Epigenomic Analysis of HPV positive and HPV negative Head and Neck Squamous Cell Cancer (HNSCC). (360G-Wellcome-093855_Z_10_Z)

Head and Neck Squamous Cell Cancer (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide. A proportion of these cancers are caused by human papilloma virus and patients being diagnosed with this subtype have a significantly better outcome. The reasons and underlying mechanisms for this are not fully understood. The aim of this project is to carry out comprehensive methylome and microRNA analysis and validation of HPV-associated HNSCC samples. Furthermore, both HPV infected and non-HPV infected cell lines will be studied to obtain microRNA-mRNA interaction maps. These multidimensional data will be integrated and linked to publicly available gene expression data of HPV positive and HPV negative head and neck cancer to identify pathways dysregulated by HPV infection. Determination of the molecular changes occurring specific to viral infection will significantly increase our understanding of virus-induced tumourigenesis and of head and neck carcinogenesis in particular. This will guide the i dentification of molecular markers for risk prediction and early diagnosis. Moreover, the reversible nature of epigenetic aberrations has led to the emergence of the promising field of epigenetic therapy and our understanding of these changes may lead to the development of novel therapeutic targets for this specific subtype of cancer.