[Preclinical models to establish innovative therapy strategies : Ex‑vivo assessment of head and neck tumor chemo- and immune responses].

The pharmacological treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is currently experiencing an expansion of the spectrum of targeting therapies. It can be expected that use of immune modulators, e.g., checkpoint-inhibitors, and their combination with chemotherapy will lead to a plethora of therapeutic options in the near future, from which the best one for the individual patient can be selected. HNSCCs are heterogeneous in their biology, and responses to chemotherapy are nonuniform and often only observable in subgroups. It would be valuable to know the chance of success of a particular treatment in advance. Evidence-based selection of the best individual treatment is difficult, since predictive biomarkers which are assessable prior to the treatment decision and reliably indicate the suitability of particular therapeutics are lacking. Pretherapeutic predictive ex-vivo chemoresponse testing of HNSCC biopsy specimens could enable identification of responders and allow a more suitable therapy regimen to be chosen for potential non-responders, without exposing them to likely ineffective therapy attempts. However, early ex-vivo assays failed regarding reliable prediction of therapeutic success, even with tolerable doses of pharmaceuticals and, in particular, their combinations. Predictive testing was hence deemed improper for the clinic. Improved methodology has now led to a reappraisal of predictive testing and its additional use in analysis of antitumor immune responses ex vivo. Here we describe recent advances and new results from ex-vivo chemoresponse testing of HNSCC and highlight their ability to facilitate establishment of innovative therapy strategies.