Villaronga MA, et al. - In view of the recently established clinical relevance of Cortactin (CTTN) and the Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) [two major candidate genes to respectively drive 11q13- and 8q24-associated aggressive behavior in various cancers] in early stages of tumorigenesis as promising biomarkers for cancer risk assessment, researchers assessed CTTN and FAK expression, using immunohistochemistry, as well as correlation with clinicopathologic parameters and laryngeal cancer risk in a multicenter validation study comprising a cohort of 109 patients with laryngeal precancerous lesions. They further looked into the pathophysiological role of CTTN and FAK using functional studies in cellular models. Beyond histological grading, laryngeal cancer risk and recurrence risk was strongly predicted by CTTN and FAK and hence were considered applicable as complementary markers for risk-stratification in patients with laryngeal precancerous lesions.