Putting T cells to work – outsourcing neoantigen detection in head and neck cancer?

The recent genomic characterization of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas by The Cancer Genome Atlas demonstrated the high frequency of mutations affecting these cancers (Cancer Genome Atlas Network, 2015). This high rate of genomic alterations allows head and neck cancers to be highly immunogenic, thus promoting responses to immune therapies (Allen et al, 2015; Ferris, 2015). For instance, inhibitors of immune checkpoints like the anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibodies nivolumab and pembrolizumab have demonstrated promising results in head and neck cancer (Ferris et al, 2016; Chow et al, 2016), both recently receiving FDA approval in the setting of recurrent or metastatic disease.

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