The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) has published the first clinical immunotherapy guidelines for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, providing oncologists and other advanced practice providers with a clinical roadmap to treating this disease with immunotherapies approved in the United States.
The guidelines, titled The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Consensus Statement on Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck, were authored under the guidance of the SITC Cancer Immunotherapy Guidelines Head and Neck Cancer Subcommittee and were published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer,1 the society’s open-access, peer-reviewed online journal. This newest article is the sixth in the SITC Cancer Immunotherapy Guidelines series, which are a collection of unbiased consensus statements developed by leading experts to help oncologists determine when and how best to use immunotherapy for their patients.
The other papers in the set consist of treatment recommendations for cutaneous melanoma, renal cell cancer, prostate and bladder carcinomas, non–small cell lung cancer, and hematologic malignancies. Additional guidelines are in development for disease states that include acute leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and immune-related adverse events.
This publication focused on immunotherapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck includes consensus statements on treatment scheduling of U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved immunotherapies, the use of predictive biomarkers, and appropriate patient testing and management of immune-related adverse events. The paper also discusses how best to evaluate patient response to immunotherapy and whether patients with auto-immune disorders should be candidates for such treatments. ■
REFERENCE
1. Cohen EEW, Bell RB, Bifulco CB, et al: The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer consensus statement on immunotherapy for the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. J Immunother Cancer 7:184, 2019.
