Homo sapiens Raw sequence reads. Homo sapiens

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) arises in various anatomic subsites in the mucosal lining of the upper aerodigestive tract. The major aim of this study was to identify the genetic heterogeneity in HNSCC (n=7) through multi-region deep sequencing of 202 genes implicated in cancer progression. None of the mutations were common across patients indicating a high degree of mutational heterogeneity between patients. Base of tongue tumors had fewer mutations than tumors from other sites. Our data support the presence of significant intratumor heterogeneity with differing levels of heterogeneity depending on the sub-site location of the tumor. These findings could have important implications for the development of targeted therapeutics in head and neck cancer therapy and should be considered when developing such treatment modalities.