Preoperative Chemo + Immunotherapy Combo Shrinks Head, Neck Cancer Tumors

FRIDAY, Aug. 21, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Combining chemotherapy with immunotherapy before surgery for head and neck cancer is associated with significantly greater reductions in tumor size than immunotherapy alone, according to a study published online Aug. 13 in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

Ethan A. Gomez, from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, and colleagues compared rates of pathologic response between neoadjuvant immunotherapy (NAI) and neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy (NACI) in 86 real-world patients with resectable head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

The researchers found that overall, 29 percent achieved pathologic complete response (pCR) and 17 percent achieved major pathologic response (MPR; ≤10 percent viable tumor). For NACI recipients, pCR or MPR occurred in 67 percent versus 3.6 percent for NAI recipients. NACI was associated with higher odds of pCR or MPR (odds ratio, 29.1) in a propensity score-adjusted analysis. Generally, treatment was well tolerated, with few adverse event-related delays to surgery.

“We found that giving a combination of chemotherapy with immunotherapy before surgery led to much greater destruction of the tumor than immunotherapy alone,” co-author Scott Roof, M.D., also from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said in a statement. “Our work is far from complete, and additional testing in larger sample sizes is required, but these findings are an important first step in providing a more personalized approach to head and neck cancer treatment.”

One author disclosed financial ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text