© 2005 European Society for Medical Oncology
Articles |
New approaches to enhance chemotherapy in SCCHN
Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif 94805, France
* Correspondence to: Dr J. Bourhis, Institut Gustave Roussy, 39 Rue Camille Desmoulins, Villejuif 94805, France. Tel: +33 1 4211 4998; Fax: +33 1 4211 5281; E-mail: bourhis{at}igr.fr
Chemotherapy is the standard approach to the treatment of patients with recurrent and metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) and is also now a common component of treatment for patients with locoregionally advanced, non-metastatic disease. Cisplatin has for many years been the agent of choice, alone or in combination with other agents, particularly 5-FU. The advent of the taxanes, which demonstrate good non-clinical activity against SCCHN, spawned a series of investigations aimed at integrating these agents into treatment regimens. Molecular targeted agents, which do not demonstrate overlapping toxicities with commonly used chemotherapy agents for SCCHN, represent a promising avenue of investigation. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is expressed both widely and at high levels in SCCHN and is associated with poor prognosis. The EGFR-directed monoclonal antibody (MAb) cetuximab (Erbitux®) in combination with chemotherapy has shown some activity in the treatment of recurrent/metastatic disease both as first-line therapy and following cisplatin failure, and preliminary results suggest single-agent activity in platinum-resistant disease. Promising activity has also been observed with a number of other EGFR inhibitors, both MAbs and tyrosine kinase inhibitors.
Key words: cetuximab, chemotherapy, EGFR, SCCHN