Effect of Nivolumab in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

In patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), the immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab improved overall survival compared with standard chemotherapy, according to results from a large phase III trial. The patients in this study, whose cancer progressed within 6 months of receiving platinum-based chemotherapy, had a median overall survival of 7.5 months in the nivolumab group and 5.1 months in the standard-therapy group after a median follow-up of 5.1 months. The 1-year overall survival rate in the nivolumab group was more than twice that in the standard treatment group (36.0% vs. 16.6%). The effect of nivolumab on overall survival did not depend on the percentage of tumor cells expressing PD-L1, a molecule sometimes used as a biomarker of a tumor's response to immunotherapy.