Molecular-targeted therapy hypoxia in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients

Despite advances in surgical techniques, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, 5-year survival in patients with late-stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) have not improved significantly over the past decades. HNSCC tumors are commonly associated with hypoxia, which is characterized by an acute and/or chronic decline in oxygen tension. Hypoxia is an important cancer-aggravating microenvironmental factor that contributes to malignant behaviors such as acquisition of antiapoptotic ability by cancer cells and tumor progression, invasion, metastasis, and resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Numerous studies have assessed tumor hypoxia and identified molecular markers that are promising therapeutic targets in HNSCC cases. Moreover, investigators have suggested a number of molecular strategies to target cell processes critical to hypoxia development in HNSCC patients via the direct or indirect regulation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α expression in cancer cells. In this review, we described recent advances in the identification and development of molecular-targeted therapy targeting hypoxia in HNSCC patients.