Multicenter retrospective study of cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy for recurrent or metastatic oral squamous cell carcinoma

• Published in: Cancer chemotherapy and pharmacology Vol. 81; no. 3; pp. 549 - 554
• Main Authors: Yanamoto, Souichi, Umeda, Masahiro, Kioi, Mitomu, Kirita, Tadaaki, Yamashita, Tetsuro, Hiratsuka, Hiroyoshi, Yokoo, Satoshi, Tanzawa, Hideki, Uzawa, Narikazu, Shibahara, Takahiko, Ota, Yoshihide, Kurita, Hiroshi, Okura, Masaya, Hamakawa, Hiroyuki, Kusukawa, Jingo, Tohnai, Iwai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.03.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 5-Fluorouracil; Cancer Research; Carboplatin; Chemotherapy; Cisplatin; Disease control; Exanthema; Immunotherapy; Intravenous administration; Intravenous infusion; Leukopenia; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metastases; Metastasis; Monoclonal antibodies; Oncology; Oral cancer; Oral squamous cell carcinoma; Original Article; Patients; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Platinum; Skin; Squamous cell carcinoma; Survival; Targeted cancer therapy; Toxicity; Recurrence; Retrospective study; Metastasis; Oral cancer; Cetuximab
• ISSN: 0344-5704; 1432-0843
• DOI: 10.1007/s00280-018-3531-x

Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy for patients specifically diagnosed with recurrent or metastatic oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods We conducted a multicenter retrospective observational study of patients who underwent first-line cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy between December 2012 and June 2015. 65 patients received weekly cetuximab (week 1, 400 mg/m 2 ; subsequent weeks, 250 mg/m 2 ) plus a maximum of six 3-weekly cycles of cisplatin (80 or 100 mg/m 2 , day 1) or carboplatin (at an area under the curve of 5 mg/mL/min as a 1-h intravenous infusion on day 1) and 5-fluorouracil (800 or 1000 mg/m 2 /day, days 1–4). Patients with stable disease who received cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy continued to receive cetuximab until disease progression or unacceptable toxicities, whichever occurred first. Results The median follow-up was 10.5 (range 1.2–34.2) months. The best overall response and the disease control rates were 46.2 and 67.7%, respectively. The median overall survival and progression-free survival rates were 12.1 and 7.8 months, respectively. The most common grades 3–4 adverse events were skin rash (9.2%) followed by leukopenia (6.2%). None of the adverse events were fatal. Conclusion The results of our multicenter retrospective study, which was the largest of its kind to date, suggest that first-line cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy is suitable and well-tolerated for the systemic therapy of recurrent or metastatic OSCC.