In a recent study, researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center examined whether the addition of multiple drugs to radiation therapy is superior to the current standard of care therapy with one drug and radiation for locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN).
Their data, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, suggests that it does not (March 4, 2013).
Standard therapy for SCCHN is a combination of the drug cisplatin and radiotherapy.
This clinical trial compared this combination to the combination with the addition of a small-molecule inhibitor of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) erlotinib. For the study, 204 patients with locally advanced SCCHN were recruited between December 2006 and October 2011. Participants were assigned to receive either cisplatin and radiotherapy or the same chemoradiotherapy with erlotinab.
EGFR is a therapeutic target for this type of cancer, and at least one other EGFR is approved for multiple uses in treating head and neck cancer, including in combination with radiation. To date, no data have been published on the use of EGFR inhibitors in combination with chemotherapy and radiation.
The goal of the current study was to determine if adding EGRF inhibition improved efficacy when combined with standard of care radiation. Unfortunately, the researchers found that the addition of EGRF did not improve clinical response rate or progression-free survival.
"There has been great enthusiasm and some confusion about the combinations of chemotherapy and biologic therapy such as EGFR inhibitors in conjunction with radiation in the treatment of squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck," stated lead author Neil Hayes, MD, MPH, from UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, in a press release. "For the moment, the data are clearly showing no added benefit."
Future investigations will rely more on patients selected by the molecular tumor characteristics, he added.
Other institutions participating in the study were the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Multicare Health Systems, University of New Mexico, Medical University of South Carolina, University of Miami, Coastal Carolina Radiation Oncology, and the University of Tennessee. Funding for the study was provided to the University of Washington by Genentech and Astellas Pharma Global Development.
