New tumor phenotypes reported in the larynx in the last decades: a critique

To provide internationally acceptable criteria for the histological diagnosis of the tumors, the World Health Organization (WHO) published in 2005 its International Classification of Head and Neck Tumours (including also the larynx) [1]. [...]proponents of 'lumping' classifications would have difficulties in reproaching the distinction of laryngeal neuroendocrine carcinoma and verrucous squamous cell carcinoma as the former metastasizes more frequently than conventional squamous cell carcinoma and the latter has a less aggressive behavior than conventional squamous cell carcinoma [2]. In this vein, a recent work was able to divide head and neck cancers into four molecular subtypes (besides the subtypes classified by HPV status), using genomic profiling [38]. [...]these molecular subtypes (basal, mesenchymal, atypical, and classical) were consistent with signatures established for squamous carcinoma of the lung.