Introduction

Head and neck cancer is a group of various tumors located in the oral cavity, oropharynx, larynx, and hypopharynx. Head and neck cell squamous-cell carcinomas (HNSCC) often result from tobacco use or human papillomavirus (HPV+) infection. In locally advanced HNSCC, the current therapies used are combined surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Despite the use of traditional treatments, up to 50% of patients relapse due to the increase in mutational burden as HNSCC advances. Few studies have investigated the therapeutic potential of neoantigens in HNSCC tumors. “Prior work has characterized changes in the mutation burden between primary and recurrent tumors; however, little work has characterized the changes in neoantigen evolution.” Neoantigens are new proteins/antigens that form on cancer cells after mutations occur in the tumor DNA. Certain neoantigens can promote anti-tumor immune responses and are potentially capable of controlling tumor progression. In an effort to characterize genomic and neoantigen changes in patients with HNSCC, researchers—from Washington University in St. Louis, Columbia University, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and Siteman Cancer Center—investigated 23 paired primary and recurrent HNSCC tumors. Their paper, entitled, “Genomic and neoantigen evolution from primary tumor to first metastases in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma,” was chosen as the cover paper for Oncotarget’s Volume 12, Issue #6. Full blog -https://www.oncotarget.org/2022/01/13/primary-versus-metastatic-head-and-neck-tumors/ Press release - https://www.oncotarget.com/news/pr/genomic-and-neoantigen-evolution-in-head-and-neck-squamous-cell-carcinoma/ Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://oncotarget.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Foncotarget.27907 DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.27907 Full text - https://www.oncotarget.com/article/27907/text/ Correspondence to - Brian A. Van Tine - bvantine@wustl.edu Keywords - head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, neoantigens, mutational evolution, tumor relapse, immune cell infiltration About Oncotarget: Oncotarget is a bi-weekly, peer-reviewed, open access biomedical journal covering research on all aspects of oncology. To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit www.oncotarget.com or follow us: SoundCloud - @oncotarget Facebook - www.facebook.com/Oncotarget/ Twitter - twitter.com/oncotarget LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget Instagram - www.instagram.com/oncotargetjrnl/ YouTube - www.youtube.com/OncotargetYouTube Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/ Reddit - www.reddit.com/user/Oncotarget/ Oncotarget is published by Impact Journals, LLC please visit www.ImpactJournals.com or connect with @ImpactJrnls Media Contact MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM 18009220957x105