Immunotherapy for laryngeal cancer

Immunotherapy helps to strengthen or restore the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. This works to kill cancer cells and stop cancer cells from growing and spreading.

Immunotherapy is sometimes used to treat laryngeal cancer. If you have immunotherapy, your healthcare team will use what they know about the cancer and about your health to plan the drugs, doses and schedules.

Immunotherapy may be the only treatment you have or it may be used along with other treatments. You may have immunotherapy to treat advanced laryngeal cancer that doesnʼt respond to other treatments or if it comes back (recurs) after treatment.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are the type of immunotherapy used for laryngeal cancer.

The immune system normally stops itself from attacking normal cells in the body by using specific proteins called checkpoints. Checkpoints slow down or stop an immune system response. Some laryngeal cancer cells sometimes use these checkpoints to hide and avoid being attacked by the immune system. Immune checkpoint inhibitors work by blocking the checkpoint proteins so immune system cells (called T cells) attack and kill the cancer cells.

The following immune checkpoint inhibitors can be used to treat advanced cancer above the vocal cords (supraglottic carcinoma) that doesn’t respond to other treatments or has come back (recurred) after treatment:

• pembrolizumab (Keytruda)
• nivolumab (Opdivo)

These drugs are usually given once every 2 to 6 weeks. Both drugs can be given by a needle into a vein (intravenously or by IV). Nivolumab can also be given as an injection just under the skin (subcutaneously).

Side effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors will depend mainly on the type of drug or drug combination, the dose, how it's given and your overall health. Tell your healthcare team if you have side effects that you think might be from immune checkpoint inhibitors. The sooner you tell them of any problems, the sooner they can suggest ways to help you deal with them.

These are possible side effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors for laryngeal cancer:

• fatigue
• loss of appetite
• nausea
• diarrhea
• skin problems including rash and itching

Find out more about immunotherapy. To make the decisions that are right for you, ask your healthcare team questions about immunotherapy.

Details on specific drugs change regularly. Find out more about sources of drug information and where to get details on specific drugs.