ArticleBMC cancer2024
Pembrolizumab-based first-line treatment for PD-L1-positive, recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a retrospective analysis.
Article in BMC cancer, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 5 papers.
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
5 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: current and emerging therapeutic strategies.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2026Review
- Molecular Targets for Pharmacotherapy of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
- Review
- The efficacy and safety of tislelizumab combined with weekly nab-paclitaxel, carboplatin, and cetuximab as first-line treatment for recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a real-world study.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Observational
- Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
17 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe KEYNOTE-048 trial showed that pembrolizumab-based first-line treatment for R/M HNSCC led to improved OS in the PD-L1 CPS ≥ 1 population when compared to the EXTREME regimen. However, the R/M HNSCC real-world population is generally frailer, often presenting with multiple comorbidities, worse performance status and older age than the population included in phase III clinical trials.
methodsThis is a retrospective, single-centre analysis of patients with R/M HNSCC treated with pembrolizumab-based first-line treatment.
resultsFrom February 2021 to March 2023, 92 patients were treated with pembrolizumab-based first-line treatment. Patients treated with pembrolizumab-based chemoimmunotherapy had better ECOG PS and younger age than those treated with pembrolizumab monotherapy. Median PFS and OS were 4 months and 8 months, respectively. PFS was similar among patients treated with pembrolizumab-based chemoimmunotherapy and pembrolizumab monotherapy, while patients treated with pembrolizumab monotherapy had worse OS (log-rank p =.001, HR 2.7). PFS and OS were improved in patients with PD-L1 CPS > = 20 (PFS: log-rank p =.005, HR 0.50; OS: log-rank p =.04, HR 0.57). Patients with higher ECOG PS scores had worse PFS and OS (PFS, log-rank p =.004; OS, log-rank p = 6e-04). In multivariable analysis, ECOG PS2 was associated with worse PFS and OS.
conclusionsPFS in our real-world cohort was similar to the KEYNOTE-048 reference while OS was numerically inferior. A deeper understanding of clinical variables that might affect survival outcomes of patients with R/M HNSCC beyond ECOG PS and PD-L1 CPS is urgently needed.
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