The authors genotyped 4 common polymorphisms in pre-miRNAs: Homo sapiens miRNA 146a (hsa-mir-146a) (reference SNP 2910164 [rs2910164]; guanine to cytosine [G→C]), hsa-mir-149 (rs2292832; guanine to thymine [G→T]), hsa-mir-196a2 (rs11614913; C→T), and hsa-mir-499 (rs3746444; adenine to guanine [A→G]) in 1109 patients with SCCHN (cases) and in 1130 cancer-free patients (controls) in a non-Hispanic white population that was frequency-matched by age and sex.