It has been reported that high serum levels of STX16 was associated with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (24), CLASRP was associated with head and neck cancers (25), ATIC promoted the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (26) and hyper-methylated ACIN1 was observed in lung adenocarcinoma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (27, 28). The gene discussed is ATIC; the disease is head and neck cancer.