Introduction: Field cancerization is suggested to arise from imbalanced differentiation in individual basal progenitor cells leading to clonal expansion of mutant cells that eventually replace the epithelium, although without evidence.
Methods: We performed deep sequencing analyses to characterize the genomic and transcriptomic landscapes of field change in two patients with synchronous aerodigestive tract tumors.
Results: Our data support the emergence of numerous genetic alterations in cancer-associated genes but refutes the hypothesis that founder mutation(s) underpin this phenomenon. Mutational signature analysis identified defective homologous recombination as a common underlying mutational process unique to synchronous tumors.
Discussion: Our analyses suggest a common etiologic factor defined by mutational signatures and/or transcriptomic convergence, which could provide a therapeutic opportunity.
Keywords: field cancerization; field change; genomic; synchronous head and neck cancers; transcriptomic.
Copyright © 2024 Tan, Shannon, Lim, Teo, Yap, Lek, Tan, Tan, Hendrikson, Liu, Ng, Chong, Guo, Koh, Ng, Rajasegaran, Wong, Seo, Ong, Lim, Teh, Kon, Chia, Soo, Iyer and Ong.