ArticleFrontiers in oncology2023
Case Report: Combined pembrolizumab, 5-fluorouracil, and cisplatin therapy were remarkably effective in p16-positive squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary.
Article in Frontiers in oncology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Occult squamous cell carcinoma presenting as oligometastatic lymphadenopathy. A systematic review with a case report.Oncology reviews · 2026Pooled it
- A review of soluble mediator and cytokine networks linking combination immunotherapy, tumor microenvironment remodeling and skeletal muscle dysfunction.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- HPV-Related Pelvic Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Unknown Primary: Two Case Studies.Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2025Article
- Article
- Chemotherapy-induced immunogenic cell death in combination with ICIs: a brief review of mechanisms, clinical insights, and therapeutic implications.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Cancer of unknown primary (CUP) is a malignant tumor without a known primary lesion with a frequency of 3-5%. It can be divided into favorable and unfavorable prognosis subsets. While recommended treatments are available for the former group, there is no established treatment for the latter. Here, we report the effective treatment of a 32-year-old woman with p16-positive squamous cell CUP with pembrolizumab plus 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin therapy. Case presentation: A 32-year-old woman presented with metastatic lesions in the liver, lung, bone, cervical region, abdominal region, and pelvic lymph nodes. She was diagnosed with p16-positive squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary origin. The patient received pembrolizumab plus 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin therapy, which markedly reduced the metastasis and improved her Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status after two courses. Conclusion: This case report highlights the potential of pembrolizumab plus 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin therapy for treating CUP with an unfavorable prognosis. p16 positivity is worth examining for squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary origin, and if present, this therapy should be considered a promising treatment option.
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