Funds will help researchers understand what makes new regimen more effective against tumors with traditionally poor prognosis
RENTON, Wash., [May 12, 2026] – The Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, a division of the Providence Cancer Institute of Oregon, has received a federal grant for its next phase of groundbreaking treatments for head and neck cancers.
With the $3.4-million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, EACRI research teams will seek to understand why the recently employed combination of immunotherapy and focused radiation delivered pre-surgery is showing high response rates.
Outcomes have been poor for patients with these types of cancers and, until recently, there has been no meaningful improvement in overall survival for almost four decades. About half of all patients lose their battle within two years.
In a series of clinical trials at PCI beginning in 2018, patients treated with a combination of pre-operative, or neoadjuvant, immunotherapy plus three doses of radiation demonstrated much higher response rates than either treatment given alone. Furthermore, patients whose previous treatment plans included surgery, followed by six weeks of daily radiation and chemotherapy, were generally able to omit all treatment after surgery, except immunotherapy.
Current treatment protocols that involve radical surgery and broad field radiation with chemotherapy can lead to negative side-effects, including altered speech, swallowing, taste and appearance; and might also suppress the immune system when needed most to neutralize any remaining cancer cells.
“Based on our prior studies, PCI researchers believe that neoadjuvant treatment with short-course, focused radiation modulates the immune system and other cells in the tumor, making it more responsive to immunotherapy,” said R. Bryan Bell, M.D., D.D.S., director of EACRI and executive medical director of Providence Cancer Institute.
“This is a paradigm shift: Patients experienced high rates of major pathologic response and consistent tumor downstaging, enabling less invasive surgical approaches,” Dr. Bell said. “Most notably, 83% of patients avoided post‑operative chemoradiation—receiving only three days of focused pre‑operative radiation, rather than the conventional six weeks of daily post‑operative radiation and chemotherapy. These outcomes suggest the potential to maintain excellent tumor control while dramatically reducing toxicity from the treatments and long‑term morbidity from the tumor.”
The regimen of immunotherapy and focused radiation pre-surgery also spares lymph nodes in the head and neck. Studies conducted at both EACRI and in collaboration with the University of California San Diego have shown that intact draining lymph nodes are essential for response to immunotherapy.
EACRI scientists led by Drs. Bell, Thomas Duhen and Brian Piening will use the NIH grant to study the lymph nodes’ importance in the tumor responding to neoadjuvant treatments and to understand why some tumors respond and why some tumors are resistant.
“Taken together, this body of work connects basic immunology to translational science and practice‑informing clinical trials,” Dr. Bell said. “It supports a potential revolutionary approach to radiation in the immunotherapy era—one that prioritizes immune preservation, reduces unnecessary treatment intensity, and may fundamentally change how radiation is integrated with immunotherapy for patients with head and neck cancers.”
Research described in this article is supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01CA301042. The NCI has recommended $3,401,182 in total federal funding to support this five-year R01 project, subject to future funding availability and project performance. Federal funding is estimated to finance 81% of this project, with 19% of project costs financed by non-governmental funding. The content of this article is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
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