Oral cancer refers to malignancies that arise in the oral cavity. Over 90% of malignant diseases at this site is squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), of which there are in excess of 350,000 new cases worldwide annually and over 177,000 deaths. In spite of advances in understanding of the disease and the development of multimodal approaches to treatment, clinical outcomes remain unsatisfactory, and resistance to therapy, tumor recurrence and locoregional spread are common. Comprehensive, integrated knowledge of factors that render currently available treatments less effective is key to improving clinical response, prognosis and quality of life.
For this article collection, we invite investigators to submit critical review articles and original research reports that address, on a mechanistic level, challenges in treating head and neck SCC, or that explore novel mechanism-based therapies.
Topics might include (but are not limited to) the following areas:
- Molecular basis for therapeutic resistance
-- genetic factors
• gene polymorphisms
• somatic and germline mutations
• non-coding RNAs
-- aberrant signal transduction
- Cancer stem cells and therapeutic resistance
- Role of the microenvironment in resistance to therapy
- Influence of the immune system in therapeutic response
- Extracellular vesicles in resistance to therapy
Oral cancer refers to malignancies that arise in the oral cavity. Over 90% of malignant diseases at this site is squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), of which there are in excess of 350,000 new cases worldwide annually and over 177,000 deaths. In spite of advances in understanding of the disease and the development of multimodal approaches to treatment, clinical outcomes remain unsatisfactory, and resistance to therapy, tumor recurrence and locoregional spread are common. Comprehensive, integrated knowledge of factors that render currently available treatments less effective is key to improving clinical response, prognosis and quality of life.
For this article collection, we invite investigators to submit critical review articles and original research reports that address, on a mechanistic level, challenges in treating head and neck SCC, or that explore novel mechanism-based therapies.
Topics might include (but are not limited to) the following areas:
- Molecular basis for therapeutic resistance
-- genetic factors
• gene polymorphisms
• somatic and germline mutations
• non-coding RNAs
-- aberrant signal transduction
- Cancer stem cells and therapeutic resistance
- Role of the microenvironment in resistance to therapy
- Influence of the immune system in therapeutic response
- Extracellular vesicles in resistance to therapy
