[Highlights of the ASCO and ESMO annual meetings 2022: radiotherapy of head and neck cancer].

At the 2022 annual meetings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), several studies on radiation therapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) were presented. Among the main topics were new concepts for treatment de-escalation with the goal of reducing side effects. Radiotherapy alone for nasopharyngeal carcinoma with an intermediate-risk profile was found to be noninferior to chemoradiotherapy with cisplatin while improving tolerability. In the phase II DIREKHT trial for adjuvant radiotherapy, individualized deintensification concepts of radiation dose or volume were implemented. Overall, this treatment resulted in excellent levels of locoregional control with a minimal side effects profile. In subgroup analysis, however, an increased locoregional recurrence rate was observed for tumors of the oral cavity. In 2022, as in the previous year, there was a continued focus on the role of immune checkpoint inhibitors in combination with platinum-based chemoradiotherapy in the first-line treatment of locally advanced HNSCC. In the HNSCC-15-132 trial, sequential application of the PD‑1 inhibitor pembrolizumab to chemoradiotherapy was not significantly, but numerically superior to concomitant application. The phase III KEYNOTE-412 trial evaluated the efficacy of concomitant and sequential additive pembrolizumab therapy compared to additive placebo in 804 patients with locally advanced HNSCC. The observed benefit in terms of event-free survival in the pembrolizumab group marginally missed statistical significance, probably due to the particular study design. In addition, new 5‑year overall survival data from the phase II trial of chemoradiotherapy in combination with the inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAP) antagonist xevinapant versus placebo were presented. The xevinapant group continued to demonstrate a significant survival advantage and a sustained response to treatment.