Since immunotherapy has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat advanced head and neck cancer (HNC), it has offered patients new hope — and new challenges.

Many patients with HNC suffer psychosocial burdens before immunotherapy, likely due to disease- and treatment-induced side effects that can impact daily functions such as eating and speaking. Immunotherapy may worsen these burdens, given the advanced stage of cancer and the uncertainty of the treatment’s duration and side effects. Unfortunately, there is scarce evidence on immunotherapy-related psychosocial burdens, particularly for HNC.

In addition to Xiao, other Emory University faculty members working on the R01 grant include Theresa W. Gillespie, Terry Hartman, Yijuan Hu, Michael R. Kramer, Andrew H. Miller, Sudeshna Paul, Timothy D. Read, Nabil Saba and Edmund K. Waller as well as MD Anderson Cancer Center faculty members Veronika Fedirko and Neil D. Gross.

This research is supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01CA281873. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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