Use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs predicts improved patient survival for -altered head and neck cancer.

is the most commonly altered oncogene in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). We evaluated the impact of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on survival in a -characterized cohort of 266 HNSCC patients and explored the mechanism in relevant preclinical models including patient-derived xenografts. Among subjects with mutations or amplification, regular NSAID use (≥6 mo) conferred markedly prolonged disease-specific survival (DSS; hazard ratio 0.23, P = 0.0032, 95% CI 0.09-0.62) and overall survival (OS; hazard ratio 0.31, P = 0.0043, 95% CI 0.14-0.69) compared with nonregular NSAID users. For -altered HNSCC, predicted 5-yr DSS was 72% for NSAID users and 25% for nonusers; predicted 5-yr OS was 78% for regular NSAID users and 45% for nonregular users. mutation predicted sensitivity to NSAIDs in preclinical models in association with increased systemic PGE production. These findings uncover a biologically plausible rationale to implement NSAID therapy in -altered HNSCC.