While recurrent MYC gain-of-function mutations were found in certain human lymphomas17–19, in HNSCC, amplification appears to be the predominant genetic aberration that occurs in the MYC gene20, with an estimated prevalence of 12% in the HNSCC cohort of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), whereas mutations occur in only a small subset (1.2%) of patients21. Here, MYC is linked to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.