Abstract
Head and neck cancer (HNC) is the seventh most common type of cancer, with a survival rate of approximately 50% after 5 years. The checkpoint inhibitors nivolumab and pembrolizumab are used as immunotherapies in the treatment of HNC; however, this procedure has a suboptimal durable response rate (~15%). These inhibitors target the PD-1 protein (programmed cell death 1 protein), which is h…