New Insights into Oropharyngeal Cancer

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2022) | Viewed by 6000

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Fukui 910-1193, Japan
Interests: head and neck cancer; cell cycle; drug resistance; stemness; EMT; surgery; chemoradiotherapy
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Guest Editor
Department of Experimental Radiology and Health Physics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan
Interests: radiation; cancer treatment; signal transduction; cellular and tissue response; p53; apoptosis; nitric oxide synthase

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Oropharyngeal cancer has recently attracted the attention of more researchers in the field of head and neck malignancy. Particularly, HPV-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), which is increasingly common in economically developed countries, shows high sensitivity to chemoradiation. It is clearly biologically different from conventional smoking-related and drinking-related oropharyngeal SCC. Immunostaining of p16 as a marker for HPV-associated oropharyngeal SCC has been adopted in the 8th edition of the UICC stage classification. As a result, clinical studies are underway in many countries to reduce the intensity of chemoradiation therapy for HPV-associated oropharyngeal SCC. Although it has already been demonstrated that some subgroups of HPV-associated oropharyngeal SCC have poor prognosis, appropriate treatment for these subgroups has not yet been determined. Additionally, many scientific issues remain to be clarified, such as the biological mechanisms of the tumor microenvironment, including immuno-oncology. Novel findings obtained from clinical study are expected to be crucially important for indications of surgery or chemoradiotherapy for both HPV-related and HPV-unrelated oropharyngeal cancer. Consequently, it is necessary to accumulate new knowledge related to unresolved oropharyngeal cancer. The reports presented in this Special Issue are expected to enhance our understanding of the biological characteristics of oropharyngeal SCC and to promote future clinical applications and breakthroughs.

Dr. Narita Norihiko
Dr. Hideki Matsumoto
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma
  • HPV
  • chemoradiation therapy
  • surgery
  • clinical trial
  • immuno-oncology
  • molecular biological research
  • translational research
  • recurrence and metastasis
  • drug resistance

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Review

14 pages, 3058 KiB  
Review
Near-Infrared Photoimmunotherapy for Oropharyngeal Cancer
by Daisuke Nishikawa, Hidenori Suzuki, Shintaro Beppu, Hoshino Terada, Michi Sawabe and Nobuhiro Hanai
Cancers 2022, 14(22), 5662; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14225662 - 17 Nov 2022
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3301
Abstract
Human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal cancer has a better prognosis than other head and neck cancers. However, rates of recurrence and metastasis are similar and the prognosis of recurrent or metastatic HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer is poor. Near-infrared photoimmunotherapy (NIR-PIT) is a treatment involving administration [...] Read more.
Human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal cancer has a better prognosis than other head and neck cancers. However, rates of recurrence and metastasis are similar and the prognosis of recurrent or metastatic HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer is poor. Near-infrared photoimmunotherapy (NIR-PIT) is a treatment involving administration of a photosensitizer (IRDye®700DX) conjugated to a monoclonal antibody followed by activation with near-infrared light illumination. It is a highly tumor-specific therapy with minimal toxicity in normal tissues. Moreover, NIR-PIT is expected to have not only direct effects on a treated lesion but also immune responses on untreated distant lesions. NIR-PIT with cetuximab-IR700 (AlluminoxTM) has been in routine clinical use since January 2021 for unresectable locally advanced or locally recurrent head and neck cancer in patients that have previously undergone radiotherapy in Japan. NIR-PIT for head and neck cancer (HN-PIT) is expected to provide a curative treatment option for the locoregional recurrent or metastatic disease after radiotherapy and surgery. This article reviews the mechanism underlying the effect of NIR-PIT and recent clinical trials of NIR-PIT for head and neck cancers, treatment-specific adverse events, combination treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, illumination approach and posttreatment quality of life, and provides a case of series of two patients who receive NIR-PIT for oropharyngeal cancer at our institution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Insights into Oropharyngeal Cancer)
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20 pages, 433 KiB  
Review
Current Evidence of a Deintensification Strategy for Patients with HPV-Related Oropharyngeal Cancer
by Soo-Yoon Sung, Yeon-Sil Kim, Sung Hwan Kim, Seung Jae Lee, Sea-Won Lee and Yoo-Kang Kwak
Cancers 2022, 14(16), 3969; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14163969 - 17 Aug 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2102
Abstract
Human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal cancer differs from HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancer in terms of etiology, epidemiology, and prognosis. Younger and lower comorbidity patient demographics and favorable prognosis allow HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer patients to anticipate longer life expectancy. Reducing long-term toxicities has become an increasingly [...] Read more.
Human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal cancer differs from HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancer in terms of etiology, epidemiology, and prognosis. Younger and lower comorbidity patient demographics and favorable prognosis allow HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer patients to anticipate longer life expectancy. Reducing long-term toxicities has become an increasingly important issue. Treatment deintensification to reduce toxicities has been investigated in terms of many aspects, and the reduction of radiotherapy (RT) dose in definitive treatment, replacement of platinum-based chemotherapy with cetuximab, response-tailored dose prescription after induction chemotherapy, and reduction of adjuvant RT dose after transoral surgery have been evaluated. We performed a literature review of prospective trials of deintensification for HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer. In phase II trials, reduction of RT dose in definitive treatment showed comparable survival outcomes to historical results. Two phase III randomized trials reported inferior survival outcomes for cetuximab-based chemoradiation compared with cisplatin-based chemoradiation. In a randomized phase III trial investigating adjuvant RT, deintensified RT showed noninferior survival outcomes in patients without extranodal extension but worse survival in patients with extranodal extension. Optimal RT dosage and patient selection require confirmation in future studies. Although many phase II trials have reported promising outcomes, the results of phase III trials are needed to change the standard treatment. Since high-level evidence has not been established, current deintensification should only be performed as part of a clinical study with caution. Implementation in clinical practice should not be undertaken until evidence from phase III randomized trials is available. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Insights into Oropharyngeal Cancer)
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