Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Unknown Primary (HNSCUP)

Overview

Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Unknown Primary is a subtype of HNSC where the primary tumor site cannot be identified at diagnosis. It sits under HNSC in OncoTree. NGS profiling can aid in revealing molecular features that guide tissue-of-origin inference and therapeutic matching.

Cohorts in the corpus

  • hnc_mskcc_2016 — included as part of the 53 HNSC cases among 151 recurrent/metastatic head and neck tumors profiled by MSK-IMPACT 410-gene panel at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center PMID:27442865.

Recurrent alterations

  • Part of the HNSC group in the MSK-IMPACT cohort (Morris et al.); shared genomic features with HPV-negative HNSC include enrichment for TERT promoter mutations, TP53, and CDKN2A alterations; NGS guided therapy in 25% of HNSC patients overall PMID:27442865.

Subtypes

  • HPV status is a critical distinguishing feature in HNSCUP; HPV-positive HNSCUP often represents oropharyngeal primary and carries favorable prognosis PMID:27442865.

Therapeutic landscape

  • Basket-trial enrollment based on actionable alterations identified by NGS; HNSCUP patients contribute to the 21% overall actionability rate in the MSK-IMPACT head and neck cohort PMID:27442865.

Sources

  • PMID:27442865 — Morris et al. 2017 (JAMA Oncol). MSK-IMPACT of 151 advanced head and neck tumors including HNSCUP cases; NGS-guided therapy in 25% of HNSC patients.

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