Active clinical trials for "Carcinoma, Squamous Cell"

Penile squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a very rare disease and prognosis depends primarily on regional lymph-node involvement. Despite the fact that cure can be obtained in patients with low metastatic load (pN1) by monotherapy, combination therapy is required for more advanced cases. Medical treatment options only for advanced or metastatic penile SCC are not very effective so far and the few chances for cure are solely dependent on multimodality treatment, either with surgery or radiation. Based on the observation that the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is almost invariably expressed in penile SCC and assuming similarities to the SCC of head and neck district, anti-EGFR targeted monotherapy has been investigated with promising early results at Istituto Tumori Milan and University of Texas MD Andreson Cancer Center. These premises lend support to the use of the pan-HER inhibitor dacomitinib for advanced or metastatic penile SCC.

Esophageal cancer (EC) is the eighth most common cause of cancer-related death in the worldwide. Systemic chemotherapy in patients with metastatic EC has limited effectiveness, resulting in a median survival of 8 months to 10months. The low activity and brief duration of benefit for chemotherapy to palliate advanced disease make clear need to identify new active agents. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is often over-expressed, and have been related to poor prognosis in patients with EC. The association between EGFR-activated signaling pathways and tumor cell survival are well documented in many studies. Some EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) already showed clinical efficacy against EC. A study with erlotinib showed objective response rate of 15% (2 of 13 patients), but activity was limited to squamous cell type.8 In another study, thirty patients with malignant solid tumor were treated with BIBW2992, irreversible inhibitor of EGFR and HER2, and one of four EC patients achieved partial response. PF-00299804 is a second-generation quinazoline-based irreversible pan-HER inhibitor. In preclinical studies, PF-00299804 has much lower IC50 values than gefitinib in cell lines engineered to express EGFRvIII mutations (1.2 nM versus 2,700 nM) and produces tumor growth inhibition in gefitinib-resistant xenografts. PF-00299804 reportedly have clinical anti-tumor activity in patients with non-small cell lung cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with manageable toxicity. The aim of current trial is to evaluate the antitumor efficacy and safety profile of PF-00299804 and to identify biomarker to predict the tumor response to PF-00299804.

The purpose of this study is to assess the activity of 5-azacitidine in patients with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV)-positive and HPV- negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The response activity will be determined by analyzing your tumor tissue prior to and after treatment with 5-azacitidine. Preliminary studies in mice bearing human head and neck cancers or head and neck cancer cells cultured in laboratories suggest that treatment with 5-azacitidine increases changes in cancer cells that lead to their death. This study is designed to determine if similar changes occur in cancer cells of patients with head and neck cancer. The study also aims to determine the amount of a specific type of protein, p53 before and after treatment. Research has shown that the p53 protein is associated with anti-tumor activity. Finally, this study is measuring the amount of a specific type of protein called interferon in your tumor tissue. Interferons are proteins made and released by the body in response to pathogens (disease causing agents) such as viruses, bacteria, or tumor cells. Interferons allow for communication between cells to trigger the protective defenses of the immune system that remove pathogens (disease causing agents) or tumors.

This pilot randomized phase I/II trial studies the side effects and best dose of PI3K inhibitor BKM120 when given together with cetuximab and to see how well it works in treating patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer. PI3K inhibitor BKM120 may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Monoclonal antibodies, such as cetuximab, can block tumor growth in different ways. Some block the ability of tumors to grow and spread. Others find tumor cells and help kill them or carry tumor-killing substances to them. Giving PI3K inhibitor BKM120 together with cetuximab may kill more tumor cells

This open-label, multicenter study will evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of MEHD7945A in combination with chemotherapy (either cisplatin plus 5-FU or carboplatin plus paclitaxel) in participants with previously untreated R/M SCCHN. There are two stages for each arm in this study: a Dose-limiting Toxicity (DLT)-evaluation stage (Stage I) and a cohort-expansion stage (Stage II). In Stage I, DLTs will be assessed during a DLT Assessment Window of 21 days (i.e., Cycle 1 Day 1 through Cycle 1 Day 21) for both arms. In Stage II, participants will be enrolled to further characterize the safety, pharmacokinetics, and anti-tumor activity of MEHD7945A in combination with cisplatin + 5-FU or carboplatin + paclitaxel at the identified recommended Phase II dose.

In general, patients with Human Papilloma Virus Positive Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HPVOPC) are curable, young and will live for prolonged periods. They are at high risk for long-term toxicity and mortality from therapy. While the long-term consequences of chemotherapy and surgery for head and neck cancer are relatively constrained, high-dose radiotherapy (RT) and chemoradiotherapy (CRT) substantially impact on local tissues and organ function and result in a significant rate of late mortality and morbidity in patients. Studies are now being designed to reduce the impact of RT and CRT for patients. Patients with intermediate stage HPV positive oropharyngeal cancer will be screened for poor prognostic features and undergo robotic surgery. Patients in whom pathology demonstrates good prognosis features will then be followed without postoperative radiotherapy. Patients with subsequent recurrence will be treated with either surgery and postoperative radiotherapy or postoperative chemoradiotherapy alone. Patients with poor prognostic features (ECS, LVI, PNI) will receive reduced dose radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy based on pathology. It is expected that over 50% of patients treated with surgery will have had a curative treatment and will avoid radiation therapy entirely and long-term survival will not be changed by withholding radiation therapy to good prognosis patients after surgery. There are exploratory biomarkers of risk of recurrence that will be collected and studied. There are currently few trials examining the role of de-escalation using surgery alone in intermediate and early T-stage HPV related disease. New surgical techniques have broadened the range of patients capable of achieving a complete resection and the functional outcomes in such patients are outstanding. Furthermore, the sensitivity of HPVOPC to chemotherapy and radiotherapy raise the possibility that delayed or salvage treatment in early stage patients would be highly effective, would result in similar survival outcomes and radiotherapy could be applied to a much smaller population then current standards call for. Looked at from a different perspective, the need for post-operative radiotherapy in this younger, HPV+ and more functional population has not been validated in clinical trials to date.

This phase II trial studies how well paclitaxel and carboplatin before radiation therapy with paclitaxel works in treating human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive patients with stage III-IV oropharynx, hypopharynx, or larynx cancer. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as paclitaxel and carboplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Radiation therapy uses high energy x rays to kill tumor cells. Giving paclitaxel and carboplatin before radiation therapy with paclitaxel may kill more tumor cells.

This is a non-randomized, open-label phase II trial of 38 patients with recurrent or metastatic SCCHN. Patients must have an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-1 with good organ function and will be treated with six weekly cycles of carboplatin, paclitaxel and cetuximab. Following assessment of response, the treating physician at their discretion may continue to treat with weekly cetuximab as maintenance until disease progression. The study is designed to evaluate whether this regimen improves median overall survival (OS) as compared to an historical control population treated with a platinum plus 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). There is currently no agreed upon first line therapy for recurrent or metastatic SCCHN; regimen options are highly toxic, inconvenient and resource intensive. Our study regimen has been used extensively for induction therapy and off-protocol in palliative care, but treatment outcomes have yet to be defined by a clinical trial.

Induction chemotherapy is regarded as an effective way to reduce or downgrade the locally advanced or aggressive cancers, and to improve the chance of eradication of the locoregional lesions by radical surgery and/or radiotherapy. However, there are still debates on the clinical value of induction chemotherapy for patients with advanced and resectable oral squamous cell carcinoma. The hypothesis of this study is that the induction chemotherapy of TPF (docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil) protocol could benefit the patients with locally advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma. The endpoints of this study are the survival rate, local control, and safety.

The purpose of this Phase 1/2 open-label study is to determine the safety and efficacy of a cetuximab and PX-866 combination treatment. In the Phase 1 part of the study, the dose of PX-866 to be given in combination with cetuximab will be determined in patients with incurable metastatic CRC or incurable progressive, recurrent or metastatic SCCHN. The Phase 2 part of the study is a randomized evaluation of the antitumor activity and safety of PX-866 in combination with cetuximab versus cetuximab alone in patients with either incurable metastatic CRC who have a history of progression or recurrence following prior irinotecan and oxaliplatin containing regimens or are intolerant of irinotecan (Group 1) or incurable progressive, recurrent or metastatic SCCHN (Group 2).