TY - JOUR
T1 - Immune Response Against Head and Neck Cancer
T2 - Biological Mechanisms and Implication on Therapy
AU - Perri, Francesco
AU - Ionna, Franco
AU - Longo, Francesco
AU - Della Vittoria Scarpati, Giuseppina
AU - De Angelis, Carmine
AU - Ottaiano, Alessandro
AU - Botti, Gerardo
AU - Caponigro, Francesco
PY - 2020/2
Y1 - 2020/2
N2 - Head and neck carcinoma (HNC) are diseases arising from several tracts of the aerodigestive ways. Most HNC are squamous cell carcinoma (SCCHN). Immunotherapy is a treatment strategy aimed to reinforce the immune system. Several types of immunotherapy are available in the clinical scenario. Checkpoint inhibitors were developed later in SCCHN; nivolumab and pembrolizumab have reached the clinical approval, having both drugs demonstrated to significantly improve the overall survival, if compared with the standard of treatment (according to the results of the CheckMate 141 and KEYNOTE-040 trials). Nevertheless, immunotherapy may fail because of the genetics of SCCHN. In fact, two genetically different types of SCCHN have been discovered, one virus-related (HPV) and the other mutagens-related. They seem to show in clinical trials very different responses to immunotherapy. Given the existence of a number of factors predictive of response to immunotherapy in SCCHN, a future clinical approach may be to characterize the genetic and immunologic feature of SCCHN and to perform a well-tailored immunotherapy. This review will summarize the main immunotherapy strategies available in SCCHN, discussing their real efficacy, highlighting also the ways to improve them.
AB - Head and neck carcinoma (HNC) are diseases arising from several tracts of the aerodigestive ways. Most HNC are squamous cell carcinoma (SCCHN). Immunotherapy is a treatment strategy aimed to reinforce the immune system. Several types of immunotherapy are available in the clinical scenario. Checkpoint inhibitors were developed later in SCCHN; nivolumab and pembrolizumab have reached the clinical approval, having both drugs demonstrated to significantly improve the overall survival, if compared with the standard of treatment (according to the results of the CheckMate 141 and KEYNOTE-040 trials). Nevertheless, immunotherapy may fail because of the genetics of SCCHN. In fact, two genetically different types of SCCHN have been discovered, one virus-related (HPV) and the other mutagens-related. They seem to show in clinical trials very different responses to immunotherapy. Given the existence of a number of factors predictive of response to immunotherapy in SCCHN, a future clinical approach may be to characterize the genetic and immunologic feature of SCCHN and to perform a well-tailored immunotherapy. This review will summarize the main immunotherapy strategies available in SCCHN, discussing their real efficacy, highlighting also the ways to improve them.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.tranon.2019.11.008
DO - 10.1016/j.tranon.2019.11.008
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85076841168
VL - 13
SP - 262
EP - 274
JO - Translational Oncology
JF - Translational Oncology
SN - 1936-5233
IS - 2
ER -