Head and neck cancers, the neglected malignancies: present and future treatment strategies

Abstract

Head and neck cancers are the most prevalent cancers in Asia and result in 50% of deaths due to all cancers in that region. However, treatment regimen has not changed in the past two decades and there are no specific drugs for this cancer. As a result of this, treatment outcomes remain poor. Furthermore, there are no new breakthrough therapies on the horizon, in part, due to low commercial interest in these cancers. What is needed is new thinking, which combines targeted and risk mitigation approaches to develop novel drugs. This editorial will focus on summarising the present approaches to treatment and propose new targets for these cancers.

Keywords::

• adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase
• cytotoxic chemotherapeutic drugs
• head and neck cancer
• peroxisomal proliferator activated receptor γ
• phosphodiesterase 4
• target-based therapy

Acknowledgement

U Saxena would like to dedicate this paper in memory of his mentors Sailen Mookerjea and K Anji Reddy.