Current Progress in the Clinical Management and Basic Science of Head and Neck Cancer

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Clinical Research of Cancer".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 April 2025 | Viewed by 931

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department Otolaryngol Head & Neck Surg, Asahikawa Med University, Midorigaoka East 2-1-1-1, Asahikawa 0788510, Japan
Interests: head and neck cancer; immunotherapy; chemoradiotherapy; surgery
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Every year, more than 800,000 patients are newly diagnosed with HNSCC worldwide and 450,000 patients with HNSCC die. Cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and viral infections are recognized as they major factors that can cause HNSCC. In addition to surgery and chemoradiotherapy, molecule-targeted therapy and immunotherapy are the main treatment options for HNSCC. As this area of basic and clinical research has rapidly progressed in recent years, it is important that clinicians understand the basic biology of HNSCC so that they are able to choose an appropriate therapy in the upcoming era of personalized medicine. In this Special Issue of Cancers, we welcome both original research and reviews regarding clinical advances in the treatment of HNSCC as well as basic research on its carcinogenesis, the tumor microenvironment and microbiome, and antitumor immunity. Reports of clinical experience or case series are also acceptable if they are related to particularly interesting topics within the field.

Dr. Takumi Kumai
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • head and neck cancer
  • immunotherapy
  • chemoradiotherapy
  • surgery
  • molecular biology
  • oncogenesis
  • cancer immunology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 2026 KiB  
Article
Hypoxia-Targeted Immunotherapy with PD-1 Blockade in Head and Neck Cancer
by Risa Wakisaka, Hidekiyo Yamaki, Michihisa Kono, Takahiro Inoue, Ryosuke Sato, Hiroki Komatsuda, Kenzo Ohara, Akemi Kosaka, Takayuki Ohkuri, Toshihiro Nagato, Kan Kishibe, Koh Nakayama, Hiroya Kobayashi, Takumi Kumai and Miki Takahara
Cancers 2024, 16(17), 3013; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16173013 - 29 Aug 2024
Viewed by 699
Abstract
Intratumoral hypoxia is associated with tumor progression, aggressiveness, and therapeutic resistance in several cancers. Hypoxia causes cancer cells to experience replication stress, thereby activating DNA damage and repair pathways. MutT homologue-1 (MTH1, also known as NUDT1), a member of the Nudix family, maintains [...] Read more.
Intratumoral hypoxia is associated with tumor progression, aggressiveness, and therapeutic resistance in several cancers. Hypoxia causes cancer cells to experience replication stress, thereby activating DNA damage and repair pathways. MutT homologue-1 (MTH1, also known as NUDT1), a member of the Nudix family, maintains the genomic integrity and viability of tumor cells in the hypoxic tumor microenvironment. Although hypoxia is associated with poor prognosis and can cause therapeutic resistance by regulating the microenvironment, it has not been considered a treatable target in cancer. This study aimed to investigate whether hypoxia-induced MTH1 is a useful target for immunotherapy and whether hypoxic conditions influence the antitumor activity of immune cells. Our results showed that MTH1 expression was elevated under hypoxic conditions in head and neck cancer cell lines. Furthermore, we identified a novel MTH1-targeting epitope peptide that can activate peptide-specific CD4+ helper T cells with cytotoxic activity. The proliferation and cytotoxic activity of T cells were maintained under hypoxic conditions, and PD-1 blockade further augmented the cytotoxicity. These results indicate that MTH1-targeted immunotherapy combined with checkpoint blockade can be an effective strategy for the treatment of hypoxic tumors. Full article
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