Head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) is estimated to be the sixth most common malignant tumor worldwide. Of which, laryngeal cancer is the second most common HNSCC.1 The definite cause of laryngeal cancer is not yet determined, although some risk factors, such as tobacco and alcohol consumption, genetic and epigenetic alterations are believed to be linked with the development of this disease.
2,3Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene, which encodes the catalytic subunit of telomerase, has been demonstrated to be up-regulated in human cancers, contributing to carcinogenesis. 4 Recently, two recurrent somatic mutations (1,295,228 C>T and 1,295,250 C>T, hereafter named C228T and C250T, respectively) in the TERT gene promoter have been frequently reported in various human cancers, including melanoma (71%), thyroid cancer (22-51%), bladder cancer (84.6%) and glioblastoma (83.8%). [5][6][7][8] In contrast, a very low frequency of these mutations has been found in certain cancers, particularly in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (1.6%) and gastric cancer (0.7%).8-10 Importantly, these two mutations conferred a 2-to 4-fold increase in TERT transcriptional activity.5 Moreover, they have been demonstrated to be absent in benign tumors and normal subjects, implicating their potentially critical roles in human carcinogenesis. Although a previous study showed frequent TERT promoter mutations in head and neck cancers especially tongue cancer