Dr. Burtness on Combinations of Immunotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer

Barbara Burtness, MD, professor of medicine, Yale Cancer Center, discusses immunotherapy combinations for patients with head and neck cancer.

There are different combination approaches being investigated for patients with head and neck cancer, Burtness explains. Immunotherapy has been integrated in to the standard approach to build on the existing responses, such as with chemoradiation or chemotherapy and cetuximab (Erbitux) for recurrent metastatic disease.

Combinations of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors with CTLA-4 inhibitors have also been investigated in large phase III trials, states Burtness.