EXOME ANALYSIS OF CAROTID BODY TUMOR

Carotid body tumors (CBTs) are a form of head and neck paragangliomas(PGLs) arising at the bifurcation of carotid arteries. Commonly, paragangliomas are associated with germline and somatic mutations, involving at least one of more than thirty causative genes.However, the specific functionality of a number of these genes involved in the formation of paragangliomas has not yet been fully investigated.