title: The opposing roles of NOTCH signalling in head and neck cancer: a mini review.
abstract: NOTCH signalling can exert oncogenic or tumour suppressive effects in both solid and haematological malignancies. Similar to T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL), early studies suggested a pro-tumorigenic role of NOTCH in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), mainly based on the increased expression levels of the genes within the pathway. Recently, data from exome sequencing analyses unexpectedly pointed to a tumour suppressor role for NOTCH in HNSCC by identifying loss-of-function mutations in the NOTCH1 gene in a significant proportion of patients. These data have questioned the accepted role of NOTCH in HNSCC and the possible rationale of targeting NOTCH in this disease. This review summarises the current information on NOTCH signalling in HNSCC and discusses how this pathway can apparently exert opposing effects within the same disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology & Biomedical Sciences and Oral Cancer Research & Coordinating Centre, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Yap
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology & Biomedical Sciences and Oral Cancer Research & Coordinating Centre, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology & Biomedical Sciences and Oral Cancer Research & Coordinating Centre, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Anm
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khairuddin
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology & Biomedical Sciences and Oral Cancer Research & Coordinating Centre, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Pairan
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology & Biomedical Sciences and Oral Cancer Research & Coordinating Centre, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Puspita
authors.affiliation: Department of Oro-Maxillofacial Surgical & Medical Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Siar
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology & Biomedical Sciences and Oral Cancer Research & Coordinating Centre, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: I C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Paterson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D051880:Receptors, Notch / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D051880:Receptors, Notch
keywords: NOTCH; head and neck cancer; mutations; oncogene; tumour suppressor