Most treatment for advanced head and neck cancer requires chemotherapy with a drug called cisplatin, an inorganic platinum agent that inhibits cell growth. A substantial number of patients do not respond well to this therapy, but oncologists are unable to prescribe alternative agents because they don't know which patients will respond to platinum therapy and which won't. However, new research from Fox Chase Cancer Center suggests that levels of ERCC1 - an enzyme that helps repair cisplatin-related DNA damage - offer a predictive marker of survival in squamous carcinoma of the head and neck... 
More...
More...