Pembrolizumab as an immunotherapy drug in the treatment of a patient with recurrent (unresectable) cancer of the lower lip

Abstract

Advances in immunotherapy have changed approaches to the treatment of recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC). The US Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) has approved both pembrolizumab monotherapy for first-line treatment of the tumours expressing the programmed cell death receptor1 (PD-L1; combined positive score of  1) in patients with R/M HNSCC and pembrolizumab administration in combination with platinum and fluorouracil regardless of the level of PD-L1 expression. Pembrolizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody class drug that activates the anti-tumour immune response.