Head and neck cancer

Abstract

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common type of cancer worldwide. Although advance of conventional and development of new therapeutic approaches, including fractionated radiotherapy, targeted chemotherapy and concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the improvement in overall survival in patients with HNSCC is still low. HNSCCs often metastasize to locoregional lymph nodes, and lymph node involvement represents one of the most important prognostic factors of poor clinical outcome. Experimental models of the HNSCC and its spread via lymphatic system is an essential research tool used to study all steps of HNSCC progression and evaluation of new therapeutic approaches. This chapter provides with short review of molecular events implicated in metastatic spread of the HNSCC and presents experimental approaches with emphasis on in vivo models. Importantly, methods to model and to visualize the spread of HNSCC into sentinel lymph nodes are presented.