Related Experiment Video For head neck cancer
Updated: Apr 27, 2026
Author Spotlight: Transmitochondrial Cybrid Generation Using Cancer Cell Lines
Published on: March 17, 2023
Somatic mutations in the D-loop of mitochondrial DNA in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
Shih-An Liu1,2, Rong-San Jiang1, Wen-Yi Wang3
1Department of Otolaryngology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
Background:
The purpose of this study was to characterize somatic mutations in the D-loop of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and their impact on survival in patients with head and neck cancer.
Methods:
Histologically confirmed head and neck cancer and corresponding noncancerous tissues were obtained from 130 patients. The D-loop of mtDNA sequence in noncancerous tissues was compared with that of paired cancer samples and any sequence differences were identified as somatic mutations.
Results:
Somatic mutations of the D-loop were observed in 81 patients (62.3%) with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and most of them occurred in the poly-C tract. There were no significant differences between the mutation group and nonmutation group in demographic and tumor-related features. Patients with D-loop mutations had better survival (4-year disease-specific survival rate: 70.5% vs 50.8%; p = .0435).
Conclusion:
Somatic mutation of D-loop of mtDNA was a potential prognostic factor of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
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