Pixels to clinical insights: Deciphering immunotherapy responses in head and neck cancer (2024)

Head and neck cancers (HNC) are the 7th most common cancer and account for 2,500 new cases in Australia per year. Treatment typically requires a multi-modal approach focusing on obtaining disease remission and function preservation. MRI imaging of HNC plays an important role in tumour staging. Whilst diagnostically informative, MRI fails to capture the molecular changes in the tumour microenvironment, composition, architecture, and metabolism, which are essential in predicting response to therapy. I hypothesise that dual, complementary MRI and tumour spatial profiling will enable predictive biomarkers of response allowing personalising therapy that significantly improves outcomes for HNC patients.