ArticleCancers2021
Relationship between Tumor Mutational Burden, PD-L1, Patient Characteristics, and Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
Article in Cancers, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Tumor mutational burden predictability in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients treated with immunotherapy: systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of translational medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Phase I/II Study of the Aurora Kinase A Inhibitor Alisertib and Pembrolizumab in Refractory, Rb-Deficient Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2025Trial
- Whole Exome Sequencing of Feline Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Reveals Genomic Parallels With Human Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Veterinary and comparative oncology · 2026Article
- EGFR-targeted photoimmunotherapy and its association with the immune microenvironment in locoregional recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Stratification of the immunotypes of tongue squamous cell carcinoma to improve prognosis and the response to immune checkpoint inhibitors.Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII · 2025Article
- Real-World Outcomes in Patients with Advanced Penile Squamous Cell Carcinoma Receiving Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: A Single Institution Experience.Journal of immunotherapy and precision oncology · 2025Article
- Granzyme B and melittin in cancer immunotherapy: molecular mechanisms and therapeutic perspectives in head and neck cancers.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Personalized Treatment Strategies via Integration of Gene Expression Biomarkers in Molecular Profiling of Laryngeal Cancer.Journal of personalized medicine · 2024Review
- Targeting histone deacetylases in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: molecular mechanisms and therapeutic targets.Journal of translational medicine · 2024Review
- Review
- Head and Neck Mucosal Melanoma: Where Are We Now?Current oncology reports · 2024Review
- What nature has to offer: Opportunities for immuno-oncology.Journal of food and drug analysis · 2023Review
- Diagnostic Predictors of Immunotherapy Response in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Host-specific differences in top-expanded TCR clonotypes correlate with divergent outcomes of anti-PD-L1 treatment in responders versus non-responders.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Potential Benefits and Challenges.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Comprehensive Genomic Profiling Reveals Clinical Associations in Response to Immune Therapy in Head and Neck Cancer.Cancers · 2022Article
- Estrogens, Cancer and Immunity.Cancers · 2022Review
- Serendipitous synergism - an exceptional response to treatment with pembrolizumab in the course of a natural immunovirotherapy: a case report and review of the literature.Therapeutic advances in medical oncology · 2022Article
- Why responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors are heterogeneous in head and neck cancers: Contributions from tumor-intrinsic and host-intrinsic factors.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Failure to predict response to immunotherapy (IO) limited its benefit in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) to 20% of patients or less. Biomarkers including tumor mutational burden (TMB) and programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) were evaluated as predictors of response to IO, but the results are inconsistent and with a lack of standardization of their methods. In this retrospective study, TMB and PD-L1 were measured by commercially available methodologies and were correlated to demographics, outcome, and response to PD-1 inhibitors. No correlation was found between TMB and PD-L1 levels. High TMB was associated with smoking and laryngeal primaries. PD-L1 was significantly higher in African Americans, patients with earlier stage tumors, nonsmokers, and nonethanol drinkers. Patients with high TMB fared better in univariate and multivariate survival analysis. No correlation was found between PD-L1 expression and prognosis. There was a statistically significant association between PFS and response to IO and TMB. There was no association between response to ICI and PD-L1 in this study, possibly affected by variations in the reporting method. Further studies are needed to characterize the biomarkers for IO in HNSCC, and this study supports further research into the advancement of TMB in prospective studies.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.