Head and Neck Cancer Stage at Presentation and Survival Outcomes Among Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Patients Compared With Asian and White Patients.

Importance: Research studies often group Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander individuals together with Asian individuals despite being consistently identified as having worse health outcomes and higher rates of comorbidities and mortality. Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander individuals also have high incidence rates of oral cavity and pharyngeal cancer compared with the general population; however, disparities in clinical presentation and survival outcomes of head and neck cancer squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) among this population have not been investigated nor compared with those of other races.

Objective: To determine the association of race with cancer stage at diagnosis and survival outcomes among Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander patients with HNSCC compared with Asian and non-Hispanic White patients.

Revisiting IDO and its value as a predictive marker for anti-PD-1 resistance.

Botticelli et al. proposed the activity of indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO) as a potential mechanism and predictive marker for primary resistance against anti-PD-1 treatment in the context of non-small cell lung cancer. However, there are a few points for the authors to address in order to strengthen their claims.