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Review
. 2024;20(23):1695-1711.
doi: 10.1080/14796694.2024.2362612. Epub 2024 Jun 18.

Immune checkpoint inhibitor use in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: the current landscape and future perspectives

Elinor R Gatfield  1 , John Tadross  2   3   4 , William Ince  1
Affiliations
Review

Immune checkpoint inhibitor use in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: the current landscape and future perspectives

Elinor R Gatfield et al. Future Oncol. 2024.

Abstract

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are licensed for use in patients with unresectable, recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Multiple published and ongoing trials are assessing efficacy in the curative management of patients in the concomitant, neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant settings, as well as part of multimodality treatment in patients with metastatic disease. This review evaluates the evidence for use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in all stages of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and considers future approaches.

Keywords: head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; immune checkpoint inhibitors; immunotherapy.

Plain language summary

[Box: see text].

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests or relevant affiliations with any organization or entity with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Activation and inhibitory signal interactions between dendritic cells and naive T cells in the priming phase and activated T cells and tumour cells in the effector phase. Adapted from [103] using BioRender.com.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Schematic of the tumour microenvironment. Created in BioRender.com. CAF: Cancer-associated fibroblast; MMPs: Matrix metalloproteinases; TGFβ: Tumour growth factor beta; Treg cell: Regulatory T cell; VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Schematic diagram of how irradiation induces both G1 and G2 cell cycle checkpoint activation and DNA repair. The majority of cancer cells have a defective G1 checkpoint due to mutations in p53, and are therefore reliant on a functional G2/M checkpoint to prevent mitosis with unrepaired DNA damage. By inhibiting ATR signalling the G2/M checkpoint becomes dysfunctional and replication proceeds, leading to cell death. Created in BioRender.com. ATR: Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad 3-related.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Schematic diagram of how human papillomavirus chronic infection drives carcinogenesis. The HPV oncoproteins E6 and E7 induce cell cycle progression by binding and inactivating p53 and Rb. p53 inactivation leads to p21 being unable to prevent CDK4/6 and cyclin D1 heterodimerisation, which is also inhibited by p16, allowing for upregulation of E2F and cell cycle progression. Created in BioRender.com. CDK4/6: Cyclin dependent kinase 4/6E2F: Elongation factor 2; hpv: Human papillomavirus; Rb: Retinoblastoma protein.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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