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REVIEW article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Head and Neck Cancer
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1541385
This article is part of the Research Topic 150 Years of Laryngectomy: Reviews on the State of the Art and Future Perspectives View all 3 articles

Systemic therapy for laryngeal carcinoma

Provisionally accepted
Thorsten Fuereder Thorsten Fuereder 1*Florian Kocher Florian Kocher 2Jan Baptist Vermorken Jan Baptist Vermorken 3
  • 1 Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
  • 2 Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria
  • 3 Antwerp University Hospital, Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) accounts for 100,000 deaths worldwide each year.Despite multimodal treatment, outcomes for both high-risk locally advanced and recurrent/metastatic laryngeal carcinoma remain poor. Treatment intensification through induction chemotherapy has not improved overall survival, although it may contribute to larynx preservation. Consequently, multiple recent efforts have been made to integrate novel immunotherapies into the current treatment algorithm for LSCC. In particular, perioperative immunotherapy regimens appear to be the most promising approach for preserving laryngeal function and optimizing event-free and overall survival rates in the locally advanced setting.In the recurrent/metastatic setting, the 5-year overall survival rate is approximately 20% with pembrolizumab-based regimens. Primary and secondary resistance to immunotherapy is frequently observed in the majority of patients. Along with trials of checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy, combinatorial approaches with novel immunotherapies, bispecific antibodies, targeted therapies, and antibody-drug conjugates are being explored for the treatment of recurrent/metastatic laryngeal carcinoma. This article aims to discuss recent efforts to improve outcomes and quality of life for patients with locally advanced and recurrent/metastatic LSCC.

    Keywords: Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma, head and necek squamous cell carcinoma, Immunother apy, Larynx preservation, Neoadjuvant

    Received: 07 Dec 2024; Accepted: 07 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Fuereder, Kocher and Vermorken. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Thorsten Fuereder, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.