How does Immunotherapy work for Mouth Cancer?
Immunotherapy has become one of the most important new treatments for mouth (oral) cancer, especially when the disease is advanced, recurrent, or has spread.
Here is a simple and clear explanation:
Why the immune system fails in mouth cancer?
Your immune system is designed to find and destroy abnormal cells. But cancer cells are smart — they hide from the immune system by using a “brake system” called PD-1 / PD-L1.
Mouth cancer cells express PD-L1, which tells immune cells:
- “Don’t attack me – I am normal.”
- This switches off cancer-killing T-cells.
What immunotherapy does?
Immunotherapy drugs remove this brake.
The main drugs used in oral cancer are:
- Pembrolizumab
- Nivolumab
- Serplulimab
- Tislelizumab
They are called PD-1 inhibitors. They:
- Block the PD-1 signal
- Wake up immune T-cells
- Allow them to recognize and kill cancer cells
- So instead of killing cancer directly (like chemotherapy),
- immunotherapy trains your own immune system to do the job.
Why it works especially well in mouth cancer?
Oral cancers usually:
- Are caused by tobacco, alcohol, or HPV
- Have many genetic mutations
These mutations make the cancer look more “foreign” to the immune system —
which makes immunotherapy more effective.
Who benefits the most?
Immunotherapy works best in:
- Advanced or metastatic mouth cancer
- Recurrent disease after chemotherapy
- Tumors with high PD-L1
- HPV-positive oral cancers