FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
In what is believed to be the most comprehensive molecular characterization to date of the most common type of head and neck cancer, researchers from the Johns Hopkins departments of pathology and oncology, the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and 18 other centers around the U.S. and Poland have clarified the contribution of key cancer-associated genes, proteins and signaling pathways in these cancers, while proposing possible new treatment avenues.
Their deep-dive investigation of HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs), described in the Jan. 7 issue of the journal
Cancer Cell, involved tumors from 108 patients who had not yet received cancer treatment, and 66 samples of healthy tissue surrounding the tumors. The study systematically catalogued HPV-negative HNSCC-associated proteins, phosphosites (areas where they are modified by phosphate groups) and signaling pathways, finding three