Molecular targeted therapy, advanced treatment for cancers of the head-and-neck region: A systematic review.

Introduction: The foundation of oncology treatment as a single modality approach as well as the "multimodality" concept has been studied by statistical evaluation pre, during, and posttreatment to rule out their efficacy, expected prognosis, toxicity reactions, and overall survival for the patient. Such studies have also provided an appreciable amount of data for future custom utility. "Targeted therapy" is a cancer treatment that uses drugs but is different from traditional chemotherapy. It works by targeting cancer-specific genes, proteins, or the tissue environment that contributes to cancer growth and survival. Researchers are developing drugs that target specific molecular changes. The drugs can block or turn off signals that tell cancer cells to grow and divide, keep cells from living longer than usual, and destroy the cancer cells. Aim: The aim of the study is to carry out a systematic review of clinical trials of molecular targeted therapy in the treatment of cancer. Objective: The objective of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of molecular targeted therapy in the treatment of head-and-neck cancers. Materials and Methods: A group of keywords was preselected to search for scientific articles on a web-based database of PubMed. Only completed randomized controlled trials published in the past 5 years in the English language were included with open access. All the selected articles were subjected to the Cochrane bias tool and PRISMA guidelines to extract results. Results: Among 4 studies specifying the progression-free survival (PFS) for comparing the groups treated either using targeted therapy or other modality/placebo, 50% of studies show a slight increase in PFS in the group treated with TT and other 50% show PFS increase in the non-TT group. Thus, insufficient evidence is furnished to provide a statement and acknowledged the expectancy of a disease-free period with or without the use of TT in the treatment of head-and-neck cancer. Conclusion: Considering very little information on enhanced effect and presence of evidence supporting an increased risk of adverse events, the addition of TT to treatment is a question to the dilemma. A systematic review intends advantageous in providing foresight for oncologists concerning patient assessment and evaluation to defend inclination proceeding toward the treatment defined.

Evaluation of total glutathione-s-transferase levels in serum of patients with oral malignancy.

Introduction: Squamous cell carcinoma-related antigen is not always sensitive enough for the early detection of oral cancer which is why a new marker has been desired as a substitute to be applied for serum diagnosis of oral cancer. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been known to play an important role in carcinogenesis. Glutathione-s-transferases (GSTs) are a family of eukaryotic and prokaryotic phase-II metabolic isoenzymes involved in xenobiotic detoxification. This correlation of the ROS species function and their role in initiation and progression of cancer could be exploited as of diagnostic value. The biologic function of the GSTs in human head-and-neck squamous cell carcinomas has been studied by researchers at gross as well as molecular levels. Taking into consideration this scientific background, future scope and perspectives, we initiated this study. Materials and Methods: This study was performed as a prospective case-control in vitro analytical study with subjects (n = 40) fulfilling the prerequisite conditions and were compliant. The case group (n = 20) was subjects with histopathologically proven cases of oral malignancy and age- and sex-matched control group (n = 20). The enzyme GST was evaluated in sera of all participants and then comparison was done between two groups as well as correlation with histopathologic grading for oral malignancy. Results: The mean serum GST activity in oral cancer patients was significantly higher than that of the control group. The present study has compared the alterations of enzyme in relation to histopathological grading of oral malignancy and found increased serum GST activity of well-differentiated and moderately differentiated carcinomas than the poorly differentiated carcinoma in terms of mean. Conclusion: Increased expression of the enzyme, as reported in the present study, can be due to tumor burden which attributes to overproduction of GST by cancer cells. The major clinical significance of the present study is that it gives important information regarding a new tumor progression and prognosis marker.

Implementation of meta-analysis approach, comparing conventional radiotherapy, and proton beam therapy treating head and neck cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Radiation therapy is commonly used in the treatment of head and neck cancer in both the definitive and postoperative settings. Proton therapy, due to its intrinsic physical properties, has the ability to reduce the integral dose delivered to the patients while maintaining highly conformal target coverage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: .A literature search was performed on scientific databases, and Preferred Reporting Items for Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed to compute results. Only original studies were selected. Selected studies were used to extract some proposed data for comparison, dosimetry, site, complications, and survival. RESULTS: Proton beam therapy technology can be used against the conventional radiotherapy and shows satisfactory results. Yet conventional therapy is not less advantageous considering the amount of work available for any cross interpretations. CONCLUSION: Comparative preplanning could be beneficial considering multiple therapies for ruling out the best treatment outcomes that could be expected.