Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer type worldwide. More than half of patients with HNSCC present with locally advanced disease. Even after a curative multimodality therapy, a significant subset of these patients will develop recurrent or distant diseases. The prognosis of patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC is poor, and therapeutic options include conventional chemotherapy, epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors (EGFRIs), and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Although EGFRIs and ICIs can prolong the survival of patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC in clinical trials, the efficacy of the monotherapy of either EGFRIs or ICIs is modest. To date, PD-L1 expression is the only therapeutic biomarker, with limited predictive value in HNSCC. Although with conflicting results, increasing evidence suggested that patients with characteristics linked to younger age and HPV-negative disease exhibited a greater benefit from EGFRIs, compared with their counter partners. Comprehensive genomic profiling has also defined distinct subtypes of HNSCC with the potential for therapeutic stratification. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify and validate clinically significant biomarkers to better predict therapeutic outcomes, and to conduct trials of novel therapeutic targets and trials of novel combinations of ICIs with other drugs to improve survival and help overcome resistance to ICIs in HNSCC.
This Research Topic aims to highlight the need to identify clinically significant biomarkers to predict the therapeutic prognosis of HNSCC and to find druggable targets in terms of originality, importance, and timeliness. We hope to collect important advances in HNSCC, especially as they relate to the treatment through clinical and translational research, thereby providing clinicians or researchers with valuable insights into the development of precision treatment strategies for HNSCC. We welcome submissions covering but are not limited to the following sub-topics:
1) Predictive markers of response to anti-EGFR and/or anti-PD-1 therapy in HNSCC
2) Identification of druggable targets in HNSCC
3) Research on therapy response and clinical translation of molecular targets in HNSCC.
4) Population-based studies of clinical features of HNSCC
5) Subclassification of HNSCC
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer type worldwide. More than half of patients with HNSCC present with locally advanced disease. Even after a curative multimodality therapy, a significant subset of these patients will develop recurrent or distant diseases. The prognosis of patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC is poor, and therapeutic options include conventional chemotherapy, epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors (EGFRIs), and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Although EGFRIs and ICIs can prolong the survival of patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC in clinical trials, the efficacy of the monotherapy of either EGFRIs or ICIs is modest. To date, PD-L1 expression is the only therapeutic biomarker, with limited predictive value in HNSCC. Although with conflicting results, increasing evidence suggested that patients with characteristics linked to younger age and HPV-negative disease exhibited a greater benefit from EGFRIs, compared with their counter partners. Comprehensive genomic profiling has also defined distinct subtypes of HNSCC with the potential for therapeutic stratification. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify and validate clinically significant biomarkers to better predict therapeutic outcomes, and to conduct trials of novel therapeutic targets and trials of novel combinations of ICIs with other drugs to improve survival and help overcome resistance to ICIs in HNSCC.
This Research Topic aims to highlight the need to identify clinically significant biomarkers to predict the therapeutic prognosis of HNSCC and to find druggable targets in terms of originality, importance, and timeliness. We hope to collect important advances in HNSCC, especially as they relate to the treatment through clinical and translational research, thereby providing clinicians or researchers with valuable insights into the development of precision treatment strategies for HNSCC. We welcome submissions covering but are not limited to the following sub-topics:
1) Predictive markers of response to anti-EGFR and/or anti-PD-1 therapy in HNSCC
2) Identification of druggable targets in HNSCC
3) Research on therapy response and clinical translation of molecular targets in HNSCC.
4) Population-based studies of clinical features of HNSCC
5) Subclassification of HNSCC
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.