School of Computational and Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
Curr Cancer Drug Targets. 2021;21(5):386-400. doi: 10.2174/1568009620666201229120332.
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) continues to be a global public health burden even after a tremendous development in its treatment. It is a heterogeneous cancer of upper aero-digestive tract. The contemporary strategy to treat cancer is the use of anticancer drugs against proteins possessing abnormal expression. Targeted chemotherapy was found successful in HNSCC, but, there is still a stagnant improvement in the survival rates and high recurrence rates due to undesirable chemotherapy reactions, non-specificity of drugs, resistance against drugs and drug toxicity on non-cancerous tissues and cells. Various extensive studies lead to the identification of drug targets capable to treat HNSCC effectively. The current review article gives an insight into these promising anticancer targets along with knowledge of drugs under various phases of development. In addition, new potential targets that are not yet explored against HNSCC are also described. We believe that exploring and developing drugs against these targets might prove beneficial in treating HNSCC.
头颈部鳞状细胞癌（HNSCC）即使在治疗方面取得了巨大进展，仍然是全球公共卫生的负担。它是上呼吸道-消化道的一种异质性癌症。治疗癌症的当代策略是使用针对异常表达蛋白的抗癌药物。靶向化疗在 HNSCC 中取得了成功，但由于不良的化疗反应、药物的非特异性、耐药性和药物对非癌细胞和组织的毒性，生存率仍然停滞不前，复发率仍然很高。各种广泛的研究导致了能够有效治疗 HNSCC 的药物靶点的鉴定。本文综述了这些有前途的抗癌靶点，以及处于不同开发阶段的药物的知识。此外，还描述了尚未针对 HNSCC 探索的新的潜在靶点。我们相信，针对这些靶点的探索和开发药物可能有助于治疗 HNSCC。
