Jonas de Souza, MD, assistant professor of Medicine, University of Chicago Medicine, discusses some of the upcoming next steps regarding immunotherapy in head and neck cancer.

Potential next steps could include head-to-head comparisons of immunotherapy with the standard EXTREME regimen, which includes cetuximab (Erbitux) and platinum-based chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). According to de Souza, future research should examine whether immunotherapy is active and efficacious in the first-line setting for metastatic patients.

A big remaining question, he says, concerns the treatment of HPV-positive patients with head and neck cancer, who may require less therapy than others. He questions whether these patients should be treated the same as other individuals, or if they should, perhaps, receive less radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Further research is warranted in this space, says de Souza.

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Dr. de Souza on Next Steps for Immunotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer

Jonas de Souza, MD, assistant professor of medicine, University of Chicago, discusses the approval of pembrolizumab for relapsed head and neck cancer patients who are platinum-refractory.

This was a great addition to the armamentarium for head and neck cancer, says de Souza. Other trials are now assessing additional immunotherapies in the head and neck cancer space.

Pembrolizumab fills a significant unmet need for patients that are refractory to platinum-based chemotherapy, says de Souza. To have a drug that results in less side effects for patients it extremely beneficial, he says.

Pembrolizumab is now being investigated in the frontline setting for metastatic patients.

​Jonas de Souza, MD, assistant professor of medicine, University of Chicago, discusses the approval of pembrolizumab for relapsed head and neck cancer patients who are platinum-refractory

Jonas de Souza, MD

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Dr. de Souza on Next Steps for Immunotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer

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