Curative Application of Immunotherapy in Untreated Head and Neck and Nasopharynx Cancer

The successful application of curative-intent immunotherapy in locally advanced, previously untreated head, neck, and nasopharynx cancer has been an aspirational goal since the first evidence that checkpoint blockade immunotherapy was able to elicit significant responses and even potential cures in patients with first-line recurrent or metastatic disease. This issue of JAMA features 2 reports on the curative application of immunotherapy, 1 in each disease. Haddad et al report on the IMvoke010 trial of adjuvant immunotherapy with atezolizumab for squamous cell cancer of the head and neck, and Liang et al report on the DIPPER trial of adjuvant immunotherapy with camrelizumab for nasopharynx cancer. Both phase 3 randomized trials gave adjuvant immunotherapy after definitive therapy. There are interesting lessons from both trials and the results are informative for future efforts regarding both of these biologically distinct cancers.