Devraj Basu, MD, PhD, FACS

Admonishing scientists not to “be the deep state” infuses an element of partisanship and conspiracy theory into what seems to be a post affirming positive scientific community values. As a prominent leader in this community, you may want to clarify exactly who and what you mean by “deep state” here

Tumor-intrinsic and immune-related features associated with treatment failure in human papillomavirus-related oropharyngeal cancer AbstractBackground. Limited understanding of the biology predisposing certain human papillomavirus-related (HPV+) oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (O

We recently defined the gene expression profiles distinguishing HPV+ OPSCCs that are prone to recur after TORS-based therapy. These the tumor-intrinsic and immune-related traits were tightly interrelated and generalizeable to nonsurgical cases as well. academic.oup.com/jnci/advance...

Phase 1/2 Study of the Aurora Kinase A Inhibitor Alisertib and Pembrolizumab in Refractory, Rb-Deficient Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas Abstract. Purpose: Effective therapy for recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) that is refractory to chemotherapy and immunotherapy is a considerable need. Aurora kinase A inhibition...

This week I want to highlight the Phase ½ trial of alisertib + pembro led by Faye Johnson. It highlights the challenges in translating lab studies into patients. 🧪🧵
aacrjournals.org/clincancerre...

Hallmarks of a genomically distinct subclass of head and neck cancer - Nature Communications HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are generally characterized by many copy number alterations (CNAs) and mutations. Here, the authors characterize a subgroup of HPV-negative...

This week’s post is from the Brakenhoff lab, and examines the copy number quite subtype of head and neck cancer. This is a genomically and biologically distinct subtype of HNSCC that is a strong candidate for more personalized therapy. 🧪🧵

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Next-generation combination approaches for immune checkpoint therapy - Nature Immunology In this Review, Sharma and colleagues describe the current landscape of combination therapies and discuss requirements for the development of effective combination strategies.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Sharing our latest review article to highlight the importance of appropriately developing combination strategies for immune checkpoint therapy. Grateful for working with 3 brilliant scientists: Sangeeta Goswami, Kristen Pauken & Linghua Wang