Head & Neck Cancers

The investigational monoclonal antibody enoblituzumab has demonstrated activity in preclinical studies and in combination with pembrolizumab in phase 1/2 studies in patients with checkpoint inhibitor–naïve head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and non–small cell lung cancer.

A personalized treatment paradigm based on hypoxia imaging is promising and may yield a successful, personalized de-escalation strategy for patients with HPV-associated oropharynx cancer.

The Cancer Cell Map Initiative, developed by investigators at the University of California San Francisco and the University of California San Diego, has successfully charted how hundreds of genetic mutations involved in breast cancer and cancers of the head and neck affect the activity of proteins that ultimately lead to disease.

Glenn J. Hanna, MD, discusses promising data reported with tipifarnib in patients with HRAS-mutated head and neck cancer.

Glenn J. Hanna, MD, discusses the role of second-line cetuximab (Erbitux) in head and neck cancer.

The FDA has accepted for review a biologics license application for the use of toripalimab in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin in the frontline treatment of patients with advanced recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and for use as a single agent in the second- or later-line treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma following platinum-containing chemotherapy.

The clinical-stage immunotherapy company PDS Biotechnology Corporation has announced the temporary suspension of recruitment to the National Cancer Institute–led phase 2 trial, which is evaluating a novel triplet combination comprised of PDS0101 and 2 immunomodulating agents in patients with advanced human papillomavirus cancers.

The administration of NBTXR3 monotherapy activated by radiotherapy resulted in encouraging survival improvements in difficult-to-treat elderly and frail patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who are ineligible for cisplatin and intolerant to cetuximab.

Treatment with the small molecule oral immunomodulator EC-18 resulted in a reduction in both the duration and incidence of severe oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer who are undergoing concurrent chemoradiation.

Anurag Singh, MD, discussed the potential advantage to treating patients with radiation therapy at specific times of day, how the utilization of prophylactic gabapentin has decreased the need for narcotics in managing oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer, and the potential use of single-fraction radiation therapy in oncology.

The dismutase mimetic avasopasem manganese was not found to significantly reduce the incidence of severe oral mucositis in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer who were receiving standard-of-care radiotherapy, missing the primary end point of the phase 3 ROMAN trial.

Anurag Singh, MD, discusses the potential effects of radiation timing in head and neck cancer.

Cabozantinib demonstrated a sustained benefit in progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with previously treated, radioactive iodine–refractory differentiated thyroid cancer, regardless of prior exposure to sorafenib or lenvatinib.

The FDA has approved cabozantinib for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older with locally advanced or metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer that has progressed after prior VEGF-targeted therapy and who are radioactive iodine–refractory or ineligible.

The rolling submission of a biologics license application to support the approval of both toripalimab plus gemcitabine- and cisplatin-based chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma, as well as toripalimab monotherapy for the second-line or beyond treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma after platinum-based chemotherapy has been completed.

Fox Chase Cancer Center researcher Camille Ragin, PhD, MPH, was recently awarded a Specialized Program of Research Excellence grant of $50,000 for a pilot project examining differences in risk and disease course for Black versus white head and neck cancer patients.

The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to toripalimab for single-agent use in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin in the frontline treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

The FDA has granted a priority review designation to a supplemental new drug application for cabozantinib for the treatment of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer who have progressed after previous therapy and who are radioactive iodine refractory.

Recommendations for mitigating and managing treatment-related adverse events associated with tipifarnib.

Glenn J. Hanna, MD, and Nabil F. Saba, MD, FACP, highlight potential new therapies for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in various patient populations.

Glenn J. Hanna, MD, and Nabil F. Saba, MD, FACP, discuss the design and potential clinical implications of the AIM-HN trial of tipifarnib in head and neck cancers.

Potential implications for treating patients with HRAS-mutated head and neck cancer with tipifarnib, based on results demonstrated by the RUN-HN study.

Guidance for incorporating initial and repeat molecular testing in head and neck cancers into clinical practice.

A brief overview of treatment advances for HRAS-mutated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Nivolumab plus ipilimumab did not significantly improve overall survival over the EXTREME regimen in the frontline treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, missing the primary end points of the phase 3 CheckMate-651 trial.

The combination of belapectin plus pembrolizumab has demonstrated early potential for disease control with acceptable tolerability in patients with metastatic melanoma and head and neck cancer.

The immunotherapy Leukocyte interleukin followed by surgery and radiotherapy, without chemotherapy, significantly improved overall survival compared with standard of care alone in the treatment of patients with advanced primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Barbara Burtness, MD, discusses the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer.

Selpercatinib demonstrated evidence of preliminary efficacy and safety in pediatric patients with advanced RET-altered solid tumors.

The addition of the immunotherapy agent toripalimab to gemcitabine plus cisplatin demonstrated superior progression-free survival compared with chemotherapy alone in the frontline treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma, according to data from the phase 3 JUPITER-02 trial.