Precision oncology inches into head and neck cancer paradigm
Source: www.targetedonc.com Author: Nichole Tucker In an interview with Targeted Oncology, to Everett E. Vokes, MD, discussed precision oncology for head and neck cancer and how the molecular biology of head and neck cancers is an opportunity for new investigations and treatment development. Treatment of head and neck cancer is moving away from invasive surgery and chemoradiotherapy and toward precision medicine, according to Everett E. Vokes, MD. But the field still has a long way to go, compared with other solid tumors.1 Patients with squamous cell cancers of the head and neck cancers are typically treated with chemoradiotherapy, said Vokes, the John E. Ultmann Distinguished Service professor of Medicine, professor of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, chair of the Department of Medicine, and physician-in-chief, at University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences, during a presentation at the Inaugural Miami Cancer Institute Precision Medicine Oncology Symposium. The only targeted therapy available is for HRAS-driven tumors. Although the farnesyltransferase inhibitor, tipifarnib (Zarnestra), has achieved anti-tumor activity in the HRAS-positive population, the activity is modest for patients with HRAS-mutated salivary gland cancer.2 Vokes explained that more therapies are needed for these patients, but other investigational strategies like de-escalation are promising.1 For thyroid cancers, the precision medicine landscape is vaster, Vokes said. In addition to immunotherapy, lenvatinib (Lenvima), a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is FDA approved for multiple indications. Looking ahead, Vokes hopes research leans towards a multidisciplinary approach to get patients with all forms of head and neck cancer to remission. In an interview with [...]