Advances in targeted therapy mainly based on signal pathways for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
Signal Transduct Target Ther
; 5(1): 245, 2020 10 23.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33093441
ABSTRACT
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant epithelial carcinoma of the head and neck region which mainly distributes in southern China and Southeast Asia and has a crucial association with the Epstein-Barr virus. Based on epidemiological data, both incidence and mortality of NPC have significantly declined in recent decades grounded on the improvement of living standard and medical level in an endemic region, in particular, with the clinical use of individualized chemotherapy and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) which profoundly contributes to the cure rate of NPC patients. To tackle the challenges including local recurrence and distant metastasis in the current NPC treatment, we discussed the implication of using targeted therapy against critical molecules in various signal pathways, and how they synergize with chemoradiotherapy in the NPC treatment. Combination treatment including targeted therapy and IMRT or concurrent chemoradiotherapy is presumably to be future options, which may reduce radiation or chemotherapy toxicities and open new avenues for the improvement of the expected functional outcome for patients with advanced NPC.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Signal Transduction
/
Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms
/
Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated
/
Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Signal Transduct Target Ther
Year:
2020
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
China