Treatment of Recurrent Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer: Focus on Cetuximab

Overview

Journal Clin Med Insights Ear Nose Throat

Publisher Sage Publications

Specialty Otorhinolaryngology

Date 2013 Nov 2

PMID 24179404

Citations 10

Authors

Akshar N Patel

Janice M Mehnert

Sung Kim

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

EGFR belongs to the ErbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases and is associated with worse prognosis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Cetuximab is a monoclonal antibody to the extracellular domain of EGFR and inhibits its downstream actions via multiple mechanisms. Besides its proven efficacy in locally advanced and incurable HNSCC, cetuximab has the distinct advantage of having a relatively tolerable side effect profile and not potentiating radiation toxicity. Though therapies for advanced HNSCC are evolving, locoregional recurrence and/or distant metastases occur in a large percentage of patients. Though some patients can be salvaged with surgery or radiation therapy, the majority are incurable, and are treated palliatively with systemic therapy. In the setting of first line therapy for recurrent/metastatic HNSCC, the EXTREME trial provided level 1 evidence that cetuximab improves overall survival when combined with cisplatinum and 5 FU. Following progression on first line chemotherapy, several phase II trials suggest that cetuximab monotherapy is a reasonable choice in this setting. Future studies should concentrate on clinical and molecular markers that may allow more personalized approaches to treating HNSCC, and combining EGFR inhibitors with other agents in a synergistic approach.

Citing Articles

Multiple machine learning-based integrations of multi-omics data to identify molecular subtypes and construct a prognostic model for HNSCC.

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