Immunotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Current status and prospects (Review)

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an epithelial tumor located in the nasopharynx and is highly associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. Although radiotherapy alone can cure ~90% of patients with early-stage disease, >70% of patients with NPC have locoregionally advanced or metastatic disease at the first diagnosis due to the insidious and aggressive nature of NPC. After comprehensive radiochemotherapy, 20-30% of patients with advanced NPC still fail treatment, mainly due to recurrence and/or metastasis (R/M). Conventional salvage treatments, such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery, are suboptimal and frequently accompanied by severe adverse effects and limited efficacy. In recent years, immunotherapy has emerged as a promising treatment modality for R/M NPC. An increasing number of clinical studies have investigated the safety and efficacy of immunotherapy for advanced NPC and have shown considerable progress. In the present review, the rationale for the use of immunotherapy to treat NPC was summarized and the current status, progress and challenges of NPC clinical research on different immunotherapeutic approaches were highlighted, including immune checkpoint inhibitors, vaccines, immunomodulators, adoptive cell transfer and EBV-specific monoclonal antibodies. The comprehensive overview of immunotherapy in NPC may provide insight for clinical practice and future investigation.

The efficacy and safety of EGFR‐TKI in recurrent/metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…However, the current progress in molecularly targeted therapy for NPC lags behind, posing a challenge to patient treatment and the development of new drugs to combat drug resistance. 29 …”

Berberine-mediated Ferroptosis through System Xc-/GSH/GPX4 Axis Inhibits Metastasis of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

“…NPC is a metastasis-prone malignancy with the highest metastatic rate among head and neck cancers 45 . More than 70% of patients present with locoregionally advanced disease, and distant metastasis is the main cause of treatment failure 46 , 47 . Although radiotherapy, combined with chemotherapy are effective therapies for NPC, they have side effects, including hearing loss and cranial nerve damage, resulting in NPC patients being unable to complete these therapies, leading to therapeutic failure 48 .…”

The Role of Natural Killer Cells in the Tumor Immune Microenvironment of EBV-Associated Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

“…Chemoradiotherapy is the standard first-line treatment for NPC, but approximately 20-30% of patients experience recurrence and/or metastasis (R/M) [6]. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs)-for instance, anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) antibodies-have been proven to be safe and effective for R/M NPC patients [7]. This highlights the events happening in the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) that will impact the patients' outcomes.…”