Spatial Omics: Improved Therapies for Head and Neck Carcinomas

By harnessing the body’s immune system, immune checkpoint inhibitors have improved outcomes for patients with advanced cancers like melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer. However, they have limited efficacy for some tumors such as head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. Currently, only 20% of patients with PD-L1 positive tumors respond to the treatment by a PD-1 inhibitor like pembrolizumab. By incorporating detailed information about the tumor microenvironment, scientists can gain fresh insights about these and other tumors that will lead to more effective therapies and improve patient care.

In this GEN webinar, Quan Nguyen, PhD, and Jazmina Gonzalez Cruz, PhD, will discuss how advances in spatial proteomics and single-cell sequencing are enabling a more personalized approach to treating metastatic recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. They will share results from their analysis of tumors from patients sensitive to pembrolizumab and lenvatinib and those with reduced lenvatinib sensitivity. You will also hear details about distinct tumor regions and key druggable targets in the tumors as well as a novel cell deconvolution method that improves on existing techniques.

A live Q&A session will followed the presentation, offering a chance to pose questions to our expert panelists.