Immunotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer

Head and neck cancer refers to malignancies originating mainly from the mucosal surfaces of the nose, mouth, and throat. Squamous cell carcinoma is by far the most common type of head and neck cancer, and immunotherapy is a core component of treatment for advanced and metastatic disease. Large clinical trials have demonstrated that the checkpoint inhibitors pembrolizumab and nivolumab extend the survival of patients compared to traditional chemotherapy regimens. Immunotherapy seems to work best in head and neck cancers where the tumor and immune cells express the PD-L1 protein. There have been significant efforts exploring how to use immunotherapy for early-stage and curable head and neck cancers. Thus far, large trials have not shown a benefit to adding immunotherapy in this setting. Future efforts investigating immunotherapy for head and neck cancers are using cancer vaccines, engineered viruses, and therapies targeting the human papilloma virus (HPV)—a virus known to cause many cases of head and neck cancer.