Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remains difficult to treat, and despite of advances in treatment, the overall survival rate has only modestly improved over the past several years. Thus, there is an urgent need for additional therapeutic modalities. We hypothesized that treatment of HNSCC cells with a dietary product such as bitter melon extract (BME) modulates multiple signaling p...

Introduction Cisplatin is one of the standard treatments head and neck tumors leading frequently to severe systemic side effects. This could be improved by targeted drug delivery with nanoparticles in combination local hyperthermia. Unfortunately, outcome studies on hyperthermia HNSCC are diverse. Therefore, we started testing effect nanoparticle uptake HNSCC-cell lines, their toxicity,

Despite our improved understanding of cancer, the 5-year survival rate for head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) patients remains relatively unchanged at 50% for the past three decades. HNSCCs often metastasize to locoregional lymph nodes, and lymph node involvement represents one of the most important prognostic factors of poor clinical outcome. Among the multiple dysregulated molecul...

PURPOSE FGFR1 copy-number gain (CNG) occurs in head and neck squamous cell cancers (HNSCC) and is used for patient selection in FGFR-specific inhibitor clinical trials. This study explores FGFR1 mRNA and protein levels in HNSCC cell lines, primary tumors, and patient-derived xenografts (PDX) as predictors of sensitivity to the FGFR inhibitor, NVP-BGJ398. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN FGFR1 status, expr...

The recent elucidation of the genomic landscape of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) has provided a unique opportunity to develop selective cancer treatment options. These efforts will require the establishment of relevant HNSCC models for preclinical testing. Here, we performed full exome and transcriptome sequencing of a large panel of HNSCC-derived cells from different anatomical...

BACKGROUND Protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type D (PTPRD) is a putative tumor suppressor in several cancers including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). STAT3 is a frequently hyperactivated oncogene in HNSCC. As STAT3 is a direct substrate of PTPRD, we sought to determine the genetic or epigenetic alterations of PTPRD that contribute to overactive STAT3 in HNSCC. METHODS We ...

Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma is a deadly and locally aggressive malignancy that frequently portends a poor prognosis. Since current treatment modalities including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are heavily debilitating and often result in recurrence intense efforts have been put into the development of novel less toxic and more lasting treatment strategies. Recently, immunotherapy...

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) incidence or rates have increased dramatically recently with little improvement in patient outcomes. There is an unmet need in HNSCC to develop reliable molecular markers capable of evaluating patient risks and advising treatments. This review focuses on recent developments in single-cell molecular analysis of cancer, and its applications for HNSCC ...

We evaluated the chemopreventive effect of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) by conducting a case-control study based on the administration of a standardized questionnaire to 71 incident HNSCC cases and same number of healthy controls. NSAID use was associated with a 75% reduction in risk of developing HNSCC. A significant risk red...

PURPOSE Inflammatory cytokines have been implicated in the progression of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Herein we investigate the mechanisms by which interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) might contribute to Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in HNSCC. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN We evaluated the effect of IL-1beta on the molecular events of EMT in surgical specimens and HNSCC cell lines...