Drug Candidates for the Treatment of Oral Cancer and Oral Cancer Pain, 2nd Edition
A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmacology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 27 January 2026 | Viewed by 28
Special Issue Editor
Interests: oral cancer; oral cancer pain; drug discovery; natural compounds; small molecule inhibitors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide, and its incidence is ever-increasing. The majority (60%) of tumors are located in the oral cavity (oral squamous cell carcinoma; OSCC) and tend to be diagnosed in advanced stages (stage 3 and 4), resulting in high morbidity and high mortality rates. However, when they are discovered in early stages (stage 1 and 2), there is an 80% five-year survival rate. This is due to improvements in surgical techniques for early stages of the disease. In spite of advances in existing therapies and the development of new treatment strategies (e.g., targeted therapies and small molecule inhibitors), very few efficacious drugs have been developed over the past 50 years to treat advanced and recurrent oral cancers. Recently, immunotherapies have shown great promise when used in conjunction with other standard therapies (chemo- and radiotherapies); however, the response rates remain relatively low, leaving a very large patient population in need of new therapeutic options. In addition, OSCC is the most painful cancer type there is. These patients rapidly develop tolerance to opioids, the mainstay therapy for oral cancer pain. Hence, many patients are left with no efficacious analgesics while battling this insidious disease. The journal Pharmaceuticals invites both reviews and original articles detailing novel therapeutic targets, drug candidates, and treatment strategies for oral cancer and oral cancer pain. Topics include natural compounds, small molecule inhibitors, immunotherapies, novel targets/biomarkers, drug repurposing, radiotherapy, and targeted therapies. The collection of manuscripts will be published as a Special Issue of the journal.
Dr. Cara B. Gonzales
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- oral cancer
- oral cancer pain
- drug discovery
- natural compounds
- immunotherapy
- small molecule inhibitors
- biomarkers
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