BACKGROUND: Squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck are considered to be highly aggressive cancers. The 5-year survival rate of patients with this disease depends on whether a locoregional relapse occurs and if so, how early after the initial treatment. Disease was found to relapse more frequently in patients suffering from cancers with an invasive growth pattern. It was therefore concluded that cancer cell invasion influences the patient's survival. While considerable efforts are made to develop treatment regimens for relapsing disease, a novel approach consists of the prevention of the disease recurrence through the inhibition of cancer cell invasion.
METHOD: Literature search.
RESULTS: We summarize in this article the mechanisms of tumor invasion, focusing on the regulation of tumor proteases, which are essential for cancer invasion, and provide an overview of preliminary results with novel anti-invasive treatment strategies.
CONCLUSION: Novel anti-invasive treatment regimens based on an understanding of molecular cancer invasion mechanisms may be used in the future to treat patients with head and neck cancers.