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57 active trials for Head and Neck Neoplasms

Olaparib and Radiotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer

Accelerated, normofractionated radiotherapy is the treatment of choice in stage II-III laryngeal and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). However, twenty to thirty percent of patients with stage II-III laryngeal and HPV negative oropharyngeal SCC develop disease progression, mainly due to lack of locoregional control. Radiosensitizers such as cisplatin and cetuximab are added to radiotherapy in more advanced stage of head and neck (H&N) cancer. These radiosensitizers improve loco-regional control and overall survival. Unfortunately, as these radiosensitizers, notably cisplatin, also dose intensify the radiation dose in normal tissues, they also significantly increase toxicity. Adding a more tumor-specific radiosensitizing agent could improve loco-regional control and overall survival without significantly increasing toxicity. Radiotherapy kills tumor cells by inducing DNA damage. The efficacy of radiotherapy is limited by the ability of tumor cells to repair this DNA damage. Poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase (PARP) is an essential enzyme in base excision repair and single strand break DNA repair, DNA lesions arising from radiation treatment. PARP inhibition and consequently the inhibition of PARP-facilitated DNA repair enhances the anti-tumor activity of radiotherapy, as shown in preclinical studies including head and neck xenograft studies. This radiosensitization is thought to be proliferation dependent and is more pronounced in homologous recombination (HR) deficient cells, providing an opportunity for tumor specific targeting. Genetic analyses suggest that HR deficiency is commonly found in H&N SCC: ATM loss has been reported in 60% of human H&N SCC biopsies and FANC-F defects were reported in 15-21% of human H&N SCC biopsies and cell lines. The efficacy of radiotherapy is also limited by tumor hypoxia, as tumor hypoxia results in radioresistance. Some PARP inhibiting compounds increase tumor perfusion in xenograft models, thereby reducing hypoxia and specifically sensitizing tumor cells to radiotherapy. Hypoxia is commonly found in H&N SCC and a high pre-treatment hypoxic fraction in H&N SCC tumors is associated with worse outcome. The high prevalence of both hypoxia and HR deficiencies in H&N SCC support the concept of tumor-specific radiosensitization by PARP inhibition in head and neck cancer patients. Olaparib is a potent PARP inhibitor developed as an anti-cancer drug for HR defected tumors and as a dose intensifier for chemo- and radiotherapy. In humans, olaparib has a low toxicity profile as a single agent, with increasing bone marrow toxicity when combined with chemotherapy. The combination of olaparib and radiotherapy for H&N SCC is expected to improve locoregional control and thereby overall survival. However, this combination treatment has never been tested in humans before. The purpose of this study is to determine the safety and tolerability of radiotherapy for stage II-III laryngeal and stage II-III HPV-negative oropharyngeal SCC with concurrent olaparib.

Start: September 2014
Nutrition and Inflammation in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer

An estimated 1500 people in Sweden will annually be diagnosed with head and neck cancer (HNC). Five year survival is approximately 69%. Long-term sequelae are common and in particular nutritional problems and fatigue. Radiotherapy (RT) is the cornerstone of treatment, either as single modality treatment or combined modality treatment. RT can induce immune responses at the site of tumor. It has been demonstrated that RT can lead to a strong systemic immune response . We have previously shown that an increase of conventional measures of systemic immune response to RT varied significantly across individuals. We predict that local immune response plays a major role in the antitumor effect. We also predict that a strong systemic immune response contributes to malnutrition and influence on survival. And malnutrition may lead to a worse response to RT. The overall aim of this multicenter observational longitudinal study is to prospectively identify immunological and metabolic variables that affect the outcome of HNC patients. We will systematically investigate the local and systemic immune response induced by RT as well as explore alterations in metabolite composition induced by disease and treatment through global metabolite profiling. A platform for studies on immuno-metabolic changes in HNC patients has been established in the Uppsala-Orebro and Northern regions. Approximately 370 patients per year are eligible. Findings in this study can have implications on the development of personalized therapy in patients with HNC. The long-term benefit of the study will be the identification of measures for improved patient surveillance in order to improve the general and nutritional outcomes.

Start: November 2015
Durvalumab, Cetuximab and Radiotherapy in Head Neck Cancer

In over 60% of cases, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) is discovered at a loco-regionally advanced stage that requires a combined multimodal strategy in order to pursue a curative intent. Bonner et al demonstrated that the combination of radiation (RT) with Cetuximab (CTX), a chimeric mouse IgG1 monoclonal anti-EGFR antibody, results in better median locoregional control and overall survival compared with RT alone without an increased rate of > G3 acute toxicity or detrimental effect on compliance and quality of life. However, subsequent negative trials (RTOG 0522) led to the hypothesis that in unselected patient populations the benefit of CTX may be diluted due to the molecular heterogeneity of SSCHN. Moreover, the absence of biomarkers predictive of response to anti-EGFR treatment may in part be explained by the observation that other factors play a role in favoring its anticancer effect, namely immunologic mechanisms. It has been demonstrated that SCCHN is an immunosuppressive disease characterized by prominent immuno-escape mechanisms, such as induction of a tumor-permissive cytokine profile and qualitative/quantitative lymphocyte deficiencies, occurrence of anergy in major immune effector cells and poor antigen presentation. Given these observations, it has been postulated that SCCHN may benefit from immunotherapeutic strategies, primarily aimed at PD-L1/PD1 checkpoint blockade. Segal et al (Asco 2015) reported preliminary results on the use of Durvalumab in pretreated patients with recurrent/metastatic SCCHN. Durvalumab is a humanized monoclonal IgG1 antibody that blocks PD-L1 binding to PD-1 and CD80 with high affinity and selectivity, thereby promoting activity of tumor-specific effector T cells and global anti-tumor immune response. Out of 64 treated patients, 51 patients were available for the preliminary efficacy analysis: promisingly, the overall response rate was 12% (25% in PD-L1 positive patients). To date, no clinical trial, specifically designed for SCCHN, testing PD-L1 targeted agents has been completed, nor have been initiated combination strategies of CTX, RT and PD1/PD-L1 antibodies in the curative setting. Taken all data together, a strong rationale may support the combination of Durvalumab, anti-EGFR therapy such as CTX and RT in order to revert the SCCHN-induced immune suppression and maximize treatment efficacy, ultimately through enhanced, CTX-mediated immune mechanisms and maximized RT-specific cytotoxicity.

Start: January 2018