scholarly journals Circulating Tumour Cell Expression of Immune Markers as Prognostic and Therapeutic Biomarkers in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (21) ◽  
pp. 8229
Author(s):  
Karl Payne ◽  
Matthew Pugh ◽  
Jill Brooks ◽  
Nikolaos Batis ◽  
Graham Taylor ◽  
...  

Rates of loco-regional recurrence and distant metastasis remain high among head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients, despite advancing cancer treatment modalities and therapeutic agents. One area that has generated considerable interest is the immune landscape of the tumour, heralding a wave of immune checkpoint inhibitors with notable efficacy in recurrent/metastatic HNSCC patients. However, HNSCC remains poorly served by biomarkers that can direct treatment in a personalised fashion to target the tumour heterogeneity seen between patients. Detection and analysis of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in HNSCC has provided a previously unseen view of the metastasis forming cells that are potentially contributing to poor clinical outcomes. In particular, identifying CTC expression of phenotypic and druggable protein markers has allowed CTC sub-populations to be defined that hold prognostic value or are potential therapeutic targets themselves. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the role of CTC immune-marker expression as prognostic/therapeutic biomarkers in HNSCC by evaluating progress to date and discussing areas for future research. Our results highlight how few studies have been able to demonstrate prognostic significance of immune-marker expression in CTCs. As expected, the immune checkpoint PD-L1 was the most widely investigated marker. However, no studies evaluated CTC target immune marker expression in immunotherapy cohorts. Despite these findings, the data presented demonstrate promise that CTCs may be a source of future biomarkers for immunotherapy and will provide valuable information regarding the potential immune evasion of these metastasis forming cells.

Medicina ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (11) ◽  
pp. 1151
Author(s):  
Shinsuke Suzuki ◽  
Satoshi Toyoma ◽  
Yohei Kawasaki ◽  
Koh Koizumi ◽  
Nobuko Iikawa ◽  
...  

Background and Objectives: In recent years, the effectiveness of chemotherapy after immune checkpoint inhibitor administration has attracted attention in various cancers, including head and neck cancers. However, individual assessments of the administered chemotherapy regimens are insufficient. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of chemotherapy after immune checkpoint inhibitor administration in recurrent metastatic head and neck cancer by focusing on a single regimen. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed clinical and radiological data from the medical records of 18 patients with recurrent or metastatic (R/M) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) who received systemic chemotherapy with weekly cetuximab and paclitaxel (Cmab + PTX) after progression following immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy. The objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) were assessed using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version 1.1. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method. Adverse events (AEs) were recorded using National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.0. Results: In all patients, the ORR, DCR, median PFS, and median OS were 44.4%, 72.2%, 3.8 months, and 9.6 months, respectively. Regarding AEs, three patients developed grade 3 neutropenia. Grade 3 anemia, paronychia, asthenia, and peripheral neuropathy were observed in one patient each. There were no treatment-related deaths. Conclusions: Cmab + PTX was shown to maintain high efficacy and acceptable safety for R/M HNSCC that progressed after ICI therapy. Further research is needed to establish optimal treatment sequences and drug combinations for recurrent R/M HNSCC.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 1101-1116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin E. Swartz ◽  
Ajit J. Pothen ◽  
Inge Stegeman ◽  
Stefan M. Willems ◽  
Wilko Grolman

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (19) ◽  
pp. 7255
Author(s):  
Shrabon Hasnat ◽  
Roosa Hujanen ◽  
Bright I. Nwaru ◽  
Tuula Salo ◽  
Abdelhakim Salem

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a group of tumours which exhibit low 5 year survival rates. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify biomarkers that may improve the clinical utility of patients with HNSCC. Emerging studies support a role of toll-like receptors (TLRs) in carcinogenesis. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to assess the prognostic value of TLR immunoexpression in HNSCC patients. We compiled the results of thirteen studies comprising 1825 patients, of which six studies were deemed qualified for quantitative synthesis. The higher immunoexpression of TLR-1 to 5 and 9 was associated with a worsening of the clinical parameters of patients with HNSCC. Furthermore, induced levels of TLR-3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 were found to predict the patients’ survival time. The meta-analysis revealed that TLR-7 overexpression is associated with a decreased mortality risk in HNSCC patients (HR 0.51; 95%CI 0.13–0.89; I2 34.6%), while a higher expression of TLR-5 predicted shorter, but non-significant, survival outcome. In conclusion, this review suggests that TLRs may represent some prognostic value for patients with HNSCC. However, due to small sample sizes and other inherent methodological limitations, more well designed studies across different populations are still needed before TLRs can be recommended as a reliable clinical risk-stratification tool.


Oral Oncology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 67-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustafa Ghanizada ◽  
Kathrine Kronberg Jakobsen ◽  
Christian Grønhøj ◽  
Christian von Buchwald

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