{"doi":"10.1002/hed.27340","title":"Dual Axl/<scp>MerTK</scp> inhibitor <scp>INCB081776</scp> creates a proinflammatory tumor immune microenvironment and enhances <scp>anti‐PDL1</scp> efficacy in head and neck cancer","abstract":"BACKGROUND: The tyrosine kinase receptors Axl and MerTK are highly overexpressed in head and neck cancer (HNC) cells, where they are critical drivers of survival, proliferation, metastasis, and therapeutic resistance. METHODS: We investigated the role of Axl and MerTK in creating an immunologically \"cold\" tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) by targeting both receptors simultaneously with a small molecule inhibitor of Axl and MerTK (INCB081776). Effects of INCB081776 and/or anti-PDL1 on mouse oral cancer (MOC) cell growth and on the TIME were evaluated. RESULTS: macrophage polarization. In vivo, INCB081776 treatment alone or with anti-PDL1 appears to slow MOC tumor growth, increase proinflammatory immune infiltration, and decrease anti-inflammatory immune infiltration. CONCLUSIONS: This data indicates that simultaneous targeting of Axl and MerTK with INCB081776, either alone or in combination with anti-PDL1, slows tumor growth and creates a proinflammatory TIME in mouse models of HNC.","journal":"Head & Neck","year":2023,"id":358301,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":11,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9635,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":301096,"name":"Mari Iida","orcid":"0000-0001-7168-8680","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1108758,"name":"Anne L. Wiley","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":372208,"name":"Stanley Kimani","orcid":"0000-0003-3627-8162","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1108759,"name":"Bridget Mehall","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":674997,"name":"Kaitlin Tetreault","orcid":"0000-0003-3370-359X","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":510762,"name":"Roxana Alexandridis","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":437916,"name":"Menggang Yu","orcid":"0000-0002-7904-3155","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":12354,"name":"Seungpyo Hong","orcid":"0000-0001-9870-031X","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":108575,"name":"Ravi Salgia","orcid":"0000-0001-9643-7626","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":353966,"name":"Justine Y. Bruce","orcid":"0000-0002-5902-7430","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":321030,"name":"Raymond B. Birge","orcid":"0000-0002-0721-4672","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":259501,"name":"Paul M. Harari","orcid":"0000-0002-6207-5505","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":301097,"name":"Deric L. Wheeler","orcid":"0000-0001-5915-3675","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":311715,"name":"Kourtney L. Kostecki","orcid":"0000-0003-2289-5194","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":52,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:13:43.629667Z","pmid":"36939040","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}