Dr. Papa on CAR T-Cell Therapy for Head and Neck Cancer

Sophie Papa, PhD, MBBS, MRCP, King’s College London in the United Kingdom, discusses chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for patients with head and neck cancer.

CAR T-cell therapy has become a standard of care for patients with hematologic cancers, explains Papa. It is now attempting to be used for patients with head and neck cancer. Head and neck cancer is a solid tumor that poses many challenges to CAR T-cell therapy.

In this patient population, T cells are administered intratumorally as opposed to intravenously to target the main activity in the local regional disease and reduce the risk of the T cells getting into the circulation therefore lowering the risk of toxicities, states Papa.