Main text introduction
Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) is the most common malignant tumour in that region. According to the latest GLOBOCAN report [1], HNSCC is the ninth most common malignant tumour in the world. In 2018, the number of new cases worldwide was 843860, accounting for 4.6% of all new cancer cases. Because of the nature of this disease, there are a large number of patients who are at the late stage or local late stage at the time of treatment. The 5-year survival rate of these patients with traditional treatment is only 40% [2], and the treatment of patients with recurrent/distant metastasis is more difficult. At present, the first-line treatment for advanced HNSCC is cetuximab combined with cisplatin and 5-FU, but there are low response rates combined with drug resistance [3].
With the anti-tumour effect of immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer and other tumours, the study of immunosuppressive checkpoint inhibitors in HNSCC has become a popular research topic at the present time. In addition, Nivolumab [4] and Pembrolizumab [5] have been approved by the FDA to be used in the treatment of recurrent or metastatic HNSCC in the event of platinum treatment failure. There are a growing number of corresponding clinical trials, but there has been no summary analysis showing the efficacy of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand protein 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors.
This study aimed to evaluate treatment of HNSCC with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors through a meta-analysis of all previous randomized controlled trials to form a preliminary reference for follow-up clinical trials and clinical treatment.