Retinoids in Head and Neck Cancer

Clinical research in head and neck cancer has been important in establishing the role of retinoids in oncology. In an important paper, D. P. Slaughter et al. coined the term “field cancerization” to describe the diffusely abnormal epithelium observed among patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. The goal of chemoprevention is to administer drugs in order to block or reverse carcinogenesis and to prevent the development of invasive cancer. The necessity of treating patients who would not develop cancer if left untreated emphasizes the need of chemoprevention regimens that are safe and well tolerated. Consistent with the field cancerization hypothesis, multiple primary tumors are often observed among patients with head and neck cancer. In contrast to the extensive clinical work in upper aerodigestive tract chemoprevention of upper aerodigestive tract cancers, retinoid studies in advanced squamous cell cancers of the head and neck have been limited.