A recent study published in JAMA Oncology presents promising new data on a treatment regimen beneficial to patients with a subset of head and neck cancer known as oropharyngeal cancer. A rare malignancy that forms in the middle of the throat, oropharyngeal cancer can develop in the roof of the mouth, tonsils, the back of the throat, or the back of the tongue.

A history of human papillomavirus (HPV) presents a significant risk factor for developing oropharyngeal cancer, as about two-thirds of patients carry HPV DNA. Oncologists classify these cases as human papillomavirus−positive oropharyngeal cancer (HPV⁺ OPC). Compared to oropharyngeal cancers not associated with HPV, treatment regimens involving chemotherapy and radiation significantly prolong survival in HPV⁺ OPC. Despite the treatment efficacy associated with chemoradiotherapy, long-lasting toxicities associated with these treatments remain a clinical challenge.

In search of a treatment regimen that retains tumor control with limited side effects, a team of researchers from the University of Chicago designed a clinical trial to evaluate the response and toxicity associated with a treatment regimen involving chemotherapy and an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI), nivolumab. ICIs, the class of immunotherapies that block the interaction between proteins on immune cells that would dampen the immune response if engaged, have efficacy in treating several types of cancer, often with limited toxicity. In the current clinical trial, ICI and chemotherapy serve as a neoadjuvant, drugs given in hopes of shrinking a tumor prior to an additional treatment. Not all patients received the same treatment following the neoadjuvant administration of chemotherapy and ICI.