Head and neck cancer (HNC) is a complex and heterogeneous disease associated with high mortality and morbidity worldwide. Standard therapeutic management of advanced HNC, which is based on radiotherapy often combined with chemotherapy, has been hampered by severe long-term side effects. To overcome these side effects, tumor-selective nanoparticles have been exploited as a potential drug delivery system to improve HNC therapy. A combination of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Oral Health Group's Trials Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception up to June 2020 was used for this systematic review. A total of 1747 published manuscripts were reviewed and nine relevant references were retrieved for analysis, while eight of them were eligible for meta-analysis. Based on these studies, the level of evidence about the efficacy of nanoformulation for HNC therapy on tumor response and adverse side effects (SAE) was low. Even though basic research studies have revealed a greater promise of nanomaterial to improve the outcome of cancer therapy, none of them were translated into clinical benefits for HNC patients. This systematic review summarized and discussed the recent progress in the development of targeted nanoparticle approaches for HNC management, and open-up new avenues for future perspectives.
Keywords: head and neck cancer; nanoparticles; selective drug delivery; targeted therapeutics.