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mTOR Inhibitors and its Role in the Treatment of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

  • Head and Neck Cancer (T Day, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Opinion statement

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) represent 6% of all cancers diagnosed each year in the United States, affecting approximately 43,000 new patients and resulting in approximately 12,000 deaths. Currently, three main rapalogs exist for the treatment of cancer: CCI-779 (temsirolimus), RAD001 (everolimus), and AP235373 (deforolimus). Clinicians managing HNSCC need to be aware of the three rapalogs. Extensive evidence has shown rapamycin-analogs to be effective agents in the treatment of a number of solid tumors. While extensive preclinical data suggests that HNSCC would be an appropriate tumor type to benefit from inhibition of the mTOR pathway, limited clinical data is yet available to support this. Numerous phase II trials evaluating mTOR inhibitors for use in HNSCC are currently recruiting patients.

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Disclosure

S. Nguyen: none, D. Walker: none, M.B. Gillespie: none, J.S. Gutkind,T Day: received honoraria from Bristol-Myers and Eli Lilly.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA

    Shaun A. Nguyen M.D., David Walker B.S., M. Boyd Gillespie M.D. & Terry A. Day M.D.

  2. Rush Medical College, Chicago, IL, USA

    David Walker B.S.

  3. National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, Bethesda, MD, USA

    J. Silvio Gutkind PhD.

Authors
  1. Shaun A. Nguyen M.D.
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  2. David Walker B.S.
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  5. Terry A. Day M.D.
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Correspondence to Shaun A. Nguyen M.D..

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Nguyen, S.A., Walker, D., Gillespie, M.B. et al. mTOR Inhibitors and its Role in the Treatment of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Curr. Treat. Options in Oncol. 13, 71–81 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-011-0180-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-011-0180-2

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