No abstract available.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Cisplatin* ; Drug Therapy* ; Head* ; Neck*

Head and neck cancers comprise a heterogenous group of cancers that require a multidisciplinary approach. Surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and, more recently, target therapy are often employed in various combinations in an attempt to eradicate both clinically apparent and occult disease. The role of chemotherapy in multimodality treatment for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, although firmly established, presents several unresolved issues. Concomitant platinum-based chemoradiation (CRT) is a standard treatment for unresectable, resectable but nonsurgically treated, and postoperative high-risk patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Cetuximab administered concomitantly with radiotherapy has not been directly compared with CRT but offers a potential different approach using a noncytotoxic systemic agent. In recent years taxanes have been shown activity in head and neck cancers and are being incorporated into neo-adjuvant and concomitant chemotherapy regimens.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Chemoradiotherapy ; Drug Therapy* ; Head ; Head and Neck Neoplasms* ; Humans ; Neck ; Radiotherapy ; Taxoids ; Cetuximab

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a prevalent malignant tumor affecting the head and neck region (Leemans et al., 2018). It is often diagnosed at a later stage, leading to a poor prognosis (Muzaffar et al., 2021; Li et al., 2023). Despite advances in OSCC treatment, the overall 5-year survival rate of OSCC patients remains alarmingly low, falling below 50% (Jehn et al., 2019; Johnson et al., 2020). According to statistics, only 50% of patients with oral cancer can be treated with surgery. Once discovered, it is more frequently at an advanced stage. In addition, owing to the aggressively invasive and metastatic characteristics of OSCC, most patients die within one year of diagnosis. Hence, the pursuit of novel therapeutic drugs and treatments to improve the response of oral cancer to medication, along with a deeper understanding of their effects, remains crucial objectives in oral cancer research (Johnson et al., 2020; Bhat et al., 2021; Chen et al., 2023; Ruffin et al., 2023).
Humans ; Mouth Neoplasms/pathology* ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/metabolism* ; Luteolin/therapeutic use* ; Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck/drug therapy* ; Head and Neck Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Cell Line, Tumor

Overexpression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a common characteristic of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) , and initiates important signal transduction pathways in carcinogenesis. Now the EGFR is a validated target for cancer therapies in HNSCC. However, the effect of EGFR-targeted therapies is only modest because of primary and/or acquired resistance. Therefore, an improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms of resistance to EGFR inhibitors may establish new treatment options to overcome resistance. In this review, the molecular mechanisms of resistance and the strategies to overcome it were summarized.
Antineoplastic Agents ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; drug therapy ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; ErbB Receptors ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Signal Transduction ; Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck

OBJECTIVE: To obtain detailed understanding on the gene regulation of natural compounds in altering prognosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSC). METHODS: Gene expression data of HNSC samples and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of HNSC patients were collected from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Differential gene expression analysis of GEO datasets were achieved by the GEO2R tool. Common differentially expressed gerres (DEGs) were screened by comparing DEGs of HNSC with those of PBMCs. The combination was further analyzed for regulating pathways and biological processes that were affected. RESULTS: Totally 110 DEGs were retrieved and identified to be involved in biological processes related to tumor regulation. Then 102 natural compounds were screened for a combination such that the expression of all 110 commonly DEGs was altered. A combination of salidroside, ginsenoside Rd, oridonin, britanin, and scutellarein was chosen. A multifaceted, multi-dimensional tumor regression was showed by altering autophagy, apoptosis, inhibiting cell proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis and inflammatory cytokines production. CONCLUSIONS This study has helped develop a unique combination of natural compounds that will markedly reduce the propensity of development of drug resistance in tumors and immune evasion by tumors. The result is crucial to developing a combinatorial natural therapeutic cocktail with accentuated immunotherapeutic potential.
Humans ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear ; Head and Neck Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck/drug therapy* ; Immunotherapy ; Prognosis

Adenosquamous cell carcinoma of tonsil is a rare lesion of head and neck and is often misdiagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma. It has a very aggressive clinical pattern. We encountered a patient with an adenosquamous cell carcinoma of tonsil and performed various treatment modalities including surgical resection, radiation therapy, chemotherapy but the patient expired two years after the first diagnosis. Such case has never been reported earlier in Korea. Herein, we present this rare case with a review of related literature.
Carcinoma, Adenosquamous ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Head ; Humans ; Korea ; Neck ; Palatine Tonsil

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma has emerged as the sixth most commonly occurring cancer worldwide and despite advances in diagnostics and therapeutics, the treatment results and survival outcomes still remain poor, especially in advanced cancers. Due to the complexity of the local anatomic structures and the importance as vital functioning organs, the head and neck area following conventional treatment modalities such as surgery, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy often result as a devastating consequence both esthetically and functionally. In order to minimize the treatment related sequelae and at the same time maximize treatment effect, tumor-specific molecular targeted therapy has become an area under active research. Several molecular targeted agents, including the representative epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-inhibitors have been developed and its therapeutic effects investigated. However, therapeutic resistance has newly risen as a main problem following targeted therapy due to a variety of resistance mechanisms. This review article looks at the major acquired resistance mechanisms following targeted agents administration including EGFR inhibitors and many others and strategies to overcome the resistance to achieve precision medicine.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Drug Therapy ; Head and Neck Neoplasms* ; Head* ; Molecular Targeted Therapy ; Neck ; Radiotherapy ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor

PURPOSE: In locally advanced head and neck cancer, radiation therapy is currently unsatisfactory because the end result is often limited regional disease control and survival. A clinical study was carried out to compare the effectiveness between the radiation therapy and the combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Thirty-six patients with previously untreated, locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck were treated with radiotherapy alone and combined chemo-radiotherapy. Induction chemotherapy was administered 2~3 cycles, consisting of intravenous cisplatin (100 mg/m2 on day 1) and 5-fluorouracil (1000 mg/m2/day for 5 days as a continuous infusion) every 4 weeks followed by 7~8 weeks of radiation therapy for a total dose of 60~75 Gy. RESULTS: 1) Among 36 locally advanced head and neck cancer, 17 patients received radiation therapy alone and 19 patients received combined chemo-radiotherapy, respectively. 2) Response rate was 47% (complete response 29%, and partial response 18%) in radiation therapy group and 79% (complete response 37%, and partial response 42%) in combined chemo-radiotherapy group (p<0.05). 3) In median survival, radiation therapy group was 13 months and combined chemo- radiotherapy group was 15 months. Both groups were not significantly different (p>0.05). 4) Treatment related mortality was not noted, but the toxic effects were seen on the half cases of the both groups. Grade II toxicities were similar between the two arms. CONCLUSION: Combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy was more effective in local control but not superior in survival than radiation therapy alone. Continuous evaluation and identification of proper sequence for the therapeutic modality is supposed to prolong the survival of patients.
Arm ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cisplatin ; Drug Therapy* ; Fluorouracil ; Head and Neck Neoplasms* ; Head* ; Humans ; Induction Chemotherapy ; Mortality ; Neck ; Radiotherapy

To determine the correlation between the response to induction chemotherapy and subsequent radiotherapy we analyzed the clinical records of 60 patients with locally advanced carcinoma of the head and neck retrospectively who had completed a full course (2~3 cycle) of induction chemotherapy and curative radiotherapy in Korea Cancer Center Hospital between 1986 and 1989. Chemotherapy was administered with CDDP+Bleomycin (BP) in 20, CDDP+5-FU (FP) in 37, and hybrid of BP and FP in three patients. Radiotherapy was given conventionally with a dose of 65 to 75 gy or more over seven to eight weeks according to the size of lesion. Response rates following induction chemotherapy were 80% for the tumors and 79% for the nodes whereas complete response rates were 12% and 13%, respectively. Six months after radiotherapy 67% of the tumors and 77% of the nodes achieved a complete response. Among the 48 tumor responders and the 31 nodal responders to chemotherapy, 39 (81%) and 28 (90%), respectively, achieved complete response after radiotherapy. Thus, whether or not the tumor and node respond to induction chemotherapy was predictive of the response to subsequent radiotherapy (p<0.0005 in tumor, p<0.0001 in node). By reanalyzing according to disease subsets (i.e. primary site, T-stage, N-stage) this relationship was not observed at T1-T2 disease (p>0.3). Therefore the tumor or node's response to induction chemotherapy is a predictor for subsequent radiotherapy except in T1-T2 tumors, and complete response to radiotherapy can be expected despite the failure of induction chemotherapy in T1-T2 tumors.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Drug Therapy ; Head* ; Humans ; Induction Chemotherapy* ; Korea ; Neck* ; Radiotherapy* ; Retrospective Studies

Prognosis in relapsed metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer (RM-HNSCC) is dismal. Platinum based chemotherapy in combination with Cetuximab is used in first-line setting, while no further validated options are available at progression. Immunotherapy has produced durable clinical benefit in some patients with RM-HNSCC although the premises are several patients are nonresponders. Studies are ongoing to determine predictive factors and the ideal setting/combination of novel immunotherapies. In this paper, we discuss the past and present of immunotherapy in head and neck cancer and provide an up-to-date information regarding the potential ways to improve immunotherapy outcomes in HNSCC.
Biomarkers ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cetuximab ; Drug Therapy ; Epithelial Cells* ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; Head* ; Humans ; Immunotherapy* ; Neck* ; Neoplasms, Squamous Cell* ; Platinum ; Prognosis ; Tumor Escape