Cisplatin With or Without WEE1 Inhibitor MK-1775 in Treating Patients With Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer

This is an interventional treatment trial for Recurrent Hypopharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Read More

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients must have histologically or cytologically confirmed SCCHN that is recurrent and/or metastatic and not amendable to curative therapy by surgery or radiation; SCCHN originating from the following sites are eligible: oral cavity, oropharynx, larynx, hypopharynx and paranasal sinus; for patients with a diagnosis of SCCHN of unknown origin, their eligibility must be reviewed and approved by the principal investigator
• No prior systemic chemotherapy or WEE1 kinase inhibitor therapy for metastatic or recurrent disease will be allowed; patients are permitted to have received prior systemic chemotherapy as a part of the initial multimodality treatment for locally advanced disease if this treatment was completed more than 6 months prior to enrollment
• Patients must have disease amenable to biopsy and must be medically fit to undergo a biopsy
• Patients must have measurable disease, defined as at least one lesion that can be accurately measured in at least one dimension (longest diameter to be recorded) as > 10 mm with computed tomography (CT) scan; indicator lesions must not have been previously treated with surgery, radiation therapy or radiofrequency ablation unless there is documented progression after therapy
• Patients must have completed any previous surgery or radiotherapy >= 4 weeks prior to enrollment
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-2 (Karnofsky > 60%)
• Life expectancy of greater than 12 weeks
• Leukocytes >= 3,000/mcL
• Absolute neutrophil count >= 1,500/mcL
• Platelets >= 100,000/mcL
• Hemoglobin >= 9 g/dL
• Total bilirubin within normal institutional limits
• Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase [SGOT])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase [SGPT]) =< 2.5 × institutional upper limit of normal
• Prothrombin time (PT)/partial thromboplastin time (PTT)/international normalized ratio (INR) =< 1.5 upper limit of normal (ULN)
• Creatinine within normal institutional limits OR calculated creatinine clearance >= 60 mL/min/1.73 m^2 for patients with levels above institutional normal using modified Cockcroft-Gault
• Cardiac function: 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) with normal tracing, or non-clinically significant changes that do not require medical intervention; corrected QT (QTc) interval is to be < 470 msec
• Women of childbearing potential and men must be surgically sterilized, practicing abstinence, or agree to use 2 birth control methods prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation including up to 30 days after the last dose of MK-1775; the 2 methods of birth control can be either 2 barrier methods or a barrier method plus a hormonal method to prevent pregnancy; the following are considered adequate barrier methods of contraception: diaphragm or sponge, and condom; other methods of contraception such as copper intrauterine device or spermicide may be used; appropriate hormonal contraceptives will include any registered and marketed contraceptive agent that contains an estrogen and/or a progestational agent (including oral, subcutaneous, intrauterine, or intramuscular agents); should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately
• Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document

Exclusion Criteria:

• Past or current malignancy other than SCCHN, except for:

  • Cervical carcinoma stage 1B or less
  • Non-invasive basal cell and squamous cell skin carcinoma
  • Malignant melanoma with a complete response of a duration of > 10 years
  • Radically treated prostate cancer (prostatectomy or radiotherapy) with normal prostate specific antigen (PSA), and not requiring ongoing anti-androgen hormonal therapy
  • Other cancer diagnosis with a complete response of duration of > 5 years
• Patients may not be receiving any other investigational agents
• Patients with known brain metastases should be excluded from this clinical trial
• History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to MK-1775 or cisplatin
• Patients who are unable to take oral medications and/or who have a clinical or radiological diagnosis of bowel obstruction are ineligible
• Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to ongoing or active infection, active peptic ulcer disease, myocardial infarction within 6 months prior to entry, congestive heart failure, symptomatic congestive heart failure, active cardiomyopathy, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, uncontrolled hypertension or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements
• Pregnant women are excluded from this study; breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with MK-1775
• Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients are ineligible
• Patients taking the following prescription or non-prescription drugs or other products (i.e. grapefruit juice) are ineligible: sensitive cytochrome P450, family 3, subfamily A, polypeptide 4 (CYP3A4) substrates, CYP3A4 substrates with a narrow therapeutic index, moderate to potent inhibitors/inducers of CYP3A4; patients would be eligible if the medications can be discontinued two weeks prior to day 1 of dosing and withheld throughout the study until 2 weeks after the last dose of study medication