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SAGE Publications, Journal of Dental Research, 10(99), p. 1122-1130, 2020

DOI: 10.1177/0022034520925421

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Oral Mucositis: An Update on Innate Immunity and New Interventional Targets

Journal article published in 2020 by C. Chen ORCID, Q. Zhang, W. Yu, B. Chang, A. D. Le
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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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.