An official website of the United States government
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.
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.
1 Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Japan.
2 Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Surgery/Otolaryngology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
3 Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Surgery/Otolaryngology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: ravindra_uppaluri@dfci.harvard.edu.
1 Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Japan.
2 Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Surgery/Otolaryngology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
3 Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Surgery/Otolaryngology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: ravindra_uppaluri@dfci.harvard.edu.
Whether combination neoadjuvant immunotherapy can enhance response in patients with head and neck cancer remains unclear. Recently, Li et al. demonstrated improved responses with neoadjuvant anti-PD-1+CTLA-4 or anti-PD-1+LAG-3 compared with anti-PD-1 monotherapy. These combination strategies act via different mechanisms with distinct biomarkers of response, highlighting the potential for personalized neoadjuvant immunotherapy approaches.
Keywords:
head and neck cancer; immune checkpoint inhibitor; neoadjuvant immunotherapy; single-cell RNA sequencing.
Declaration of interests R.U. has served on advisory boards for Daichi-Sankyo, Merck Inc., and Regeneron. The remaining authors have no interests to declare.
References
Sung H et al. (2021) Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries. CA Cancer J Clin 71, 209–249. 10.3322/caac.21660
-
DOI
-
PubMed
Ferris RL et al. (2016) Nivolumab for Recurrent Squamous-Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck. N Engl J Med 375, 1856–1867. 10.1056/NEJMoa1602252
-
DOI
-
PMC
-
PubMed
Burtness B et al. (2019) Pembrolizumab alone or with chemotherapy versus cetuximab with chemotherapy for recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (KEYNOTE-048): a randomised, open-label, phase 3 study. Lancet 394, 1915–1928. 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32591-7
-
DOI
-
PubMed
Uppaluri R et al. (2020) Neoadjuvant and Adjuvant Pembrolizumab in Resectable Locally Advanced, Human Papillomavirus-Unrelated Head and Neck Cancer: A Multicenter, Phase II Trial. Clin Cancer Res 26, 5140–5152. 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-1695
-
DOI
-
PMC
-
PubMed
Zhao M et al. (2025) T cell dynamics with neoadjuvant immunotherapy in head and neck cancer. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 22, 83–94. 10.1038/s41571-024-00969-w
-
DOI
-
PubMed
