Immunotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer

This book is a comprehensive summary of the literature on the scientific rationale and clinical development of immunotherapy for head and neck cancers.Head and neck cancer is a biologically diverse group of cancers that bear a common hallmark - evasion of host immune surveillance through innate or acquired mechanisms. The etiological association between the Human Papilloma virus (HPV) and some squamous head and neck cancers, the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and nasopharyngeal cancer has provided further impetus for evaluating immunotherapy in this group of cancers. The successful development of anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1)/ ligand (PD-L1) and CTLA-4 antibodies in solid tumours has gradually brought immunotherapy into mainstream oncological practice in recent years. Besides immune-checkpoint proteins inhibitors, other forms of immunotherapy such as vaccines, EBV or HPV-targeting therapies and cellular therapies are actively being investigated in clinical trials, either alone or in combination with other conventional treatments such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery. In clinical setting, the practicing oncologist need to be familiar with some unusual patterns of immunological response such as pseudo-progression and hyper-progression in patients with head and neck cancers who are undergoing treatment with immune-checkpoint inhibitors. Furthermore, the unique side effects of immune-checkpoint inhibitors such as autoimmune toxicities need to be recognized early and treated expediently.  The development of biomarkers in predicting response to immune-checkpoint inhibitors has played pivotal roles in selecting patients for immunotherapy in practice or as an enrichment strategy in clinical trials. There are now emerging data on the clinical utility of biomarkers such as PD-L1 expression (Combined Positive Score), gene signatures and tumor mutational burden. 
This book is an invaluable companion to all those who are involved in research and clinical management of patients with head and neck cancers from any endemic regions.     

Anthony Chan, MD, FRCP (Lond, Edin, Glas), graduated from the School of Medicine at University College London and received his post-graduate training in Medical Oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital, UK. He joined the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1993, where he is currently Li Shu Fan Professor of Clinical Oncology, Director of the Sir YK Pao Centre for Cancer, Hong Kong Cancer Institute, Chief Director of Phase 1 Clinical Trial Centre, Associate Director of the State Key Laboratory for Translational Oncology, Dean of the Graduate School and Master of Wu Yee Sun College. 

Professor Chan conducted pivotal studies defining new treatment standards for multimodality approaches to nasopharynx cancer, developed the clinical applications of the biomarker EBV DNA and pioneered the development of immunotherapeutic and targeted therapeutics for this disease. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed papers, 53 book chapters and reviews, and given over 170 international lectures. He has served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology and has been an Associate Editor of Annals of Oncology since 2014. 
Professor Chan has served on various ESMO committees covering head and neck and immuno-oncology. He was co-chair of the scientific steering committee of the first ESMO Asia Congress in 2015. He is chairman of the scientific sub-committee of Head and Neck for ESMO 2020 and educational co-chair of ESMO Asia 2020. 
Brigette Ma is currently Professor and Honorary Consultant at the Department of Clinical Oncology, Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Medical Director of the Phase I Clinical Trial Centre (Oncology), Co-Director of the Cancer Drug Testing Unit and Chair (Phase 1) of the NTEC-CUHK ethics committee. She received her Bachelor's degree with honors from Monash University, Australia, and was appointed a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, a fellow of the Hong Kong College of Physicians, and a Doctor of Medicine in CUHK. She underwent training in Medical Oncology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Melbourne, and was research fellow at the Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Canada. She has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers. She was a faculty member in the gastrointestinal working group of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), member of the Head and Neck Cancer Steering Committee/ Clinical Trials Planning Group on Nasopharyngeal Cancer, co-chair of the Widely Metastatic Group (2017). She was Chair for the Head and Neck Track at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO, Paris) in 2022 , Education Co-chair of ESMO Singapore 2019 and member of the scientific committees for American Association of Cancer Research and American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meetings. She is the Scientific Co-chair of the ESMO Singapore 2023 and Co-chair of several advance courses in drug development and biomarkers for ESMO.