TKTL1 is independently associated with poor survival in laryngeal carcinoma, colon and urothelial cancers, as well as distant metastasis in ovarian carcinoma [22], [23], [26] To further confirm TKTL1 as a candidate proto-oncogene in HNSCC, we performed adherent colony focus assays in TKTL1 low- expressing HNSCC cell lines JHU-011 and JHU-028, and found significant growth increase in both cell lines (Figure 4 A,B). The gene discussed is TKTL1; the disease is head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.