New concepts of personalized therapy in salivary gland carcinomas

Salivary gland carcinomas are rare tumours and therapy strategies are less standardized than in lung, gastric or breast cancer. Therapy is based on surgery, but not all carcinomas are completely resectable, e.g. because carcinomas often show infiltration of nerves. For further therapy decision pathology is recommended, but evaluation of potential targets for personalized therapy is not part of the routine panel. Many salivary gland carcinomas can be resistant to radio- and/or chemotherapy, which limits therapeutic options. This review summarizes new concepts for personalized therapy in salivary gland carcinoma patients. Targeting growth receptors HER2, EGFR, AR and ER is possible but, in some studies, potential target molecules were not adequately tested before therapy. In addition, approximately 20-25% of carcinomas have RAS mutation (mainly H-RAS), which could explain resistance to therapy. Possible therapy options in the future could be immunomodulation (inhibition of PDL1/PD1 signalling), nanoparticles (gold nanoparticles conjugated to cetuximab can increase radiosensitivity) and drug delivery systems (trastuzumab emtansine/T-DM1). (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.