Development of innovative therapeutic concepts based on the metabolic profile of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Introduction The poor prognosis in HNSCC results from insufficient antitumor immunity and immune checkpoint inhibition is of limited efficacy. A major factor driving immune evasion is the metabolic tumor milieu that present a promising therapeutic target. It also allows for intraoperative demarcation of tumor margins using the intelligent knife (iKnife), providing real-time read-out of the metabolic tissue composition. However, establishing of such interventions requires in-depth knowledge on the tumor metabolome.