{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]],"date-time":"2026-08-05T11:47:48Z","timestamp":1785930468901,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,9]],"date-time":"2023-08-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1691539200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["81661168011"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["81661168011"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Immunotherapy has been a hotspot in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in recent years. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive landscape of the characteristics of immunotherapy clinical trials in NPC and to determine whether contemporary studies are of sufficient quality to demonstrate therapeutic value.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>This is a cross-sectional analysis of NPC trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov in the last 15 years (Jan 1, 2008-Nov 20, 2022). Only interventional trials with a primary purpose of treatment were included in the final analysis. Characteristics of immunotherapy trials were compared with those of other NPC trials. Chronological shifts in NPC immunotherapy trials were also analyzed.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Of the 440 NPC studies selected, 161 (36.6%) were immunotherapy trials and 279 (63.4%) were other NPC trials. NPC immunotherapy trials were more likely than other NPC trials to be phase 1-2 (82.6% vs. 66.7%, <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001), single-arm (51.3% vs. 39.6%, <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.020), non-randomized (64.8% vs. 44.4%, <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001), and enroll fewer than 50 participants (46.3% vs. 34.4%, <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.015). Blinding was used in 8.8% of NPC immunotherapy trials. Also, 90.7% of NPC immunotherapy trials were recruited nationally and 82.6% were Asia-centric. Although academic institutions and governments (72.7%) were the major sponsors of NPC trials, immunotherapy trials were more likely to be industry-funded than other NPC trials (34.2% vs. 11.5%, <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001). The number of NPC immunotherapy trials increased exponentially after 2017, attributed to the exploration of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy was the most commonly investigated regimen.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>NPC immunotherapy trials over a 15-year period were predominantly exploratory. To generate high-quality evidence and advance the clinical application of immunotherapy in NPC, more attention and concerted efforts are needed.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2023.1195659","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,9]],"date-time":"2023-08-09T11:05:46Z","timestamp":1691579146000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Characteristics of immunotherapy trials for nasopharyngeal carcinoma over a 15-year period"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Huageng","family":"Huang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuyi","family":"Yao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinyi","family":"Deng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Huawei","family":"Weng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zegeng","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Le","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaojie","family":"Fang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Huangming","family":"Hong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"He","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tongyu","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41571-021-00524-x","article-title":"Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: an evolving paradigm","volume":"18","author":"Wong","year":"2021","journal-title":"Nat Rev Clin Oncol"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s00330-019-06500-5","article-title":"Nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy: clinical outcomes and patterns of failure among subsets of 8th AJCC stage IVa","volume":"30","author":"Huang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Eur Radiol"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/bjc.2017.357","article-title":"Systemic therapies for recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a systematic review","volume":"117","author":"Prawira","year":"2017","journal-title":"Br J cancer."},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/cac2.12159","article-title":"Retreatment in locally recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Current status and perspectives","volume":"41","author":"Poh","year":"2021","journal-title":"Cancer Commun (London England)."},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1417","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1249481","article-title":"Cancer immunotherapy","volume":"342","author":"McNutt","year":"2013","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1016\/j.intimp.2018.06.001","article-title":"Immune checkpoint blockade therapy for cancer: An overview of FDA-approved immune checkpoint inhibitors","volume":"62","author":"Hargadon","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int immunopharmacol"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1182\/blood-2009-02-203687","article-title":"Discerning regulation of cis- and trans-presentation of CD8+ T-cell epitopes by EBV-encoded oncogene LMP-1 through self-aggregation","volume":"113","author":"Smith","year":"2009","journal-title":"Blood"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1084\/jem.191.10.1649","article-title":"Human CD4(+) T lymphocytes consistently respond to the latent Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen EBNA1","volume":"191","author":"M\u00fcnz","year":"2000","journal-title":"J Exp Med"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"61","DOI":"10.1016\/j.oraloncology.2018.07.011","article-title":"Cellular-based immunotherapy in Epstein-Barr virus induced nasopharyngeal cancer","volume":"84","author":"Lee","year":"2018","journal-title":"Oral Oncol"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"54","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ctrv.2018.02.008","article-title":"Immunotherapy in head and neck cancers: A new challenge for immunologists, pathologists and clinicians","volume":"65","author":"Outh-Gauer","year":"2018","journal-title":"Cancer Treat Rev"},{"key":"B11","article-title":"Expression of immune regulatory molecules in Epstein-Barr virus-associated nasopharyngeal carcinomas with prominent lymphoid stroma. 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