Recent clinical trials have demonstrated a clear survival advantage in advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients treated with immune checkpoint blockade. These emerging results reveal that HNSCC is one of the most promising frontiers for immunotherapy research. However, further progress in head and neck immuno-oncology will require a detailed understanding of the immune in...

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) ranks the eighth most common cancer worldwide. The patients often present with advanced disease, which responds poorly to chemoradiation therapy. PUMA is a BH3-only Bcl-2 family protein and a p53 target that is required for apoptosis induced by p53 and various chemotherapeutic agents. In this study, we found that PUMA induction by chemotherapeutic a...

Introduction: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the most common cancers in the world. Extra- and intra-cellular high-mobility motor box 1 (HMGB1) proteins are invovled in the pathogenesis and prognosis of cancer. Regarding this, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the expression of HMGB1 protein and mRNA levels in the blood, tumor tissue, and mar...

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer, and its prognosis remains poor. The poor prognosis results from recurrence, metastasis, and therapeutic resistance. Recently, cancer stem cells (CSCs) were shown to result in treatment failure, but their function and identification are not well understood in HNSCC. Previously, several markers of CSCs in HNSCC have be...

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a highly invasive cancer. A number of signaling pathways like PI3K, Rho and TGFβ/SMAD drive the invasive nature of HNSCC. The PI3K pathway is the most altered pathway in HNSCC. Both upstream and downstream members of this pathway have been found to be mutated or overexpressed leading to an increase in cell invasion. The Rho pathway is also common...

PURPOSE To assess the efficacy of rapamycin treatment in chemoprevention and chemotherapy of tumorigenesis in a genetically defined mouse model of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Knockdown of Tgfbr1 and/or Pten using siRNA-mediated RNA interference was carried out in human HNSCC cell lines to analyze molecular changes in the mTOR pathway. Tgfbr1(flox/flox); ...

OBJECTIVE Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a debilitating disease which is cured only 50% of the time. If diagnosed early, survival rates could reach 80%, but there is currently no practical method for early detection. CD44 comprises a family of isoforms that, in certain tumors, are alternatively spliced and overexpressed in tissues and circulation. Here we examine salivary solu...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine prospectively both human papillomavirus (HPV) load and physical status in different types of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). METHODS HPV DNA, E6/E7 mRNA expression, viral load, and physical status of 184 patients with HNSCC were examined simultaneously by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods. RESULTS The HPV genom...

Proteasome inhibitor PS-341 (also known as bortezomib) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors have emerged as novel therapeutic agents for a variety of malignancies. In this study, we examined whether PS-341 and the HDAC inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA) induced apoptosis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), a common and lethal malignancy. We found that, although TSA treatment alon...

BACKGROUND Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a devastating disease usually diagnosed at a late stage when cure rates are 40%. We examined a simple and inexpensive molecular tool that may aid HNSCC detection. METHODS Building on prior findings that total protein levels are elevated in 102 HNSCC cases versus 84 control subjects, we further analyzed these levels with respect to im...