Significance of neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of larynx preservation in locally advanced hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma / 临床耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

Objective:To evaluate the clinical significance of neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of larynx preservation in locally advanced hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods:Patients with locally advanced HPSCC（cT3-T4aN0-N3M0） were eligible. All received 2 cycles of pembrolizumab combined with docetaxel and platinum neoadjuvant induction therapy. After two cycles, the efficacy was evaluated, followed by radical chemoradiotherapy or surgery and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy according to the efficacy. The primary endpoints were objective response rate（ORR） ，larynx-preservation（LP） rate at 3 months post-treatment and the adverse reactions during neoadjuvant therapy. Results:From December 2021 to December 2022, 10 patients with locally advanced HPSCC（cT3-T4aN0-N3M0） were enrolled. After 2 cycles of the neoadjuvant therapy, 2 patients achieved complete response（CR）, 7 patients achieved partial response（PR）, 1 patient was stable disease（SD）, objective response rate（ORR） was 90%, and disease control rate（DCR） was 100%. 5 patients received radical chemoradiotherapy, 5 patients received surgery and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy, four of them received partial laryngectomy and partial hypopharyngeal resection surgery, and one of them received total laryngectomy and partial hypopharyngeal resection surgery. All patients were able to withstand adverse reactions of neoadjuvant therapy and successfully completed the whole treatment of HPSCC without grade 3-4 treatment-related adverse reactions. There was no recurrence or metastasis during 3-18 months of follow-up. 1 patient died of severe pneumonia 3 months after the completion of radical chemoradiotherapy. At 3 months after treatment, the larynx-preservation rate was 80%. Conclusion:Neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy has good short-term efficacy and the adverse reactions were tolerable. It can improve the larynx-preservation rate of patients with locally advanced HPSCC, thus improving the prognosis and quality of life of patients.

Tislelizumab monotherapy for the treatment of recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma / 临床耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

Objective:The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of tislelizumab in patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Methods:Six patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who received tislelizumab monotherapy in our hospital from 2018 to 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The information of sex, age, TNM stage, efficacy, and adverse reactions were collected. All patients were recruited from the RATIONALE 102 study. The primary end point was the objective response rate, and other end points included progression-free survival and overall survival. We performed tumor immune-related gene sequencing and transcriptome sequencing analysis on the tumor tissues of the patient, and used bioinformatics methods to enrich immune cells and analyze signaling pathways. All analyses were performed using R 4.1. 0 software, SPSS Statistics 24.0 software and GraphPad Prism 8. Results:As of May 31, 2020, the median follow-up time was 26.35 months. The objective response rate with tislelizumab was 50.0%, the median progression-free survival was 6.44 months, and the estimated median survival was 20.07 months. The incidence of grade 3 or higher adverse reactions was 66.7%, including hyponatremia, hypokalemia, hypercalcemia, etc. The expression of macrophage, Treg and neutrophil-related genes are higher in immune-sensitive patients, and the signaling pathways of the intestinal immune network for IgA production, graft versus host disease and autoimmune thyroid disease are significantly activated. Conclusion:Tislelizumab was found to be controllable and tolerable in patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. The response to tislelizumab is related to immune cell infiltration and activation of immune-related signaling pathways.