The Emerging Role of Immunotherapy in Recurrent and/or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Chun-Hui Lee ； Shang-Yin Wu ； I-Ting Liu ； Mu-Hung Tsai ； Chia-Jui Yen

《International Journal of Head and Neck Science》 2卷2期 (2018/06) Pp. 69-74

https://doi.org/10.6696/IJHNS.201806_2(2).0004

摘要

The prognosis of patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/ M HNSCC) remains poor. There are more than 50% of patients with advanced locoregional disease have recurrence within 3 years. The median survival in most series is 6 to 12 months; despite intensive site-specific multimodality therapies. The first-line treatment of R/M HNSCC is the introduction of cetuximab in combination with platinum plus 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy, followed by maintenance cetuximab (＂EXTREME＂ regimen). Recently, a promising new treatment option has emerged: the immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), which have demonstrated favorable results in second-line treatment for R/M HNSCC. Nivolumab and pembrolizumab are the first two ICIs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The results of CheckMate-141 and KEYNOTE-040 which showed promising benefit of ICIs in R/M HNSCC included not only patients who previously received ≥ 1 platinum-based regimens but also patients who experienced recurrence within 6 months after combined modality therapy for locally advanced disease. This review will focus on the current clinical data of ICIs as well as future challenges in R/M HNSCC. Novel immunotherapy combination approaches, targeting complex mechanisms of immune escape, demonstrated promising efficacy and safety in patients with R/M HNSCC. Immuno-oncology (IO) monotherapy and combination trials are on the way to help address the unmet needs in a subset of patients, particularly in the role of first line treatment in R/M HNSCC.

關鍵字

recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC) ； Immunotherapy ； immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) ； anti-programmed death-1 (anti-PD-1) ； anti-programmed death-ligand1 (anti-PD-L1)