Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 May;15(5):7497-7505.
doi: 10.3892/ol.2018.8300. Epub 2018 Mar 20.

Application of molecular targeted therapies in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Paulina Kozakiewicz  1 , Ludmiła Grzybowska-Szatkowska  1
Affiliations
Review

Application of molecular targeted therapies in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Paulina Kozakiewicz et al. Oncol Lett. 2018 May.

Abstract

Despite the development of standard therapies, including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, survival rates for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) have not changed significantly over the past three decades. Complete recovery is achieved in <50% of patients. The treatment of advanced HNSCC frequently requires multimodality therapy and involves significant toxicity. The promising, novel treatment option for patients with HNSCC is molecular-targeted therapies. The best known targeted therapies include: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibodies (cetuximab, panitumumab, zalutumumab and nimotuzumab), EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (gefitinib, erlotinib, lapatinib, afatinib and dacomitinib), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor (bevacizumab) or vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) inhibitors (sorafenib, sunitinib and vandetanib) and inhibitors of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/serine/threonine-specific protein kinase/mammalian target of rapamycin. There are also various inhibitors of other pathways and targets, which are promising and require evaluation in further studies.

Keywords: epidermal growth factor receptor; head and neck cancer; programmed death receptor; targeted therapies; tyrosine kinase inhibitors; vascular endothelial growth factor receptor.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Vigneswaran N, Williams MD. Epidemiologic trends in head and neck cancer and aids in diagnosis. Oral Maxillofac Surg Clin North Am. 2014;26:123–141. doi: 10.1016/j.coms.2014.01.001. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. https://www.macmillan.org.uk/information-and-support/head-and-neck-cance.... [Feb;2016 ];Macmillan Cancer Support: Types of head and neck cancer.
    1. Hashibe M, Brennan P, Chuang SC, Boccia S, Castellsague X, Chen C, Curado MP, Dal Maso L, Daudt AW, Fabianova E, et al. Interaction between tobacco and alcohol use and the risk of head and neck cancer: Pooled analysis in the international head and neck cancer epidemiology consortium. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009;18:541–550. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-08-0347. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fung C, Grandis JR. Emerging drugs to treat squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. Expert Opin Emerg Drugs. 2010;15:355–373. doi: 10.1517/14728214.2010.497754. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adelstein D, Gillison ML, Pfister DG, Spencer S, Adkins D, Brizel DM, Burtness B, Busse PM, Caudell JJ, Cmelak AJ, et al. NCCN Guidelines insights: Head and neck cancers, version 2.2017. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2017;15:761–770. doi: 10.6004/jnccn.2017.0101. - DOI - PubMed