Epidemiology and Molecular Biology of Head and Neck Cancer

Abstract

Head and neck cancer is a common and aggressive malignancy with a high morbidity and mortality profile. Although the large majority of cases resemble head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), the current classification based on anatomic site and tumor stage fails to capture the high level of biologic heterogeneity, and appropriate clinical management remains a major challenge. Hence, a better understanding of the molecular biology of HNSCC is urgently needed to support biomarker development and personalized care for patients. This review focuses on recent findings based on integrative genomics analysis and multi-scale modeling approaches and how they are beginning to provide more sophisticated clues as to the biological and clinical diversity of HNSCC.

HPV‐negative and HPV‐positive HNSCC cell lines show similar numerical but different structural chromosomal aberrations

“…For these two types of HNSCC, the mechanisms of carcinogenesis are clearly different: carcinogenesis caused by tobacco and alcohol is a multistep process initiated by a continuous induction of DNA damage due to exposure to the exogenous agents leading to an accumulation of mutations over a long period of time. This in turn can lead to dysfunctional expression of DNA repair genes, or oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes . The oncogenic transformation by HPV is primarily caused by its oncoproteins E6 and E7.…”

“…This in turn can lead to dysfunctional expression of DNA repair genes, or oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. 3 The oncogenic transformation by HPV is primarily caused by its oncoproteins E6 and E7. The E6 protein degrades the tumor suppressor p53, whereas E7 inactivates members of the retinoblastoma (pRb) protein family causing a deregulation of cell cycle.…”

EZH2 promotes invasion and tumour glycolysis by regulating STAT3 and FoxO1 signalling in human OSCC cells

“…Major reason for this circumstance is the tendency of OSCC to invade adjacent tissues and metastasis, with the local and regional recurrence rate ranging from about 33% to 40% . More detailed studies are required to understand the mechanisms mediating invasion and metastasis of OSCC in order to prolong patients’ survival …”

Prognostic value of textural indices extracted from pretherapeutic 18‐F FDG‐PET/CT in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

“…Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) also present a high biologic heterogeneity with hypoxic area, necrotic regions, zones of high cellular proliferation, and intratumoral angiogenic heterogeneity . A better characterization of tumor heterogeneity could help classify patients in different risk subgroups to improve their therapeutic management …”