Clinical studies in head and neck cancer chemoprevention

Secondary neoplasms represent a major threat for patients with head and neck cancer. The prevention of secondary neoplasms has been a major goal of head and neck cancer chemoprevention efforts. In order to help develop effective strategies, reversal of oral premalignancy has been used as a model for chemoprevention. There is now sufficient data to show the chemopreventive effect in premalignant lesions of some natural compounds and their derivatives. Retinoids are the most studied chemopreventive agents for the treatment of oral leukoplakia. Other compounds with chemopreventive activity are carotenoids, Vitamin E derivatives and Selenium. There are two large prospective, randomized, chemoprevention clinical trials, one in Europe and the other in North America, using prevention of secondary malignancy as the primary study end-point. Until these trials are completed, the use of chemoprevention in head and neck cancer should be limited to clinical trials.