Preexisting tumor-resident T cells with cytotoxic potential associate with response to neoadjuvant anti-PD-1 in head and neck cancer.

ABSTRACT: About 50% of patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) experience recurrences after definitive therapy. The presurgical administration of anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) immunotherapy results in substantial pathologic tumor responses (pTR) within the tumor microenvironment (TME). However, the mechanisms underlying the dynamics of antitumor T cells upon neoadjuvant PD-1 blockade remain unresolved, and approaches to increase pathologic responses are lacking. In a phase 2 trial (NCT02296684), we observed that 45% of patients treated with two doses of neoadjuvant pembrolizumab experienced marked pTRs (≥50%). Single-cell analysis of 17,158 CD8⁺ T cells from 14 tumor biopsies, including 6 matched pre-post neoadjuvant treatment, revealed t

SUBMITTER: Oliveira G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10794154 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature