Transcriptional states define dependencies and therapeutic vulnerabilities in head and neck cancer
Joel M Vaz, Songli Zhu, Mateo Useche, Lauren Shih, Emily Marchiano, Slobodan Beronja, Bruce E Clurman, Cristina Rodriguez, Brittany Barber, Marina Chan, Taranjit S Gujral · 2026
Read Transcriptional states define dependencies and therapeutic vulnerabilities in head and neck cancer by Joel M Vaz, Songli Zhu, Mateo Useche, Lauren Shih, Emily Marchiano, Slobodan Beronja, Bruce E Clurman, Cristina Rodriguez, Brittany Barber, Marina Chan, Taranjit S Gujral (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13518800.txt.
Description
Joel M Vaz and colleagues built a new way to sort head and neck cancers by what keeps their cells alive, rather than by appearance alone. Published in 2026, the work drew on gene-activity data from 727 tumors in five separate collections, plus gene-knockout maps and drug screens. The goal was to turn broad tumor diversity into choices a doctor could act on.
The team found distinct survival circuits, including a fast-growth program, a mature surface-cell program, a shape-shifting program tied to surrounding tissue, and energy-burning programs in the cell powerhouses. Each circuit pointed to its own weak spot, such as control of cell division, growth-signal pathways, or energy production. A thirteen-gene test then flagged tumors likely to respond to the drug erlotinib, beating a single-marker test in lab-grown tumor models. Readers get a concrete path from tumor type to matched treatment.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Joel M Vaz, Songli Zhu, Mateo Useche, Lauren Shih, Emily Marchiano, Slobodan Beronja, Bruce E Clurman, Cristina Rodriguez, Brittany Barber, Marina Chan, Taranjit S Gujral |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 60 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |