TY - JOUR AU - Zech, Henrike Barbara AU - Schafhausen, Philippe AU - Ramke, Leonie AU - Velthaus, Janna-Lisa AU - Kreutzfeldt, Simon AU - Hübschmann, Daniel AU - Rothkamm, Kai AU - Bokemeyer, Carsten AU - Hoffmann, Anna Sophie AU - Fröhling, Stefan AU - Glimm, Hanno AU - Betz, Christian Stephan AU - Kriegs, Malte AU - Christopeit, Maximilian TI - Last Resort? Rationale for Comprehensive Molecular Analysis in Treatment-Refractory R/M HNSCC: A Case Report of Remarkable Response to Sacituzumab Govitecan Following Molecular and Functional Characterization. JO - Biomedicines VL - 13 IS - 5 SN - 2227-9059 CY - Basel PB - MDPI M1 - DKFZ-2025-01111 SP - 1266 PY - 2025 AB - Background/Objectives: In recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC), the overall prognosis is poor, and systemic treatment options remain limited. While precision therapy approaches have revolutionized treatment strategies in several tumor types, molecularly informed therapies in R/M HNSCC are rare, primarily due to the low number of actionable genetic alterations identified through next-generation sequencing (NGS) panels. There is an urgent need to establish precision therapy approaches in R/M HNSCC using innovative predictive testing. Methods: We report the case of a 43-year-old patient with recurrent oral cancer who was extensively pretreated and comprehensively characterized using both descriptive and functional testing. Results: NGS revealed no targetable alterations. A tumor tissue slice radiosensitivity assay suggested radioresistance, arguing against re-irradiation. Kinome profiling identified upregulated Src-family kinases (SFK), and SFK inhibition reduced kinase activity in vitro. Most notably, mRNA analysis demonstrated high Trop-2 overexpression, confirmed by immunohistochemistry (3+ in 100 KW - Sacituzumab govitecan (Other) KW - Trop-2 (Other) KW - kinome (Other) KW - precision medicine (Other) KW - recurrent HNSCC (Other) KW - tumor models (Other) KW - tumor tissue slices (Other) LB - PUB:(DE-HGF)16 C6 - pmid:40427091 C2 - pmc:PMC12108840 DO - DOI:10.3390/biomedicines13051266 UR - https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/301719 ER -