Open Access

REVIEW

Translational aspects of the modern genetics in head and neck cancers

by FRANCESCO PADUANO^1,2,*, EMANUELA ALTOMARE^2,3, BENEDETTA MARRELLI¹, VINCENZO DATTILO⁴, HAIZAL MOHD HUSSAINI⁵, PAUL ROY COOPER⁵, MARCO TATULLO⁶

1 Marrelli Health-Tecnologica Research Institute, Biomedical Section, Stem Cells and Medical Genetics Units, Crotone, 88900, Italy
2 University “Magna Graecia” of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, 88600, Italy
3 Fondazione “Massimo Marrelli”, Crotone, 88900, Italy
4 Genetics Unit, IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, 20125, Italy
5 Sir John Walsh Research Institute, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand
6 Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sense Organs, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, 70124, Italy

* Corresponding Author: Francesco Paduano,

BIOCELL 2022, 46(8), 1827-1835. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2022.020462

Received 24 November 2021; Accepted 22 December 2021; Issue published 22 April 2022

Abstract

Oral Cancer (OC) is one of the most recurrent cancers in the head and neck squamous cancer (SCCHN) category. Recently, the genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have gained growing interest in the scientific community. GWAS have identified several pathways involved in the interactions among general risk factors and genomic variants affecting SCCHN. This systematic overview aims to critically evaluate the latest data reported within the scientific literature. The aim was to investigate the impact of genetic aspects on SCCHN onset and prognosis, involving other clinical and systemic co-factors. PubMed, Google Scholar, and Cancer Genetics Web databases have been systematically investigated for original articles published in the last two years, reporting studies on the main queries addressed in this work. This review also comparatively describes the impact of environmental and pathological co-factors in different types of cancers, clarifying and updating the role of genetic factors in SCCHN onset and development. The main outcomes reported may be helpful to drive clinicians towards their clinical evaluations for the most appropriate therapeutic approach in SCCHN.

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Keywords

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