Abstract
Two studies published in this issue of Cancer Discovery describe the emerging mutational landscape of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) and their genomic and epigenetic alterations, thus identifying novel actionable cancer drivers and predictive biomarkers for targeted therapies. Most genomic alterations in HNSCC converge in a handful of molecular pathways, resulting in cell-cycle deregulation, genomic instability, cell differentiation defects, and persistent mitogenic signaling, the latter involving aberrant phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/mTOR pathway activation, thereby rendering HNSCC responsive to PI3K/mTOR inhibitors. Cancer Discov; 3(7); 722-5. ©2013 AACR.
Publication types
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Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural
MeSH terms
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Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / drug therapy*
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Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / genetics
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Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / pathology
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Cell Cycle / drug effects
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Cell Cycle / genetics
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Elafin / antagonists & inhibitors
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Elafin / metabolism*
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Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / drug effects
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Genomic Instability
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Head and Neck Neoplasms / drug therapy*
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Head and Neck Neoplasms / genetics
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Head and Neck Neoplasms / pathology
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Humans
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Molecular Targeted Therapy
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Protein Kinase Inhibitors / administration & dosage*
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Signal Transduction / drug effects
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TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / antagonists & inhibitors
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TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / metabolism*
Substances
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Elafin
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PI3 protein, human
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Protein Kinase Inhibitors
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MTOR protein, human
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TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases