[Update on HPV-associated head and neck cancers-highlights of the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting].

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is becoming increasingly important in head and neck oncology. At this year's conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), a large number of papers were presented on the topic of HPV-associated HNSCC, particularly with regard to neoadjuvant treatment approaches, radiation de-escalation strategies, therapeutic vaccines, and treatment monitoring. In this context, study results on the treatment of HPV-related recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) were also presented.
Objective: Based on contributions to the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting, an insight into the latest developments in HPV-associated diseases of the head and neck is provided.
Methods: The papers were reviewed for clinical relevance and contextualized based on current therapeutic concepts.
Results and Conclusion: A large number of studies on liquid biopsies (LB) were presented. It was shown that although the methods for analyzing LBs for HPV-positive patients are well developed and can be used for diagnostics, risk classification, treatment management, or tumor follow-up, the methods vary considerably, and their clinical application has not yet been sufficiently validated. With regard to therapeutic HPV vaccination, three large studies were presented for the treatment of recurrent/metastatic HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). The only randomized study was on the vaccine ISA101b (peltopepimut-S) and did not reach its primary endpoint; however, the vaccine seemed to be highly effective in patients with a combined positive score (CPS) ≥ 20. Furthermore, data from a phase I study on PRGN2012, an adenovirus-based immunotherapy used therapeutically for the treatment of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP), were presented. PRGN2012 led to a reduction in surgical interventions for RRP, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designated PRGN2012 as a breakthrough therapy and orphan drug. However, the vaccine is not yet approved for the treatment of RRP.
Competing Interests: Einhaltung ethischer Richtlinien Interessenkonflikt S.J. Sharma, J.P. Klussmann, J. Döscher, T.K. Hoffmann und S. Laban geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.Für diesen Beitrag wurden von den Autor/-innen keine Studien an Menschen oder Tieren durchgeführt. Für die aufgeführten Studien gelten die jeweils dort angegebenen ethischen Richtlinien.
(© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)