Role of programmed death-ligand 1 in predicting the treatment outcome of salvage chemotherapy after nivolumab in recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Abstract

It was reported that treatment outcomes of the salvage chemotherapy (SCT) following nivolumab are fairly good compared with those of nivolumab itself. However, predictive factors of SCT for recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC) were not determined. Twenty-one R/M HNSCC patients received SCT following nivolumab. The treatment outcome and predictive factors for the favorable response to SCT were investigated. The objective response rate (ORR) and the disease control rate of SCT were 52.4% and 81.0%, respectively. The median progression-free survival and the median overall survival time were 5.4 and 12.9 months, respectively. Patients with positive programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression showed greater tumor shrinkage evaluated by the response evaluation criteria in solid tumors and higher ORR than those with negative PD-L1 expression. Treatment outcome of SCT following nivolumab in R/M HNSCC was favorable. PD-L1 expression may be a predictive factor of SCT.