Abstract
The upper aerodigestive tract is predisposed to the formation of multiple primary tumors due to field cancerization. TGF-α/EGFR autocrine signaling appears to play an important role in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) and upregulation of TGF-α and EGFR is an early event in SCCHN carcinogenesis. STAT proteins, including Stat3, are activated by TGF-α and EGFR and strategies that downmodulate TGF-α or EGFR inhibit SCCHN cell proliferation and abrogate Stat3 activation. Targeting Stat3 leads to SCCHN growth inhibition, increases apoptosis and a downmodulation of Bcl-xL expression in head and neck tumors. These studies support the role of Stat3 as an oncogene, which is activated early in SCCHN carcinogenesis, and efforts to understand EGFR-mediated Stat3 signaling could facilitate novel strategies that will interfere with this growth promoting pathway.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 50 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $5.18 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout




Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Joint Committee on Cancer . Manual for Staging of Cancer, 2nd edn 1983 Philadelphia Lippincott pp 25â54
Becker D, Meier CB and Herlyn M . 1989 EMBO J 8: 3685â3691
Becker D, Lee PL, Rodeck U and Herlyn M . 1992 Oncogene 7: 2303â2313
Bos M, Mendelsohn J, Kim YM, Albanell J, Fry DW and Baselga J . 1997 Clin Cancer Res 3: 2099â2106
Boyle P, Macfarlane GJ, Zheng T, Maisonneuve P, Evstifeeva T and Scully C . 1992 Curr Opin Oncol 4: 471â477
Bromberg JF, Wrzeszczynska MH, Zhao Y, Pestrell RG, Albanese C and Darnell JE . 1999 Cell 98: 295â303
Califano J, van der Riet P, Westra W, Nawroz H, Clayman G, Piantadosi S, Corio R, Lee D, Greenberg B, Koch W and Sidransky D . 1996 Cancer Res 56: 2488â2492
Cancer Statistics 1990 New York American Cancer Society
Carpenter G . 1992 FASEB J 6: 3283â3289
Castigliano SG . 1968 J Am Dent Assoc 77: 580â585
Catlett-Falcone R, Landowski TH, Oshiro NM, Turkson J, Levitzki A, Savino R, Ciliberto G, Moscinski L, Fernandez-Luna JL, Nunez G, Dalton WS and Jove R . 1999 Immunity 10: 105â115
Coffer PJ and Kruijer W . 1995 Biochem Biophys Res Comm 210: 74â81
Darnell JE . 1997 Science 277: 1630â1635
David M, Wong L, Flavell R, Thompson SA, Wells A, Larner AC and Johnson GR . 1996 J Biol Chem 271: 9185â9188
DeGiovanni C, Landuzzi L, Frabetti F, Nicoletti G, Griffoni C, Rossi I, Mazzotti M, Scotto L, Nanni P and Lollini PL . 1996 Cancer Res 56: 3898â3901
DeMichele MA, Davis AL, Hunt JD, Landreneau RJ and Siegfried JM . Am J Resp Cell Mol Biol 11: 66â74
Dhooge IJ, De Vos M and Van Cauwenberge PB . 1998 Laryngoscope 108: 250â256
Dimery IW and Hong WK . 1993 J Natl Cancer Inst 85: 95â111
Earp HS, Dawson TL, Li X and Yu H . 1995 Breast Cancer Res Treat 35: 115â132
Eishbruch A, Blick M, Lee JS, Sacks PG and Gutterman J . 1987 Cancer Res 47: 3603â3605
Fry DW, Kraker AJ, McMichael A, Ambroso LA, Nelson JM, Leopold WR, Connors RW and Bridges AJ . 1994 Science 265: 1093â1095
Garcia R and Jove R . 1998 J Biomed Sci 5: 79â85
Garcia R, Yu CL, Hudnall A, Catlett R, Nelson KL, Smithgall T, Fujita DJ, Ethier SP and Jove R . 1997 Cell Growth Differ 8: 1267â1276
He Y, Zeng Q, Drenning SD, Melham MF, Tweardy DJ, Huang L and Grandis JR . 1998 J Natl Cancer Inst 90: 1080â1087
Hernandez-Sotomayor SMT and Carpenter G . 1992 Membr Biol 128: 81â89
Hierholzer C, Kalff JC, Omert L, Tsukada K, Loeffert JE, Watkins SC, Billiar TR and Tweardy DJ . 1998 Am J Physiol 275: L611âL621
Hong WK and Bromer R . 1983 N Engl J Med 308: 75â79
Ihle JN . 1996 Cell 84: 331â334
Ishitoya J, Toriyama O, Oguchi N, Kitamura K, Ohshima M, Asano K and Yamamoto T . 1989 Br J Cancer 59: 559â562
James R and Bradshaw RA . 1984 Annu Rev Biochem 53: 259â292
Jovanovich A, Van der Tol IGH and Kostense PJ . 1994 Eur J Cancer 30B: 225â229
Kawamoto T, Takahashi K and Nishi M . 1991 Jpn J Cancer Res 83: 403â410
Kumar V, Bustin SA and McKay IA . 1995 J Cell Biol Int 19: 373â388
Larson JT, Adams GL and Fattah HA . 1990 Otolaryngol-Head Neck Surg 103: 14â24
Leaman DW, Pisharody S, Flickinger TW, Commane MA, Schlessinger J, Kerr IM, Levy DE and Stark GR . 1996 Mol Cell Biol 16: 369â375
Mashberg A . 1993 J of NCI 85: 1525
Maxwell SA, Sack PG, Gutterman JU and Gallick GE . 1989 Cancer Res 49: 1130â1137
Moroni MC, Willingham MC and Beguinot L . 1992 J Biol Chem 267: 2714â2722
Niu G, Heller R, Catlett-Falcone R, Coppola D, Jaroszeski M, Dalton W, Jove R and Yu H . 1999 Cancer Res 59: 5059â5063
Ozanne B, Richards CS and Hendler F . 1986 J Pathol 149: 9â14
Park OK, Schaefer TS and Nathans D . 1996 PNAS 93: 13704â13708
Partridge M, Green MR, Langdon JD and Feldman M . 1989 Br J Cancer 60: 542â548
Roberts AB and Sporn MB . 1985 Cancer Sur 4: 683â705
Rubin Grandis J, Zeng Q and Tweardy DJ . 1996a Nature Med 2: 237â240
Rubin Grandis J, Chakraborty A, Melhem MF, Zeng Q and Tweardy DJ . 1997 Oncogene 15: 409â416
Rubin Grandis J, Tweardy DJ and Melhem MF . 1998a Clin Cancer Res 4: 13â20
Rubin Grandis J, Chakraborty A, Zeng Q, Melhem MF and Tweardy DJ . 1998b J Cell Biochem 69: 55â62
Rubin Grandis J, Melhem MF, Gooding WE, Day R, Holst VA, Wagener MM, Drenning SD and Tweardy DJ . 1998c J NCI 90: 824â832
Rubin Grandis J, Drenning SD, Chakraborty A, Zhou Min-Yu, Zeng Q and Pitt AS . 1998d J Clin Invest 102: 1385â1392
Rubin Grandis J, Drenning SD, Zeng Q, Watkins SC, Melhem MF, Endo S, Johnson DE, Huang L and Kim JD . 1999 Proc Natl Acad Sci USA in press
Sadowski HB, Shuai K, Darnell JE and Gilman MZ . 1993 Science 261: 1739
Sartor CI, Dziubinski ML Yu CL, Jove R and Ethier SP . 1997 Cancer Res 57: 978â987
Seidel HM, Milocco LH, Lamb P, Darnell JE, Stein RB and Rosen J . 1995 Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92: 3041â3045
Sharif M, Saskawa N and Hanley MR . 1994 Mol Cell Endocrin 100: 115â119
Siegfried JM, DeMichele MA, Hunt JD, Davis AG, Vohra KP and Pilewski JM . 1997 Am J Resp Crit Care Med 156: 358â366
Siegfried JM, Guentert PJ and Gaither AL . 1993 Anatomical Record 236: 241â247
Slaughter DA . 1946 Surgery 20: 133â138
Todd R, Donoff BR and Gertz R . 1989 Carcinogenesis 10: 1553â1556
Ulrich A and Schlessinger J . 1990 Cell 61: 203â212
US Department of Health and Human Services . 1991 Cancers of the Oral Cavity and Pharynx A Statistics Review Monograph, 1973â1987
Vogelstein B and Kinzler KW . 1993 Trends in Genetics 9: 138â141
Watson CJ and Miller WR . 1995 Br J Cancer 71: 840â844
Weichselbaum RR, Dunphy EJ, Beckett MA, Tybor AG, Moran WJ, Goldman ME, Vokes EE and Panje WR . 1989 Head Neck 11: 437â442
Wegenka UM, Buschmann J, Lutticken C, Heinrich PC and Horn F . 1993 Mol Cell Biol 13: 276â288
Yamamoto T, Katama N, Kawano H, Shimizu S, Kuroki T, Toyoshima K, Rikimaru K, Nomura N, Ishizaki R, Pastan I, Gamou S and Shimizu N . 1986 Cancer Res 46: 414â416
Yoshida K, Kyo E, Tsuda T, Tsujino T, Ito M and Tahara E . 1990 Int J Cancer 45: 131â135
Yu CL, Meyer DJ, Campbell GS, Larner AC, Carter-Su C, Schwartz J and Jove R . 1995 Science 269: 81
Zhong Z, Wen Z and Darnell JE . 1994 Science 264: 95â98
Zushi S, Shinomura Y, Kiyohara T, Miyazaki Y, Kondo S, Sugimachi M, Higashimoto Y, Kanayama S and Matsuzawa Y . 1998 Int J Cancer 78: 326â330
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Song, J., Grandis, J. STAT signaling in head and neck cancer. Oncogene 19, 2489â2495 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1203483
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1203483
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Targeted therapy for head and neck cancer: signaling pathways and clinical studies
Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy (2023)
-
Toward radiotheranostics in cancer stem cells: a promising initial step for tumour eradication
Clinical and Translational Imaging (2021)
-
Correlations between serum cetuximab and EGFR-related markers, and skin disorders in head and neck cancer patients
Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology (2021)
-
Targeting cancer stem cell pathways for cancer therapy
Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy (2020)
-
STAT3 Inhibition for Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors: Potential for a New Therapeutic Target?
Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery (2020)


