The immune checkpoint inhibitors treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: an expert consensus

doi:10.7518/hxkq.2022.06.001

West China Journal of Stomatology ›› 2022, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (6): 619-628.doi: 10.7518/hxkq.2022.06.001

The immune checkpoint inhibitors treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: an expert consensus

Liu Lei¹(), Xiang Zhongzheng¹, Li Yi², Guo Wei³, Yang Kai⁴, Wang Jun¹, Sun Zhijun⁵, Ren Guoxin³, Zhang Jianguo⁶, Sun Moyi⁷, Ran Wei⁸, Huang Guilin⁹, Tang Zhangui¹⁰, Li Longjiang²()

^1.Dept. of Head and Neck Oncology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
^2.State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & Dept. of Head and Neck Oncology, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
^3.Dept. of Oral and Maxillofacial-head and Neck Oncology, Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200011, China
^4.Dept. of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China
^5.Dept. of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School & Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
^6.Dept. of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, Beijing 100081, China
^7.Dept. of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hospital of Stomatology, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China
^8.Dept. of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China
^9.Dept. of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Stomatological Hospital, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563000, China
^10.Dept. of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Xiangya School of Stomatology, Central South University, Changsha 410000, China

Received:2022-04-11 Revised:2022-09-18 Online:2022-12-01 Published:2022-11-23
Contact: Li Longjiang E-mail:liuleihx@gmail.com;muzili63@163.com
Supported by:
National Natural Science Foundation of China Cancer Program(82141130);Correspondence: Li Long-jiang, E-mail: muzili63@163.com

Abstract

Abstract:

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) present significant efficacy in the treatment of malignant tumors, and they have been approved as the first-line of treatment for various cancers. Pembrolizumab monotherapy or combined with chemotherapy has been recommended by domestic and foreign guidelines for the first-line treatment of recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Although ICIs represent a milestone in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, potential problems still need to be addressed, such as the selection of the efficacy predictors for ICIs, the evaluation of the tumor response to ICIs, and the treatment of immune hyperprogression and immune-related adverse events. Therefore, to form a relatively unified understanding of ICIs treatment for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, we integrated the clinical experience of multi-disciplinary experts of head and neck cancers on the basis of current clinical hot issues and finally developed this consensus.

Key words: head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, immunotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, expert consensus

CLC Number:

R 739.8

Liu Lei, Xiang Zhongzheng, Li Yi, Guo Wei, Yang Kai, Wang Jun, Sun Zhijun, Ren Guoxin, Zhang Jianguo, Sun Moyi, Ran Wei, Huang Guilin, Tang Zhangui, Li Longjiang. The immune checkpoint inhibitors treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: an expert consensus[J]. West China Journal of Stomatology, 2022, 40(6): 619-628.

References 43

1	Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, et al. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries[J]. CA Cancer J Clin, 2018, 68(6): 394-424.
2	Chen W, Zheng R, Baade PD, et al. Cancer statistics in China, 2015[J]. CA Cancer J Clin, 2016, 66(2): 115-132.
3	Gupta B, Johnson NW, Kumar N. Global epidemiology of head and neck cancers: a continuing challenge[J]. Oncology, 2016, 91(1): 13-23.
4	American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2019[R]. Atlanta: American Cancer Society, 2019.
5	Vermorken JB, Mesia R, Rivera F, et al. Platinum-based chemotherapy plus cetuximab in head and neck cancer[J]. N Engl J Med, 2008, 359(11): 1116-1127.
6	Pfister DG, Spencer S, Brizel DM, et al. Clinical practice guidelines in oncology[J]. J Natl Compr Canc Netw, 2014, 12(10): 1454-1487.
7	Braakhuis BJ, Brakenhoff RH, Leemans CR. Treatment choice for locally advanced head and neck cancers on the basis of risk factors: biological risk factors[J]. Ann Oncol, 2012, 23(): x173-x177.
8	Marur S, Forastiere AA. Head and neck cancer: chan-ging epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment[J]. Mayo Clin Proc, 2008, 83(4): 489-501.
9	Burtness B, Harrington KJ, Greil R, et al. Pembrolizu-mab 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[J]. Lancet, 2019, 394(10212): 1915-1928.
10	Pardoll DM. The blockade of immune checkpoints in cancer immunotherapy[J]. Nat Rev Cancer, 2012, 12(4): 252-264.
11	Renkvist N, Castelli C, Robbins PF, et al. A listing of human tumor antigens recognized by T cells[J]. Cancer Immunol Immunother, 2001, 50(1): 3-15.
12	Rivoltini L, Carrabba M, Huber V, et al. Immunity to cancer: attack and escape in T lymphocyte-tumor cell interaction[J]. Immunol Rev, 2002, 188: 97-113.
13	Ferris RL, Blumenschein G Jr, Fayette J, et al. Nivolu-mab for recurrent squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck[J]. N Engl J Med, 2016, 375(19): 1856-1867.
14	Ferris RL, Blumenschein G Jr, Fayette J, et al. Nivolu-mab vs investigator’s choice in recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: 2-year long-term survival update of CheckMate 141 with analyses by tumor PD-L1 expression[J]. Oral Oncol, 2018, 81: 45-51.
15	Seiwert TY, Burtness B, Mehra R, et al. Safety and clinical activity of pembrolizumab for treatment of recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (KEYNOTE-012): an open-label, multicentre, phase 1b trial[J]. Lancet Oncol, 2016, 17(7): 956-965.
16	Chow LQM, Haddad R, Gupta S, et al. Antitumor activity of pembrolizumab in biomarker-unselected patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: results from the phase Ib KEYNOTE-012 expansion cohort[J]. J Clin Oncol, 2016, 34: 3838-3845.
17	Bauml J, Seiwert TY, Pfister DG, et al. Pembrolizumab for platinum- and cetuximab-refractory head and neck cancer: results from a single-arm, phase Ⅱ study[J]. J Clin Oncol, 2017, 35: 1542-1549.
18	Cohen EEW, Soulières D, Le Tourneau C, et al. Pembrolizumab versus methotrexate, docetaxel, or cetuximab for recurrent or metastatic head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma (KEYNOTE-040): a randomised, open-label, phase 3 study[J]. Lancet, 2019, 393(10167): 156-167.
19	Greil R, Rischin D, Harrington KJ, et al. Long-term outcomes from KEYNOTE-048: Pembrolizumab (pembro) alone or with chemotherapy (pembro+C) vs EXTREME (E) as first-line (1L) therapy for recurrent/metastatic (R/M) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC)[J]. Ann Oncol, 2020, 31(4): S660-S661.
20	Tahara M, Hong RL, Wan Ishak WZ, et al. Phase Ⅲ KEYNOTE-048 study of first-line (1L) pembrolizumab (P) for recurrent/metastatic (R/M) head and neck squamous cellcarcinoma (HNSCC): Asia vs non-Asia subgroup (subgrp) analysis[J]. Ann Oncol, 2019, 30(5): 1136P.
21	Hsu C, Lee SH, Ejadi S, et al. Safety and antitumor activity of pembrolizumab in patients with programmed death-ligand 1-positive nasopharyngeal carcinoma: results of the KEYNOTE-028 study[J]. J Clin Oncol, 2017, 35(36): 4050-4056.
22	Ma BBY, Lim WT, Goh BC, et al. Antitumor activity of nivolumab in recurrent and metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma: an international, multicenter study of the Mayo CLINIC PHAse 2 Consortium (NCI-9742)[J]. J Clin Oncol, 2018, 36(14): 1412-1418.
23	Yang Y, Zhou T, Chen X, et al. Efficacy, safety, and biomarker analysis of Camrelizumab in Previously Treated Recurrent or Metastatic Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (CAPTAIN study)[J]. J Immunother Cancer, 2021, 9(12): e003
790
24	Wang FH, Wei XL, Feng J, et al. Efficacy, safety, and correlative biomarkers of toripalimab in previously trea-ted recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a phase Ⅱ clinical trial (POLARIS-02)[J]. J Clin Oncol, 2021, 39(7): 704-712.
25	Yang Y, Qu S, Li J, et al. Camrelizumab versus placebo in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin as first-line treatment for recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (CAPTAIN-1st): a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, phase 3 trial[J]. Lancet Oncol, 2021, 22(8): 1162-1174.
26	Mai HQ, Chen QY, Chen D, et al. Toripalimab or placebo plus chemotherapy as first-line treatment in advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a multicenter randomized phase 3 trial[J]. Nat Med, 2021, 27(9): 1536-1543.
27	Stransky N, Egloff AM, Tward AD, et al. The mutational landscape of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma[J]. Science, 2011, 333(6046): 1157-1160.
28	Zandberg DP, Strome SE. The role of the PD-L1:PD-1 pathway in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck[J]. Oral Oncol, 2014, 50(7): 627-632.
29	Seiwert TY, Haddad R, Bauml J, et al. Biomarkers predictive of response to pembrolizumab in head and neck cancer (HNSCC)[J]. Cancer Res, 2018, 78(13 ): LB-339.
30	Emancipator K, Huang L, Aurora-Garg D, et al. Compa-ring programmed death ligand 1 scores for predicting pembrolizumab efficacy in head and neck cancer[J]. Mod Pathol, 2021, 34(3): 532-541.
31	Le DT, Uram JN, Wang H, et al. PD-1 Blockade in tumors with mismatch-repair deficiency[J]. N Engl J Med, 2015, 372(26): 2509-2520.
32	Rizvi NA, Hellmann MD, Snyder A, et al. Cancer immunology. Mutational landscape determines sensitivity to PD-1 blockade in non-small cell lung cancer[J]. Science, 2015, 348(6230): 124-128.
33	Ferrara R, Mezquita L, Texier M, et al. Hyperprogressive disease in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors or with single-agent chemotherapy[J]. JAMA Oncol, 2018, 4(11): 1543-1552.
34	Champiat S, Dercle L, Ammari S, et al. Hyperprogressive disease is a new pattern of progression in cancer patients treated by anti-PD-1/PD-L1[J]. Clin Cancer Res, 2017, 23(8): 1920-1928.
35	Kato S, Goodman A, Walavalkar V, et al. Hyperprogressors after immunotherapy: analysis of genomic alterations associated with accelerated growth rate[J]. Clin Cancer Res, 2017, 23(15): 4242-4250.
36	Saâda-Bouzid E, Defaucheux C, Karabajakian A, et al. Hyperprogression during anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma[J]. Ann Oncol, 2017, 28(7): 1605-1611.
37	Champiat S, Ferrara R, Massard C, et al. Hyperprogressive disease: recognizing a novel pattern to improve patient management[J]. Nat Rev Clin Oncol, 2018, 15(12): 748-762.
38	Sharma P, Hu-Lieskovan S, Wargo JA, et al. Primary, adaptive, and acquired resistance to cancer immunothe-rapy[J]. Cell, 2017, 168(4): 707-723.
39	De Simone M, Arrigoni A, Rossetti G, et al. Transcriptional landscape of human tissue lymphocytes unveils uniqueness of tumor-infiltrating T regulatory cells[J]. Immunity, 2016, 45(5): 1135-1147.
40	Gomez-Roca C, Koscielny S, Ribrag V, et al. Tumour growth rates and RECIST criteria in early drug development[J]. Eur J Cancer, 2011, 47(17): 2512-2516.
41	Faure M, Rochigneux P, Olive D, et al. Hyperprogressive disease in anorectal melanoma treated by PD-1 inhibitors[J]. Front Immunol, 2018, 9: 797.
42	Seymour L, Bogaerts J, Perrone A, et al. iRECIST: gui-delines for response criteria for use in trials testing immunotherapeutics[J]. Lancet Oncol, 2017, 18(3): e143-e152.
43	Wolchok JD, Hoos A, O’Day S, et al. Guidelines for the evaluation of immune therapy activity in solid tumors: immune-related response criteria[J]. Clin Cancer Res, 2009, 15(23): 7412-7420.

[1]	Chen Yunmei, Liu Yan, Huang Qiuyu, Luo Jiang, Wu Hongmei, Wang Yehua, Wu Ling, Li Xiu’e, Bi Xiaoqin. Facial nerve function training in patients with peripheral facial paralysis: an expert consensus [J]. West China Journal of Stomatology, 2023, 41(6): 613-621.
[2]	Yue Qiangwei, Xu Le, Zhang Dongsheng.. Construction and clinical evaluation of N6-methyladenosine risk signature of YTHDC2, IGF2BP2, and HNRNPC in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma [J]. West China Journal of Stomatology, 2022, 40(6): 704-709.
[3]	Zhang Qiong, Wang Jun, Xia Bin, Zhao Wei, Chen Xu, Jiang Beizhan, Huang Yang, Wu Li’an, Yuan Guohua, Zou Jing. Expert consensus on clinical management for early childhood caries [J]. West China Journal of Stomatology, 2022, 40(5): 495-503.
[4]	Guo Weihua, Wang Jun, Chen Xu, Wang Xiaojing, Zhao Wei, Song Guangtai, Wu Li’an, Jiang Beizhan, Zhang Qiong, Wang Jun, Li Yu, Zhao Ning, Tan Jiali, Li Huang, Shu Rui, Zhou Chenchen, Fu Lei, Chen Xuepeng, Zou Jing. Experts’ consensus on space management of mixed dentition [J]. West China Journal of Stomatology, 2022, 40(3): 264-270.
[5]	Zhang Dongsheng, Zheng Jiawei, Zhang Chenping, Cai Zhigang, Li Longjiang, Liao Guiqing, Shang Zhengjun, Sun Moyi, Han Zhengxue, Shang Wei, Meng Jian, Gong Zhongcheng, Huang Shengyun. Multidisciplinary team model for patients with oral cancer and systemic diseases: an expert consensus [J]. West China Journal of Stomatology, 2020, 38(6): 603-615.
[6]	Guo Wei. Clinical comment of programmed cell death protein 1 immunotherapy for advanced head and neck cancer [J]. West China Journal of Stomatology, 2020, 38(5): 489-494.
[7]	Yang Lisa,Shi Congyu,Liang Yuhao,Liu Tong,Hou Xiaoru,Tian Xudong,Wang Xiaoyi. Bioinformatics analysis of programmed cell death ligand 1 co-expression genes and their regulatory network in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma [J]. West China Journal of Stomatology, 2019, 37(5): 516-520.
[8]	Guang-xue Cui,Xiaolei Gao,Xinhua Liang. Invasion and metastasis mechanism of human papillomavirus in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas [J]. West China Journal of Stomatology, 2018, 36(5): 544-551.
[9]	Guangxue Cui, Xiaolei Gao, Xinhua Liang. Role of human papillomavirus in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas [J]. West China Journal of Stomatology, 2017, 35(2): 187-191.
[10]	Bing Shi, Yuchuan Fu, Ningbei Yin, Hong-zhang Huang, Jianhua Liu, Renji Chen, Hongping Zhu, Qiang Liu, Yongqing Huang, Zhanping Ren, Yong Lu, Wenlin Xiao, Qinggao Song, Wanshan Li, Sheng Li, Hongtao Wang, Junrui Zhang, Liping Jiang, Li Ma, Ling Wang, Dengqi He. Application of team approach and key techniques of cleft lip and palate [J]. West China Journal of Stomatology, 2017, 35(1): 8-17.
[11]	ZHI Ke-qian, XU Yan, REN Wen-hao, GAO Ling, ZHAO Lu, YANG Yong, ZHANG Yin-cheng. Killing effect of cytotoxicty T lymphocyte primed by two different methods preparation of dendritic cells pulsed with antigen on Tca8113 cells in vitro [J]. West China Journal of Stomatology, 2010, 28(02): 195-198.

The immune checkpoint inhibitors treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: an expert consensus

RichHTML

PDF (PC)

Knowledge

Abstract

Cite this article

share this article

References 43

Related Articles 11

Recommended Articles

Metrics

Comments