"Nature" HPV+ immunotherapy for head and neck cancer: awakening inner strength

The focus of this research is on human papillomavirus (HPV) positive head and neck tumors, which is becoming one of the most common types of head and neck cancer treated in the Western world

This shows that checkpoint inhibitors have changed the treatment of several cancers and may be the only effective treatment for this type of head and neck cancer

Researchers from the Rafi Ahmed Laboratory of the Emory Vaccine Center collaborated with the co-directors of the Winship Head and Neck Tumor Working Group, oncologists Nabil Saba, MD, and Mihir Patel, MD, to obtain samples from patients treated with early head and neck tumors

Patel said: "About five years ago, we began to have a large number of patients come to our center for surgery

The team hopes to learn more about the different types of CD8 or "killer" T cells present in cancer

"Our results show that a subset of HPV-specific CD8 T cells in tumors is very similar to the stem cell-like CD8 T cells previously defined in our laboratory in mouse models, which are proliferated after PD-1 blockade.

"We can reasonably assume that these cells will also produce a similar proliferative burst response to PD-1 blockade in these patients

Wieland added that HPV-positive tumors do respond well to conventional treatments (such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy)

Saba said: "These findings greatly enhance our understanding of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer and other possible virus-mediated tumor microenvironmental CD8 T cell responses in tumors

Patel said: "We are now inclined to combine PD-1 blockade immunotherapy before surgery or radiotherapy that may be beneficial to patients

By observing primary tumors and metastatic lymph nodes, researchers were able to detect tumor-specific stem cell-like CD8 T cells (which can proliferate under the action of HPV peptides) and more terminally differentiated cells (not proliferating)

This research focuses on HPV-positive tumors, which is helpful for the study of tumor-specific T cells with clear specificity, because the virus provides a clear set of tumor-associated antigens, and in other types of cancers, mutations cause resistance to the cause of the individual.

Christiane S.