Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Nov-Dec;73(6):597-619.
doi: 10.3322/caac.21807. Epub 2023 Jul 25.

The evolving landscape of salivary gland tumors

Conor E Steuer  1 , Glenn J Hanna  2 , Kartik Viswanathan  3 , James E Bates  4 , Azeem S Kaka  5 , Nicole C Schmitt  5 , Alan L Ho  6 , Nabil F Saba  7
Affiliations
Review

The evolving landscape of salivary gland tumors

Conor E Steuer et al. CA Cancer J Clin. 2023 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Salivary gland cancers are a rare, histologically diverse group of tumors. They range from indolent to aggressive and can cause significant morbidity and mortality. Surgical resection remains the mainstay of treatment, but radiation and systemic therapy are also critical parts of the care paradigm. Given the rarity and heterogeneity of these cancers, they are best managed in a multidisciplinary program. In this review, the authors highlight standards of care as well as exciting new research for salivary gland cancers that will strive for better patient outcomes.

Keywords: cancer; head and neck; multimodality; salivary gland carcinoma; targeted therapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conor E. Steuer reports personal fees from Mirati, Armo, Eli Lilly and Company, AbbVie, EMD Serono, Anheart, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Caris, Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi US Services Inc., Daiichi Sankyo Company, and G1 Therapeutics outside the submitted work. Glen J. Hanna reports grants/contracts from Genentech, Actuate Therapeutics, and Elevar Therapeutics outside the submitted work. James E. Bates reports personal fees from Castle Biosciences outside the submitted work. Nichole C. Schmitt reports grants/contracts from Astex Pharmaceuticals and personal fees from Checkpoint Surgical Inc., Sensorion, and Synergy Research Inc. outside the submitted work. Alan L. Ho reports grants/contracts from Poseida, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Merck, Kura Oncology, Bayer, Hookipa, OncC4, Celldex Therapeutics, Ayala, Astellas Pharma, Novartis, Genentech, and Bioatla; personal fees from Remix Therapeutics, the Chemotherapy Foundation, Rgenta, Coherus Biosciences Inc., Prelude Therapeutics, Kura Oncology, Ayala, Elevar Therapeutics, Expert Connect, Eisai, Cellstia, Exelixis, Merck, and Inxmed; is a member of an Affyimmune Therapeutics Data and Safety Monitoring board; and is a member of the International Thyroid Oncology Group board with fiduciary responsibility, all outside the submitted work. Nabil F. Saba reports grants/contracts from Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and personal fees from GlaxoSmithKline, EISAI INC., EMD Serono, BioNTech, Merck, AstraZeneca, Exelixis, Inovio, and Coherus Biosciences Inc. outside the submitted work. Azeem S. Kaka and Kartik Viswanathan disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Representative histologic images of commonly encountered salivary gland malignancies. (A) Acinic cell carcinoma (black arrow indicates the tumor; blue arrow, normal parotid tissue), (B) adenoid cystic carcinoma, (C) polymorphous adenocarcinoma, (D) salivary duct carcinoma, (E) secretory carcinoma, (F) carcinoma ex-pleomorphic adenocarcinoma (inset shows low-grade myoepithelial carcinoma component), (G) mucoepidermoid carcinoma, low-grade, (H) intraductal carcinoma, and (I) basal cell adenocarcinoma (black arrow and inset show focus of border invasion with associated desmoplastic stromal response). All glass slides are stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and images were captured from digital scanned slides or directly from the slide.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Carvalho AL, Nishimoto IN, Califano JA, Kowalski LP. Trends in incidence and prognosis for head and neck cancer in the United States: a site-specific analysis of the SEER database. Int J Cancer. 2005;114(5):806–816. doi:10.1002/ijc.20740 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Boukheris H, Curtis RE, Land CE, Dores GM. Incidence of carcinoma of the major salivary glands according to the WHO classification, 1992 to 2006: a population-based study in the United States. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009;18(11):2899–2906. doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-09-0638 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bishop JA, Thompson LDR, Wakely PE Jr, Weinreb I. Tumors of the salivary glands. In: AFIP Atlases of Tumor and Non-Tumor Pathology. Volume 5. American Registry of Pathology; 2021.
    1. Dardick I Rippstein P, Skimming L, Boivin M, Parks WR, Dairkee SH. Immunohistochemistry and ultrastructure of myoepithelium and modified myoepithelium of the ducts of human major salivary glands: histogenetic implications for salivary gland tumors. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1987;64(6):703–715. doi:10.1016/0030-4220(87)90173-3 - DOI - PubMed
    1. de Paula F, Teshima THN, Hsieh R, Souza MM, Nico MMS, Lourenco SV. Overview of human salivary glands: highlights of morphology and developing processes. Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2017:300(7): 1180–1188. doi:10.1002/ar.23569 - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms