Apoptosis and Cell Death

The aim of this Chapter is to summarise current understanding of apoptosis and cell death from a clinical perspective, focussing on the head and neck. Recent or landmark reviews have been selected for importance or clear explanations. The basis behind some of the methods to measure cell death is explained to assist in evaluating primary research papers. Emphasis is placed on the role of evasion of apoptosis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), although the role of cell death in other processes may be of interest to the specialist clinician, for example: cancers of the head and neck; head and neck development; palatal shelf fusion and cleft palate; autoimmune disease; and hearing loss due to aging, noise, or exposure to ototoxic agents. Keywords used in PubMed included HNSCC, oropharyngeal, apoptosis, necroptosis, autophagy, senescence, radioresistance, p53, HPV (human papilloma virus), cetuximab, EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor).