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Review
. 2022 Jun 8;29(6):4185-4198.
doi: 10.3390/curroncol29060334.

Current and Future Biomarkers for Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Jong Chul Park  1 , Hari N Krishnakumar  2 , Srinivas Vinod Saladi  3
Affiliations
Review

Current and Future Biomarkers for Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Jong Chul Park et al. Curr Oncol. .

Abstract

With the introduction of immunotherapy, significant improvement has been made in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). However, only a small subset of patients with HNSCC benefit from immunotherapy. The current biomarker, a programmed cell death protein ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression that is widely used in treatment decision making for advanced HNSCC, has only a moderate predictive value. Additionally, PD-L1-based assay has critical inherent limitations due to its highly dynamic nature and lack of standardization. With the advance in molecular techniques and our understanding of biology, more reliable, reproducible, and practical novel biomarkers are being developed. These include but are not limited to neoantigen/mutation characteristics, immune transcriptomes, tumor-infiltrating immune cell composition, cancer epigenomic, proteomics and metabolic characteristics, and plasma-based and organoid assays.

Keywords: PD-L1; biomarker; head and neck cancer; immune checkpoint inhibitor.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Biomarkers and strategies to target oncogenic programs in HNSCC. (A) DNA methylation transferases (DNMT) promote DNA methylation and suppress the expression of immune programs. This could be reactivated through utilization of DNMT inhibitors (DNMTi). DNMTi when combined with anti-PD1 therapy could elicit better response in patients and improve survival. (B) Trametinib (MEK inhibitor) resistance and FAT1 mutation results in increased YAP1 mediated transcriptional programs. This could result in aggressive disease state in HNSCC. (C) Strategies utilizing single cell technologies and genomics can be utilized to address tumor heterogeneity and also identify novel transcriptional programs or biomarkers. This could help in development of novel therapeutic opportunities. The new drugs can be screened in patient-derived organoids and xenografts for their efficacy and ability to control tumor growth in HNSCC.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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