Departmental Papers (Dental)

Document Type

Review

Date of this Version

9-1-2020

Publication Source

Journal of Dental Research

Volume

99

Issue

10

Start Page

1122

Last Page

1130

DOI

10.1177/0022034520925421

Abstract

Oral mucositis (OM), a common debilitating toxicity associated with chemo- and radiation therapies, is a significant unmet clinical need for head and neck cancer patients. The biological complexities of chemoradiotherapy-induced OM involve interactions among disrupted tissue structures, inflammatory infiltrations, and oral microbiome, whereby several master inflammatory pathways constitute the complicated regulatory networks. Oral mucosal damages triggered by chemoradiotherapy-induced cell apoptosis were further exacerbated by the amplified inflammatory cascades dominantly governed by the innate immune responses. The coexistence of microbiome and innate immune components in oral mucosal barriers indicates that a signaling hub coordinates the interaction between environmental cues and host cells during tissue and immune homeostasis. Dysbiotic shifts in oral microbiota caused by cytotoxic cancer therapies may also contribute to the progression and severity of chemoradiotherapy-induced OM. In this review, we have updated the mechanisms involving innate immunity-governed inflammatory cascades in the pathobiology of chemoradiotherapy-induced OM and the development of new interventional targets for the management of this severe morbidity in head and neck cancer patients. © International & American Associations for Dental Research 2020.

Keywords

chemotherapy, immunotherapy, inflammatory, microbiota, radiation, tissue homeostasis, Chemoradiotherapy, Dysbiosis, Head and Neck Neoplasms, Humans, Immunity, Innate, Mucositis, Stomatitis, chemoradiotherapy, dysbiosis, head and neck tumor, human, immunology, innate immunity, mucosa inflammation, stomatitis

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Date Posted: 10 February 2023

This document has been peer reviewed.