Advances in Neoadjuvant and Combination Therapies for Locally Advanced Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Current treatment modalities for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are increasingly diverse. The CSCO guidelines for head and neck cancer diagnosis and treatment indicate that neoadjuvant therapy followed by radical surgery has become one of the recommended treatment strategies. In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been discovered and applied in the treatment of locally advanced HNSCC, achieving promising results. Most patients receiving ICI monotherapy or ICI combined with targeted or chemotherapeutic agents for 2-4 cycles demonstrate improved event-free survival (EFS), major pathological response (MPR) rates, clinical complete response (CR) rates, and partial response (PR) rates. Additionally, these regimens significantly help control adverse reactions. Given the heterogeneity of the tumor microenvironment across individual patients, selecting the most suitable personalized treatment plan from various options is a current research priority. This article analyzes neoadjuvant strategies involving upfront systemic therapy for locally advanced HNSCC, exploring the sequence of different agents and subsequent treatment plans.