REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Head and Neck Cancer
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1553284
This article is part of the Research TopicPathophysiology and Therapeutic Strategies for Oral and Head and Neck CancersView all 11 articles
Immune-Metabolic Crosstalk in HNSCC: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Opportunities
Provisionally accepted
- Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
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Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a prevalent malignancy, chraracterized by metabolic reprogramming. This reprogramming creates an acidic and hypoxic environment within tumor cells to adapt to metabolic changes. Experimental data indicate that in HNSCC, the metabolic reprogramming of tumor cells regulates immune cells via metabolites or signaling pathways, thereby promoting cancer progression or immune evasion. This article reviews the metabolic reprogramming in HNSCC, including glucose, fatty acids, amino acids, and nucleotide metabolism. These metabolic pathways play crucial roles in the proliferation, differentiation, and effector functions of immune cells, and influence immunosuppressive checkpoints. Additionally, this review explores the potential relationships between metabolic reprogramming, tumor immunity, and related treatments. Thus, targeting metabolic reprogramming and interactions between immune cells may help overcome therapeutic resistance in HNSCC patients.
Keywords: HNSCC, metabolic reprogramming, immune, Tumor Microenvironment, tumor
Received: 30 Dec 2024; Accepted: 21 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qin, Wu, Pan, Kang, Shi and Bu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yujie Shi, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
Shoushan Bu, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.