Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) leads to up to 450.000 HNSCC-related deaths yearly, with cases predicted to rise by 30 % until 2030. While immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has transformed the treatment landscape for many cancerous diseases, only 10-20 % of unselected HNSCC patients achieve durable benefit from it. Pharmacological treatment for patients with HNSCC, especially with advanced disease, is therefore still focused on cell death induction through chemotherapy, with little improvement in treatment outcomes in recent decades. Major limiting factors of treatment success are the frequent development of chemoresistance as well as the immune evasive phenotype of many HNSCC tumours.

Our research therefore strives to understand the complex regulation of inflammatory signalling in HNSCC and the surrounding tumour microenvironment in the context of cytotoxic treatment. Identifying key regulatory players in this signalling network will allow us to target them with pharmacological inhibition, reshape the tumour microenvironment, and enhance immunogenic recognition and clearance of the tumour. 

Ultimately, identification of druggable modulators of inflammatory signalling may inform novel combinatory treatment strategies, especially in the context of ICB.