Biomedical Approaches in the Research and Management of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

This chapter discusses emerging novel approaches for the molecular characterization of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The chapter provides an overview of HNSCC tumorigenesis and biology, as well as risk factors that predispose to it, and discusses in detail the new methods for HNSCC characterization and their applications for precision medicine. We have emphasized on data related to new genes, including those encoding several miRNAs that are differentially expressed in these cancers, and the human papillomavirus infection status, which can be used as biomarkers of cancer aggressiveness. We have also presented the use of new methods such as machine learning and Raman spectroscopy to detect chemical fingerprints, which can be used as biomarkers of prognosis and aggressiveness of individual cancers. Furthermore, the text discusses the recent advances in obtaining three-dimensional (3D) organoid models of tumors generated from cancer tissue biopsies that recapitulate the characteristics of each patient’s cancer and could be used to test the sensitivity of the cancer to different drugs.