Angiogenic and EGFR Blockade With Curative Chemoradiation for Advanced Head and Neck Cancer

Summary

Radiotherapy (RT) with concurrent chemotherapy represents the state of the art in curative intent treatment for locally advanced squamous carcinoma of the head and neck. Tumor hypoxia and high levels of angiogenesis (blood vessel formation) are associated with treatment failure. Preclinical models reveal that radiotherapy itself may induce tumor secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Curability may consequently be reduced by multiple mechanisms. Over-expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) also occurs commonly and increases the risk of treatment failure. The addition of EGFR blockade to RT alone increases the chance of a cure. Concurrent VEGF and EGFR blockade could be synergistic with one another and improve the effectiveness of concurrent chemoradiation for advanced head and neck cancer. This study will add angiogenic and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) blockade into an established program of curative intent concurrent chemoradiation for locally advanced head and neck cancer. The safety and effectiveness of delivering the drugs bevacizumab and Tarceva in conjunction with twice daily irradiation and concurrent cisplatin (CDDP) chemotherapy will be determined.

Timeline

Start

2005-08

Primary completion

2009-05

Completion

2010-04

Publications

• Background Brizel DM, Dodge RK, Clough RW, Dewhirst MW. Oxygenation of head and neck cancer: changes during radiotherapy and impact on treatment outcome. Radiother Oncol. 1999 Nov;53(2):113-7. doi: 10.1016/s0167-8140(99)00102-4.
• Background Brizel DM, Albers ME, Fisher SR, Scher RL, Richtsmeier WJ, Hars V, George SL, Huang AT, Prosnitz LR. Hyperfractionated irradiation with or without concurrent chemotherapy for locally advanced head and neck cancer. N Engl J Med. 1998 Jun 18;338(25):1798-804. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199806183382503.
• Background Brizel DM, Schroeder T, Scher RL, Walenta S, Clough RW, Dewhirst MW, Mueller-Klieser W. Elevated tumor lactate concentrations predict for an increased risk of metastases in head-and-neck cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2001 Oct 1;51(2):349-53. doi: 10.1016/s0360-3016(01)01630-3.
• Background Dewhirst MW, Poulson JM, Yu D, Sanders L, Lora-Michiels M, Vujaskovic Z, Jones EL, Samulski TV, Powers BE, Brizel DM, Prosnitz LR, Charles HC. Relation between pO2, 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy parameters and treatment outcome in patients with high-grade soft tissue sarcomas treated with thermoradiotherapy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2005 Feb 1;61(2):480-91. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2004.06.211.
• Background Moeller BJ, Cao Y, Li CY, Dewhirst MW. Radiation activates HIF-1 to regulate vascular radiosensitivity in tumors: role of reoxygenation, free radicals, and stress granules. Cancer Cell. 2004 May;5(5):429-41. doi: 10.1016/s1535-6108(04)00115-1.
• Results Craciunescu O, Brizel D, Cleland E, Yoo D, Muradyan N, Carroll M, Barboriak D, MacFall J. Dynamic contrast enhanced-MRI in head and neck cancer patients: variability of the precontrast longitudinal relaxation time (T10). Med Phys. 2010 Jun;37(6):2683-92. doi: 10.1118/1.3427487.
• Yoo DS, Kirkpatrick JP, Craciunescu O, Broadwater G, Peterson BL, Carroll MD, Clough R, MacFall JR, Hoang J, Scher RL, Esclamado RM, Dunphy FR, Ready NE, Brizel DM. Prospective trial of synchronous bevacizumab, erlotinib, and concurrent chemoradiation in locally advanced head and neck cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2012 Mar 1;18(5):1404-14. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-11-1982. Epub 2012 Jan 17.
• Craciunescu OI, Yoo DS, Cleland E, Muradyan N, Carroll MD, MacFall JR, Barboriak DP, Brizel DM. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI in head-and-neck cancer: the impact of region of interest selection on the intra- and interpatient variability of pharmacokinetic parameters. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2012 Mar 1;82(3):e345-50. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2011.05.059. Epub 2011 Oct 8.

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