The laryngeal mucosa is covered with mucous material which is necessary as a lubricant for vocal fold vibration. These laryngeal secretions are locally produced by glandular tissues and are important for the mucosal defense system due to the presence of secretory immunoglobulins insecretions. In the analysis, the laryngeal secretion was found to contain immunological factors such as IgG, IgA or secretory IgA (SIgA). The level of SIgA in the laryngeal secretion closely correlated to the level of SIgA in the mucosal tissue. These findings indicate that local immunity is actually present in the human larynx and changes according to age or by either the presence of malignancy or stimuli such as radiation.
By analyzing the invasion pattern of the cancer to spaces of the larynx, selective intra-arterial infusion chemo-radiotherapy was performed in advanced laryngeal cancer patients. As a complete response was achieved at the primary site in 15 of 17 patients, this treatment would be an effective organ preservation therapy for advanced laryngeal carcinomas.

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Recently, a cancer stem cell model has been proposed as an attractive hypothesis. Cancer stem cells play an important role in the formation and maintenance of tumor tissues. Characterization of cancer stem cells and understanding of its implications may lead to overcoming the limitations of current cancer therapies, such as resistance against surgery and chemoradiation therapies. Many researchers agree with the possible involvement of cancer cells with stemness, which should be closely relevant with resistance, recurrence and metastasis. In this review, we introduce how we can identify cancer stem cells, and then discuss where cancer stem cells came from as a new model of tumorigenesis. Finally, we note future prospects of cancer stem cell research towards overcoming cancer disasters.

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Objective: The purpose of this study is to compare the prognosis of definitive chemoradiotherapy for advanced hypopharyngeal cancer and cervical esophageal cancer with that of surgery.
Subjects and Methods: We analyzed 53 cases with advanced hypopharyngeal cancer and 54 cases with advanced cervical esophageal cancer from January, 1995 to December, 2009. Regarding primary treatment, 14 patients with hypopharyngeal cancer and 15 cases with cervical esophageal cancer were classified into a surgery group, and 39 cases with hypopharyngeal cancer and 39 cases with cervical esophageal cancer were classified into a definitive chemoradiotherapy (DCRT) group.
Results: (1)Hypopharyngeal cancer: Five cases in the DCRT group were diagnosed with local recurrence, although there was no local recurrence in the surgery group (p=0.071). Five-year survival rate was 21.2% in the surgery group compared with 36.6% in the DCRT group. The five-year survival rate of nine cases undergoing salvage surgery in the DCRT group was 22.2%. (2)Cervical esophageal cancer: Five-year survival rate in the surgery group was 53.3%, considerably better than that the 15.6% in the DCRT group.
Conclusion: Surgery for advanced hypopharyngeal cancer tends to more effectively regulate local recurrence than definitive chemoradiotherapy. However, prognosis of DCRT including salvage surgery was similar to that of surgery. In cases with cervical esophageal cancer, prognosis of the Surgery group tended to be better than that in the DCRT group. Therefore, definitive chemoradiotherapy for cervical esophageal cancer should be selected only for patients who wish to preserve the larynx, which had seemed impossible when surgery was the first mode of treatment.

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We analyzed 155 patients with oral cancer (OC) and 118 with oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) treated at our hospital from 1998 to 2010, and studied their clinical features in cases of multiple primary cancer (MPC). There were 30 MPCs (19.3%), including 6 synchronous cases and 24 metachronous cases, among the OC patients and 42 MPCs (35.6%), including 18 synchronous and 24 metachronous cases, among the patients with OPC. The most common sites for MPC development in the OC cases were the stomach, followed by the esophagus, and hypopharynx, and in the OPC cases, the esophagus, followed by the stomach, and lung. The most common subsites for the development of MPCs among oral and oropharynx cases were the tongue and tonsils, respectively.
The prognosis of MPCs was poor in patients with OC and OPC. Patients with synchronous MPC had a significantly worse prognosis than those with OC alone. Synchronous MPC patients were associated with a significantly worse prognosis than metachronous patients with preceding OPC. As for the reasons for the poor prognosis, synchronous patients had an advanced stage in OC cases, and had undesirable results from chemoradiation therapy in OPC cases.

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