Phase II Trial: uPAR-PET/CT for Prognostication in Head- and Neck Cancer
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
2021-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Head and neck cancer (HNC) is the 6th most common cancer worldwide. In the last decade, there
has been made substantial improvements in diagnosis, staging and treatment of HNC. The
overall survival has improved, but for some subgroups it is unchanged and therefore new
prognostic and surveillance methods are warranted.
One of the hallmarks in cancer is the ability to invade the surrounding tissue and
metastasize. Studies have shown that the urokinase proteolytic plasminogen activator (uPA)
and its receptor (uPAR) are present at the very front of the invasive tumor and they are
considered essential in cancer invasion and metastasis. Consequently, an uPAR-targeted tracer
offers a very promising target for functional PET imaging and may be a stronger prognostic
marker compared to routine FDG-PET/CT. We wish to clarify how uPAR-PET/CT correlate to
patient outcome compared to routine FDG-PET/CT in patients with HNC in the pharynx, larynx
and oral cavity, who are referred to curative intended radiotherapy. In this project all
participants have an uPAR-PET/CT scan performed before initiation of the routine radiotherapy
and the prognostic efficacy is determined by assessment of the recurrence rate and mortality
at routine clinical follow-up.