Research progress of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

doi:10.3760/cma.j.cn371439-20250513-00039

Abstract

Abstract:

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma （HNSCC） has a poor prognosis， and the survival rate of advanced patients is low. Immune checkpoint inhibitors have become an important treatment for recurrent or metastatic HNSCC， significantly improving the prognosis of patients. However， they still face challenges such as primary drug resistance， biomarker heterogeneity， and immune-related adverse reactions. Among them， programmed death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 inhibitors serve as cornerstone agents in cancer immunotherapy； thus， a comprehensive， multi-dimensional analysis of their resistance mechanisms is essential to overcoming current treatment limitations. To systematically explore the research progress of monotherapy and combined treatment strategies of programmed death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 inhibitors in HNSCC， and to reveal the regulatory role of multiple immune escape networks in the tumor microenvironment， can provide a theoretical basis for analyzing the mechanism of drug resistance and guiding precise treatment.

Key words: Squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck, Immunotherapy, Immune checkpoint inhibitors

Zhang Ao, Cui Yu. Research progress of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma[J]. Journal of International Oncology, 2026, 53(4): 234-239.

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