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Whole exome sequencing in cancer has now been extended to head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs), a group of cancers that arise from the mucosal surfaces of the oral, sinus, pharyngeal, and laryngeal cavities. Two groups of investigators report their analyses of sequencing data on a total of 124 tumor and matched control samples.
Agrawal and colleagues examined tumors and matched non-neoplastic samples from 32 patients. Stransky and colleagues analyzed 92 tumor-normal pairs. Both groups found frequent alterations in TP53, CDKN2A, PTEN, and HRAS, as expected based on earlier findings. Both research groups also found novel mutations in NOTCH1–3 and TP63. Alterations in NOTCH proteins were found in 15% to 22% of tumors and are likely i…