Department of Stomatology, Wuhan Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Oral Oncol. 2010 Sep;46(9):648-53. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2010.06.011. Epub 2010 Jul 24.
Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) is the eighth most common disease, affecting approximately 640,000 patients worldwide each year. Despite recent advances in surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, the overall cure for patients with HNSCC has remained at less than 50% for many decades. Patients with recurrent and metastatic disease have a median survival of only 6-10 months. Systemic chemotherapy is the only treatment option for those patients. New treatment options are thus desperately needed to supplement, complement, or replace currently available therapies. New agents that target molecular and cellular pathways of the disease pathogenesis of HNSCC are promising candidates. One class of these new agents is angiogenesis inhibitors that have been proven effective in the treatment of advanced colorectal, breast, and non-small cell lung cancers. Similar to other solid tumors, angiogenesis plays an important role in the pathogenesis of HNSCC. A number of angiogenic factors including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and angiogenin (ANG) have been shown to be significantly upregulated in HNSCC. Among them, ANG is unique in which it is a ribonuclease that regulates ribosomal RNA (rRNA) transcription. ANG-stimulated rRNA transcription has been shown to be a general requirement for angiogenesis induced by other angiogenic factors. ANG inhibitors have been demonstrated to inhibit angiogenesis and tumor growth induced not only by ANG but also by other angiogenic factors. As the role of ANG in HNSCC is being unveiled, the therapeutic potential of ANG inhibitors in HNSCC is expected.
头颈部鳞状细胞癌（HNSCC）是第八大常见疾病，全球每年约有 64 万名患者受到影响。尽管近年来在手术、放疗和化疗方面取得了进展，但 HNSCC 患者的总体治愈率在几十年内仍低于 50%。复发性和转移性疾病患者的中位生存期仅为 6-10 个月。对于这些患者，全身化疗是唯一的治疗选择。因此，迫切需要新的治疗选择来补充、补充或替代现有的治疗方法。针对 HNSCC 疾病发病机制的分子和细胞途径的新型药物是有前途的候选药物。这些新型药物中的一类是血管生成抑制剂，已被证明在治疗晚期结直肠癌、乳腺癌和非小细胞肺癌方面有效。与其他实体瘤类似，血管生成在 HNSCC 的发病机制中起着重要作用。已经证明许多血管生成因子，包括血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）和血管生成素（ANG）在 HNSCC 中显著上调。其中，ANG 是一种独特的核糖核酸酶，可调节核糖体 RNA（rRNA）转录。ANG 刺激的 rRNA 转录已被证明是其他血管生成因子诱导的血管生成的一般要求。ANG 抑制剂已被证明不仅可以抑制 ANG 诱导的血管生成和肿瘤生长，还可以抑制其他血管生成因子诱导的血管生成和肿瘤生长。随着 ANG 在 HNSCC 中的作用逐渐被揭示，ANG 抑制剂在 HNSCC 中的治疗潜力有望得到实现。
