Having previously determined curcumin's growth inhibitory effects in skin SCC [11], we sought to determine whether these effects were similar to our observations in upper aerodigestive head and neck SCC (HNSCC) where curcumin inhibited the AKT/MTOR pathway through rapid curcumin-dependent inhibition of MTOR's downstream target pS6 and 4EBP1 phoshorylation [18]. This evidence concerns the gene MTOR and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.