title: Somatic mutations in the D-loop of mitochondrial DNA in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: 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).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Somatic mutation of D-loop of mtDNA was a potential prognostic factor of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
authors: Department of Otolaryngology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.|Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors: Shih-An
authors: SA
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Otolaryngology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors: Rong-San
authors: RS
authors: Jiang
authors: Department of Nursing, Hung-Kuang University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors: Wen-Yi
authors: WY
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Radiation Oncology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.|Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors: Jin-Ching
authors: JC
authors: Lin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic / Q000235:genetics; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000077195:Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic; C078763:D-loop peptide, synthetic
keywords: head neck cancer; mitochondrial DNA; somatic mutation; squamous cell carcinoma; survival analysis