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Biology
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Head and Neck Cancer: Current Advances and Future Perspectives
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Head and Neck Cancer: Current Advances and Future Perspectives

A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 793

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ana Jotic

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, 2 Clinic for Otorhinolaryngology and Maxillofacial Surgery, University Clinical Center, Belgrade, Serbia
Interests: adult and pediatric otorhinolaryngology in children; otology; otosurgery; audiology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite submissions for an upcoming Special Issue titled "Head and Neck Cancer: Current Advances and Future Perspectives", which aims to provide a comprehensive platform for contemporary research into the biology of head and neck tumors.

Head and neck cancers (HNCs) represent a diverse group of malignancies with complex biological behavior. Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment, outcomes remain suboptimal due to tumor heterogeneity, therapeutic resistance, and late-stage presentation. This Special Issue will focus on cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying HNCs, including genetic and epigenetic alterations, dysregulated signaling pathways, and abnormal protein interactions. We encourage submissions exploring the roles of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, as well as the impact of the tumor microenvironment on angiogenesis, metastasis, and immune evasion.

In addition, we welcome studies addressing mechanisms of drug resistance, tumor response to therapy, and the molecular etiology and risk factors that drive malignant transformation. Both original research and comprehensive reviews are invited.

By gathering current insights and future perspectives, this Special Issue aims to enhance understanding and foster innovation in the biology-driven management of head and neck cancers. We look forward to your valuable contributions.

Dr. Ana Jotic
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biology is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • head and neck cancer
  • tumor microenvironment
  • genetic and epigenetic alterations
  • oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes
  • signal transduction pathways
  • immune evasion
  • metastasis
  • drug resistance mechanisms
  • molecular etiology
  • cancer biology

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 4672 KB  
Article
Environmental Hazards and Chemoresistance in OTSCC: Molecular Docking and Prediction of Paclitaxel and Imatinib as BCL2 and EGFR Inhibitors
by Nishant Kumar Singh, Prankur Awasthi, Agrika Gupta, Nidhi Anand, Balendu Shekher Giri and Saba Hasan
Biology 2025, 14(9), 1174; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14091174 - 2 Sep 2025
Viewed by 572
Abstract
Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) is a common type of oral cancer influenced by genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors like exposure to environmental toxins. These environmental toxins can decrease the effectiveness of established chemotherapy drugs, such as Irinotecan, used in OTSCC treatment. [...] Read more.
Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) is a common type of oral cancer influenced by genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors like exposure to environmental toxins. These environmental toxins can decrease the effectiveness of established chemotherapy drugs, such as Irinotecan, used in OTSCC treatment. Bioinformatics, drug discovery, and machine learning techniques were employed to investigate the impact of Irinotecan on OTSCC patients by identifying targets and signaling pathways, including those that positively influence protein phosphorylation, protein tyrosine kinase activity, the PI3K-Akt (Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase- Protein Kinase B) signaling system, cancer pathways, focal adhesion, and the HIF-1 (Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1) signaling pathway. Later, the protein–protein interactions (PPIs) network, along with twelve cytoHubba approaches to finding the most interacting molecule, was employed to find the important proteins BCL2 and EGFR. Drugs related to BCL2 and EGFR were extracted from the DGIdb database for further molecular docking. Molecular docking revealed that Docetaxel, Paclitaxel, Imatinib, Ponatinib, Ibrutinib, Sorafenib, and Etoposide showed more binding affinity than Irinotecan (i.e., −9.8, −9.6). Of these, Paclitaxel (−10.3, −11.4) and Imatinib (−9.9, −10.4) are common in targeting BCL2 and EGFR. Using these identified candidate genes and pathways, we may be able to uncover new therapeutic targets for the treatment of OTSCC. Furthermore, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed for selected ligand–receptor complexes, revealing stable binding interactions and favorable energetic profiles that supported the docking results and strengthened the reliability of the proposed drug repurposing strategy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Head and Neck Cancer: Current Advances and Future Perspectives)
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