Lymph node metastases and inadequate surgical margins have a profound impact on the survival of head and neck cancer patients. In a collaborative study, our goal is to develop and evaluate an ultra-thin endoscopic system for the real-time analysis of surgical margins and lymph nodes during head and neck cancer surgery. The ultimate purpose of this project is to enhance treatment success through the intraoperative application of a novel, minimally invasive endoscope.

Head and neck cancer is associated with a high rate of relapses caused by the failures of current standard-of-care therapies, consequently resulting in a very poor prognosis for patients. To investigate the mechanisms underlying treatment failures, we have developed an innovative strategy for tracking cancer cell clones in preclinical, surgical mouse models of head and neck cancer. Our project aims to reconstruct the clonal dynamics and evolution of head and neck cancer following treatment, while also discovering the mechanisms that play a pivotal role in treatment resistance.

Head and neck cancer primarily advances through the dissemination of cancer cells to the lymph nodes in the neck, necessitating their surgical removal and/or treatment with radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Our aim is to develop technologies for detecting micrometastases in the tumor-draining lymph nodes of head and neck cancer patients. To achieve this objective, we intend to characterize the metastatic lesions, including their microenvironment within lymph nodes, and elucidate the mechanisms governing spatiotemporal lymphatic progression. This interdisciplinary study will provide a solid ground for the development of imaging- and biosensor-based diagnostic tools, enabling rapid and sensitive detection of subclinical lymph node metastases both within and outside the operative room.