Qiao X, Weltner J, Rantala JK, Carpén T, Hagström J, Mäkitie A, Leivo I, Ruuskanen M, Söderlund J, Rintala M, Hietanen S, Irjala H, Minn H, Westermarck J, Ventelä S. Cisplatin overcomes radiotherapy resistance in OCT4-expressing head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Oral Oncology, 127:105772, 2022.