Head and Neck Cancer—Updates in Research and Treatment 2.0

Dear Colleagues,

Cancer developing in the head and neck region is pre-dominantly diagnosed in an advanced stage and, despite recent advances in local and systemic treatment regimens, is linked to high rates of local failure and distant metastasis leading to rather poor outcomes. The first Special Issue in this series (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/jcm/special_issues/Head_Neck_Cancer_HPV) focused on head and neck cancers (HNCs) linked to infections with high-risk oncogenic subtypes of the human papillomavirus (HPV). Strong evidence has accumulated since 1983 about the etiological involvement of HPV in a subset of head and neck cancers (HNCs), and substantial differences between HPV-associated and HPV-negative HNCs have been observed establishing HPV as a prognostic factor, especially in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). As the neoplastic transformation of epithelial cells caused by high-risk HPV subtypes was found to be linked to the overexpression of p16, immunohistochemical p16 detection is routinely used as a surrogate for HPV-related HNC. Despite good reasons to supplement p16 with HPV genotyping, we are now in an era of separate tumor staging of OPSCC based on p16-positivity. There is increasing knowledge about some pitfalls whenever p16 is solely used, and discrimination between HPV-driven HNCs from other HNCs and the clear identification of prognostic subgroups are more desired than ever. Moreover, HPV-related HNSCC might arise not only from epithelia in near proximity or adjeacent to Waldeyer’s throat ring but also from the larynx, hypopharynx, the oral cavity, and sinonasal sinuses. However, the majority of HNCs is found to be etiologically linked to lifestyle-associated high exposure to tobacco smoke and alcohol, and even patients with HPV-driven OPSCC often report a history of many years of tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption. Therefore, it is not easy to dissect these highly influential risk factors on the development of HNCs and relapse after therapy in curative intent. Molecular analyses to elucidate differences in gene expression patterns in HNSCC with rather good or poor outcomes might have the potential to inform future develeopments to improve diagnosis and prognostication and lead to the detection of future targets for therapy. Therefore, we invite authors working in the field to submit contributions of original research and state-of-the-art reviews related to the epidemiology of HNCs including HPV-positive HNCs, the immune response to HPV, HPV testing and genotyping, detection of pre-disposing gene polymorphisms and somatic mutations as well as predictive factors for outcomes, and quality of life in HPV-positive versus HPV-negative HNCs, as well as reports of clinical trials and other areas of research dealing with HPV in HNCs for this Special Issue.

Dr. Gunnar Wichmann
Guest Editor

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• head and neck cancer (HNC)
• oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC)
• head and neck squamous cell carci-noma (HNSCC)
• human papillomavirus (HPV)
• HPV-driven oropharynx cancer
• biomarker
• prognostic factor
• outcome research
• larynx
• hypopharynx
• oral cavity