Abstract 5091: Response to neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy in resectable locally advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma: a single-center retrospective observational study

Abstract Background: This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy (NACI) regimens in treating advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods: We analyzed clinicopathologic features of advanced OSCC patients who received PD-1 inhibitors in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel before surgical tumor resection between 2020 and 2022. The Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST, version 1.1) and pathologic response were used to evaluate the efficacy of the NACI treatment. Adverse events apparently related to NACI treatment were graded according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.0. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier survival curves and compared using the log rank test. Additionally, we calculated the area under curve (AUC) to compare the predictive value of PD-L1 expression with baseline serum lipid biomarkers for patient response. Results: Our analysis involved 104 advanced OSCC patients who received NACI. Notably, the top three grade 1-2 treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were Alopecia (104; 100%), Anemia (81; 77.9%) and Pruritus (62; 59.6%). Only one patient developed grade 3-4 TRAEs due to increased aminotransferases. The pathological complete response (PCR) rate was 47.1%, and the major pathological response (MPR) rate was 65.4%. Importantly, patients achieving MPR exhibited higher CPS. The diagnostic value of CPS as a biomarker for NACI efficacy was enhanced when combined total cholesterol (TC) level. Our findings from DFS and OS suggested that patients who underwent NACI before surgery experienced improved survival compared to those who accepted the surgery alone. Conclusions: The data from this study proved evidence that NACI treatment is safe and encouragingly efficacious in treating advanced OSCC patients. Citation Format: Jinsong Li, Bowen Li, Shule Xie, Haotian Cao, Zhaoyu Lin, Qunxing Li, Song Fan. Response to neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy in resectable locally advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma: a single-center retrospective observational study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 5091.