Cetuximab for Head and Neck Cancer

Survival was longer for squamous-cell–carcinoma patients who received cetuximab plus standard first-line chemotherapy than for those who received chemotherapy alone.

Survival for head and neck cancer patients with locally recurrent or metastatic disease is 6 to 9 months with currently available treatments. These poor outcomes have prompted investigations of novel therapies, including epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors. This approach is based on findings that squamous carcinomas of the head and neck overexpress EGFR and its ligands and that the overexpression is associated with poor treatment outcomes. One such inhibitor, the anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody cetuximab (Erbitux), has been approved as a radiation sensitizer in previously untreated head and neck cancer patients and as palliative therapy in patients with platinum-refractory disease.

To determine whether adding cetuximab to standa…

Reviewing Author

Barbara A. Murphy, MD