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VIDEO: Checkpoint inhibitors may enhance the benefits of radiation, surgery in patients with head, neck cancer
In this video, Andrew G. Sikora, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine, discusses how checkpoint inhibitors may unmask immune effects that are induced by therapies such as radiation and surgery in patients with head and neck cancer.
“Today we’re at an interesting point in the development of checkpoint inhibitors for head and neck cancer where we know we have single-agent activity and now what we’d like to do is see that activity,” he said.
Sikora mentions how patients may receive a checkpoint inhibitor – such as an anti-PD1 or anti-PDL1 – prior to standard of care surgery. This, he says, “allows us to test the effects of the inhibitor on the tumor microenvironment and understand what are the mechanisms that are active within the tumor when treated with this agent and also potentially understand mechanisms of escape if the tumor doesn’t respond to the agent.”