[Pharmacological characterization of head and neck cancer in ex-vivo tests].

Precise knowledge about the chance of success of a given pharmacologic therapy of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) before starting therapy would be very desirable to guide the selection of the most suitable or the most efficient combination out of the ever-growing spectrum of available pharmaceuticals. This selection has hitherto been made at best on the basis of the availability of guideline-conformant and approved combinations according to results of published clinical studies and approved general effectiveness in HNSCC. However, the inhomogeneous biology of HNSCC depending on localization, varying metastatic behavior, TNM and UICC stage in the context of the patient's general condition and risk status according to lifestyle and occupational exposure make it impossible to accurately predict the success of pharmacological therapy regimens for the individual HNSCC based on today's clinical and pathohistological diagnostics. A solution may lie in the testing of biopsy specimens ex vivo before starting therapy. The present review describes recent advances in ex-vivo tests and discusses the requirements for their inclusion in the decision-making process.