Mutational load and mutational patterns in relation to age in head and neck cancer.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a cancer with well-defined tumor causes such as HPV infection, smoking and drinking. Using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) HNSCC cohort we systematically studied the mutational load as well as patterns related to patient age in HNSCC. To obtain a homogenous set we excluded all patients with HPV infection as well as wild type TP53.