Immunotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer
In cancer immunotherapy (sometimes referred to as 鈥渋mmuno-oncology鈥), the patient鈥檚 own immune system is activated and educated to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Once the immune system has learned to respond to a particular type of cancer, the patient鈥檚 immune cells can continue to patrol the body and help protect from recurrence. Immunotherapy has become an important approach to head and neck cancer, with a class of treatments known as 鈥渃heckpoint inhibitors,鈥 which interfere with the ability of tumors to shut down anti-tumor immune responses, recently receiving FDA approval for head and neck cancer.
Clinical Trials
Other approaches to immunotherapy for head and neck cancer being tested in clinical trials include:
- Cancer vaccines
- Innate immune-stimulating agents
- Therapeutic antibodies
For a list of immunotherapy clinical trials for head and neck cancer see .
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