Precision Medicine Identifies Key Recurring Mutation in Head and Neck Cancers

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center have found that tipifarnib showed promise in treating HNSCC tumors with mutations in the HRAS gene.

UC San Diego Health reports, “ Treatment with tipifarnib had a multifaceted effect on the biology of HRAS-mutant HNSCC tumors, reducing oncogenic signaling and proliferation, while increasing apoptosis (cell death), blocking angiogenesis (development of new blood vessels in tumors), and driving squamous differentiation of tumors.”

The study has been published in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.