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
. 2019 Dec;67(12):905-911.
doi: 10.1007/s00106-019-00761-8.

[Immunotherapy for head and neck cancer : Highlights of the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting]

[Article in German]
J Doescher  1 , C-J Busch  2 , B Wollenberg  3 , A Dietz  4 , N Würdemann  5 , P Schuler  1 , T K Hoffmann  1 , S Laban  6
Affiliations
Review

[Immunotherapy for head and neck cancer : Highlights of the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting]

[Article in German]
J Doescher et al. HNO. 2019 Dec.

Abstract

Background: In the field of immunotherapy of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), a high level of study activity can still be observed. The results of the Keynote-048 study on first-line therapy with pembrolizumab were a highlight at this year's meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Materials and methods: All abstracts and presentations on immunotherapy of head and neck tumors presented at ASCO 2019 were evaluated for relevance and the most interesting studies were summarized.

Results: The Keynote-048 study showed an improvement in overall survival with pembrolizumab monotherapy for patients with measurable programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression according to the combined positive score (CPS), and for the whole cohort with the combination of pembrolizumab and platin/5-fluorouracil (FU). The EAGLE study on durvalumab ± tremelimumab in second-line therapy did not demonstrate any improvement in response rates or overall survival compared to standard therapy. In addition, several new immunotherapeutic approaches and combinations were presented.

Conclusion: The results of the Keynote-048 study have already led to the approval of pembrolizumab in the first line for platin-sensitive HNSCC in the USA and the expected approval in Europe will presumably change the therapeutic landscape in the long term. In the future, effective therapies for patients without a response to programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/PD-L1 inhibition will be needed.

Keywords: Antineoplastic agents; Head and neck neoplasms; Human papilloma viruses; Squamous cell carcinoma; Tumor antibodies.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Lancet Oncol. 2013 Jul;14(8):697-710 - PubMed
    1. N Engl J Med. 2016 Nov 10;375(19):1856-1867 - PubMed
    1. Ann Oncol. 2014 Mar;25(3):682-8 - PubMed
    1. N Engl J Med. 2008 Sep 11;359(11):1116-27 - PubMed
    1. Cancer Res. 2018 May 1;78(9):2383-2395 - PubMed

Substances