Abstract
Head and neck cancer (HNC) is ranked as the sixth most common malignant tumor, and the overall survival rate with current treatment options remains concerning, primarily due to drug resistance that develops following antitumor therapy. Recent studies indicate that non-coding RNAs play a crucial role in drug resistance among HNC patients. This article systematically reviews the current research landscape, explores novel targets and treatment strategies related to non-coding RNAs and HNC resistance, raises some unresolved issues, and discusses five promising research directions in this field: ferroptosis, nanomedicine, exosomes, proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs), and artificial intelligence. We hope that our work will contribute to advancing research on overcoming HNC resistance through the regulation of non-coding RNAs.