Tadalafil Enhances Immune Signatures in Response to Neoadjuvant Nivolumab in Resectable Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Preoperative nivolumab ± tadalafil is safe in HNSCC and results in more than 50% of the patients having a pathologic treatment response of at least 20% after 4 weeks of treatment. Pretreatment specimens identified HPV status-dependent signatures that predicted response to immunotherapy while posttreatment specimens showed augmentation of the immune microenvironment with the addition of tadalafil.