Articles related to HEAD & NECK CANCER (HNC)

First-line pembrolizumab and pembrolizumab-chemotherapy continued to outperform cetuximab-chemotherapy in recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma after a 4-year follow-up. Following pembrolizumab-based therapy, patients responded well to subsequent treatment.

Cancer Therapy Advisor provides a variety of resources, including regimens used to supplement the most recent treatment strategies. Examine all regimens here.

The authors analyzed the immune cell infiltrates of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and colorectal cancers and identified a subset of CD4 Th cells that appear to be directly involved in the anti-tumor immune response.

Despite the array of intensive treatment approaches, local control and overall survival rates in patients with advanced-stage disease remain low (approximately 40%–50% at 5 years). This review discusses recent studies integrating ICIs into definitive treatment regimens.

Predictive biomarkers are needed to identify patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) that could enjoy treatment de-escalation, with the attendant reduction in incidence of acute and late toxicities. In an observational study of consecutive patients with patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, pretreatment absolute lymphocyte count was predictive for 5-year overall survival. It also predicted benefit from the use of concurrent cisplatin chemotherapy.

The phase 3 KEYNOTE-048 trial compares pembrolizumab with or without concurrent chemotherapy to cetuximab-chemotherapy in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck SCC. Patients were evaluated in subgroups based on PD-L1 expression. In median survival, pembrolizumab + chemotherapy outperformed cetuximab + chemotherapy in all patient subgroups regardless of PD-L1 expression. In the PD-L1 CPS 1-19 subgroup, pembrolizumab alone slightly outperformed cetuximab + chemotherapy. In the PD-L1 CPS < 1 subgroup median survival was significantly lower with pembrolizumab alone.