Abstract
Head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) is the six most common cancer in the world. In attempts to improve therapy of this cancer, contemporary research is focused predominantly on new tumor markers and evaluation of their diagnostic, prognostic and predictive significance for routine clinical practice.
Molecular tumor markers at the same time very well reflect pathobiological processes in tumors. New etiological and pathobiological aspects of cancerogenesis of HNSCC were lately introduced.
Namely epigenetic mechanisms, RNA interference and microRNA, cancer stem cells and epithelial-mesenchymal transition play important role in cancerogenesis as well as represent new source of molecular tumor markers and potential target of biological therapy.