Improving head and neck cancer therapies by immunomodulation of the tumour microenvironment.
Ayana T RuffinHousaiyin LiLazar VujanovicDan P ZandbergMatthew J FerrisTullia C BrunoPublished in: Nature reviews. Cancer (2022)
Targeted immunotherapy has improved patient survival in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), but less than 20% of patients produce a durable response to these treatments. Thus, new immunotherapies that consider all key players of the complex HNSCC tumour microenvironment (TME) are necessary to further enhance tumour-specific T cell responses in patients. HNSCC is an ideal tumour type in which to evaluate immune and non-immune cell differences because of two distinct TME aetiologies (human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive and HPV-negative disease), multiple anatomic sites for tumour growth, and clear distinctions between patients with locally advanced disease and those with recurrent and/or metastatic disease. Recent technological and scientific advancements have provided a more complete picture of all cellular constituents within this complex TME and have evaluated the interplay of both immune and non-immune cells within HNSCC. Here, we include a comprehensive analysis of the complete ecosystem of the HNSCC TME, performed utilizing data-rich resources such as The Cancer Genome Atlas, and cutting-edge techniques, such as single-cell RNA sequencing, high-dimensional flow cytometry and spatial multispectral imaging, to generate improved treatment strategies for this diverse disease.
Keyphrases
- single cell
- end stage renal disease
- ejection fraction
- squamous cell carcinoma
- chronic kidney disease
- flow cytometry
- stem cells
- newly diagnosed
- locally advanced
- prognostic factors
- small cell lung cancer
- peritoneal dialysis
- radiation therapy
- high resolution
- rna seq
- high grade
- case report
- gene expression
- clinical trial
- papillary thyroid
- rectal cancer
- lymph node
- climate change
- dna methylation
- drug delivery
- patient reported outcomes
- cancer therapy
- free survival
- squamous cell
- study protocol