ArticleClinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research2020
Neoadjuvant PD-1 Immune Checkpoint Blockade Reverses Functional Immunodominance among Tumor Antigen-Specific T Cells.
Article in Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 57 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
57 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 79 citations in OpenAlex.
- Immuno-oncology in the perioperative setting: the next frontier in resectable head and neck cancers - a systematic review.BMC cancer · 2026Pooled it
- Perioperative chemoimmunotherapy for patients with gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.JNCI cancer spectrum · 2026Pooled it
- Evaluating the efficacy and safety of different neoadjuvant immunotherapy combinations in locally advanced HNSCC: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Pooled it
- Single-cell dissection of persistent tumor antigens in non-responders reveals opportunities for TAA-targeted vaccination after neoadjuvant therapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2026Trial
- Translational investigations in the HN1901 phase II window-of-opportunity study investigating the biological activity of an IDO1 (IO102) and PD-L1 (IO103) immune-modulatory peptide cancer vaccines in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2025Trial
- Neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy with camrelizumab plus nab-paclitaxel and cisplatin in resectable locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: a pilot phase II trial.Nature communications · 2024Trial
- Enhanced neoepitope-specific immunity following neoadjuvant PD-L1 and TGF-β blockade in HPV-unrelated head and neck cancer.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2022Trial
- Neoadjuvant Nivolumab or Nivolumab Plus Ipilimumab in Untreated Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Phase 2 Open-Label Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA oncology · 2020Trial
- Neoadjuvant and Adjuvant Pembrolizumab in Resectable Locally Advanced, Human Papillomavirus-Unrelated Head and Neck Cancer: A Multicenter, Phase II Trial.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2020Trial
- Optimizing immunotherapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: recent advances and future directions.Annals of medicine · 2026Review
- Immune checkpoint inhibitors in resectable and locoregionally advanced HNSCC: past lessons, present evidence, and future directions.The oncologist · 2026Review
- Integrating Immunotherapy Into Head and Neck Surgery: Bridging Tumor Biology to Perioperative Decision-Making, a Review.Head & neck · 2026Review
- Review
- Immunodominance Hierarchy of Endogenous BBN963 Bladder Cancer Antigens Remains Stable Under Anti-PD1 and Anti-CTLA4 Immunotherapy.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Translationally-Relevant Tumor Resection Model for Murine Preclinical Models of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE · 2026Article
- Precision immunotherapy for head and neck cancer: therapeutic combinations, biomarker strategies, and translational challenges.Molecular cancer · 2026Review
- Pipe dream to pipeline: Journey of cancer vaccines and the road ahead.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Review
- Review
- The molecular mechanisms of pyroptosis and its implications in tumor immunotherapy.Molecular cancer · 2026Review
- Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeSurgical resection of primary tumor with regional lymphadenectomy remains the treatment of choice for patients with advanced human papillomavirus-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. However, even when pathologic disease-free margins can be achieved, locoregional and/or distant disease relapse remains high. Perioperative immunotherapy may improve outcomes, but mechanistic data supporting the use of neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment clinically are sparse. EXPERIMENTAL
designTwo syngeneic models of oral cavity carcinoma with defined T-cell antigens were treated with programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) mAb before or after surgical resection of primary tumors, and antigen-specific T-cell responses were explored with functional and
resultsWe demonstrated that functional immunodominance developed among T cells targeting multiple independent tumor antigens. T cells specific for subdominant antigens expressed greater levels of PD-1. Neoadjuvant, but not adjuvant, PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade broke immunodominance and induced T-cell responses to dominant and subdominant antigens. Using tumors lacking the immunodominant antigen as a model of antigen escape, neoadjuvant PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade induced effector T-cell immunity against tumor cells lacking immunodominant but retaining subdominant antigen. When combined with complete surgical excision, neoadjuvant PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade led to formation of immunologic memory capable of preventing engraftment of tumors lacking the immunodominant but retaining subdominant antigen.
conclusionsTogether, these results implicate PD-1 expression by T cells in the mechanism of functional immunodominance among independent T-cell clones within a progressing tumor and support the use of neoadjuvant PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade in patients with surgically resectable carcinomas.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.