[Research progress in protein post-translational modification in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma]

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors, which is prone to tumor recurrence and metastasis. At present, surgery combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy is the conventional modality for HNSCC patients, but for patients who have tumor relapse or metastasis, the treatment outcome is not ideal and the prognosis is pretty poor. Thus, to deepen the understanding of tumor mechanism will be very crucial. Post-translational modification (PTM) refer to covalent binding of small chemical molecular groups on the amino acid side chain of proteins, which is an important way of protein function regulation as well as a research hotspot of epigenetics. In recent years, it has been found that the occurrence of tumor is often accompanied by the abnormality of PTM. The abnormality plays an important role in the development of tumor and can be used as a target of tumor diagnosis and treatment. Many types of protein PTM involve in the development of HNSCC. This paper reviews the relationship between HNSCC and several major protein PTM types, including acetylation, methylation, glycosylation, in order to provide clues for the clinicians in diagnosis and treatment of HNSCC.