Selection of genes potentially relevant for head and neck tumorigenesis

Abstract

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the most common cancers and its main risk factors are smoking, alcohol consumption and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Five-year survival rate remains low despite research efforts and progress in detection and therapy strategies. HPV-positive cases, which are more frequently seen in young non-smoker/non-alcoholic patients, exhibit different recurrence and survival rates compared to HPV-negative cases. Several clinical, histopathological and molecular markers have also been related to prognosis of HNSCC, including presence of lymph node metastases and altered expression of genes and proteins linked to critical cellular processes. However, a panel of validated driver genes has not yet been defined for these carcinomas. This project aims to obtain demographic and clinical information, and type/frequency of HNSCC mutations from public databases. The information will be used to identify the most frequently mutated genes in subgroups of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas and associated variables. Such information will be important for the thematic project under analysis by FAPESP (Process 2018 / 11570-6; Liquid biopsies for monitoring head and neck squamous cell carcinomas).