Combination of immunotherapy and radiotherapy in locally advanced squamous cell cancers of the head and neck

The role of the immune system is important in both initiation and development of head and neck cancers. Various immune checkpoints have been discovered that can be exploited by cancer to evade immune mediated destruction. Therefore, immune checkpoint inhibitors have been developed to overcome cancer immune-evasion and are currently in clinical use in head and neck cancers. In addition, the immune system appears to play an important role in the response to radiotherapy. The combination of immunotherapy with radiotherapy may increase the ability to induce immunogenic death by removing the locks blocking the immune system. In this context, the combination of immunotherapy and radiotherapy has raised a lot of hope to improve the anti-tumor response of the immune system, and many clinical trials have been performed. (author)