Immunotherapy in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC)

Based on its ability to restore key signaling pathways of the host immune system and thus to counteract immune escape by malignant cells, cancer immunotherapy is now at the forefront of cancer research in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Understanding how tumors evade immune recognition and attack, through strategies that include reducing inherent immunogenicity, dysregulating immune checkpoints, and producing an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, will allow the development of novel therapeutic agents to manipulate the immune response. Various forms of immunotherapy are in preclinical trials, including vaccines, oncolytic viruses, and adoptive cell transfer, with the most promising clinical results thus far associated with the use of monoclonal antibodies. This chapter will review the mechanisms of immune escape, and will describe ongoing preclinical and clinical studies, and their implications for immunotherapy in HNSCC.