Histone modifications in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma: from epigenetic reprogramming to precision therapy

Abstract

Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is a common malignancy of the head and neck, accounting for the vast majority of laryngeal cancers. Its development involves complex interactions between genetic and epigenetic alterations. Histone post-translational modifications, as a crucial regulatory layer linking intracellular metabolic states, oncogenic signaling, and transcriptional programs, participate in tumor cell proliferation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, stemness maintenance, metabolic reprogramming, and therapeutic resistance by modulating chromatin conformation, transcription factor accessibility, and gene expression profiles. This study systematically summarizes recent advances in histone acetylation, methylation, lactylation, and other novel histone modifications in LSCC, further discusses crosstalk among different histone modifications and their potential roles in the tumor microenvironment and resistance to radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy, and analyzes therapeutic strategies targeting histone modifications as well as future prospects for single-cell and spatial epigenomics in precision medicine for LSCC, aiming to provide new theoretical foundations for biomarker development and epigenetic-targeted therapies in LSCC.