[In search of new treatment methods for head-neck carcinoma]

During the past decades the clinical prognosis of head and neck squamous cell cancer has remained unchanged. This indicates that new therapeutic strategies are needed. Cancer prevention strategies focusing on the elimination of carcinogenic substances could help to lower the incidence of this disease. Documentation of the clinical outcome in tumor registers could help to establish a better understanding of tumor biology and adequate treatment of different tumor types. Nevertheless the most promising approach at the current time seems to be the development of new immunotherapeutic treatment regiments. One possible way of future cancer treatment could be the application of bispecific antibodies that redirect immune effector cells to the tumor. A second approach could be in vivo gene therapy with direct intratumoral injections of a gene coding for interleukin-2. This should help to reactivate tumor-suppressed immune effector cells.