Depth of response may predict clinical outcome in patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancer treated with pembrolizumab-containing regimens

Ken Saijo; Hiroo Imai; Kota Ouchi; Keiju Sasaki; Yuya Yoshida; Yoshifumi Kawamura; Sakura Taniguchi; Yuki Kasahara; Keigo Komine; Hidekazu Shirota; Masanobu Takahashi; Chikashi Ishioka

doi:10.3389/fonc.2023.1230731

Depth of response may predict clinical outcome in patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancer treated with pembrolizumab-containing regimens

Front Oncol. 2023 Aug 16:13:1230731. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1230731. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ken Saijo^{1

2}, Hiroo Imai^{1

2}, Kota Ouchi^{1

2}, Keiju Sasaki^{1

2}, Yuya Yoshida^{1

2}, Yoshifumi Kawamura^{1

2}, Sakura Taniguchi^{1

2}, Yuki Kasahara^{1

2}, Keigo Komine^{1

2}, Hidekazu Shirota^{1

2}, Masanobu Takahashi^{1

2}, Chikashi Ishioka^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Oncology, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Japan.
² Department of Clinical Oncology, Tohoku University Graduate school of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.

Abstract

Background: Pembrolizumab-containing regimens are standards of care for recurrent and metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC). The depth of response (DpR) predicts the survival of patients with several types of solid cancers; however, its association with the survival outcomes of patients with R/M HNSCC treated with pembrolizumab-containing regimens remains unclear.

Methods: This study included 66 patients with R/M HNSCC who received a pemblolizumab-containing regimen as a first-line therapy at Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Japan. The patients' characteristics, combined positive score, baseline tumor size, tumor response, DpR, overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), PFS2, and adverse events were reviewed. The associations between DpR and survival outcomes were analyzed.

Results: The 1 year-OS and 1 year-PFS rates of pembrolizumab-containing regimens were 69.4% and 24.4%, respectively. The response rate was 28.8%. The mean and median values of tumor change from baseline were 5.1% and -9.0%. In the correlation analysis, a significant negative correlation was observed between tumor change rate from baseline and survival outcomes (OS: r= -0.41, p=0.0017; PFS: r=-0.49, p<0.001). In the multivariate analysis, DpR with tumor change of ≤-45 was associated with better OS and PFS.

Conclusion: DpR induced by pembrolizumab-containing regimens may be a predictive factor for OS and PFS in patients with R/M HNSCC.

Keywords: depth of response; head and neck cancer; immune check point inhibitor; pembrolizumab; predictive factor.