TP53 mutation was observed in 60% to 80% of HPV-negative HNSCC patients and was associated with poor prognosis, increased resistance to standard therapy (mainly cisplatin and radiation), and the shortest time to distant metastases (Agrawal et al., 2011; Stransky et al., 2011; Neskey et al., 2015). The gene discussed is TP53; the disease is head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.