Rituximab Plus Chemotherapy in Recurrent/Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2017-01-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is an important disease with the incidence of
6th all over the world. In Taiwan it is the fifth of male cancer mortality. Most of the
patients were middle age and the impact for economy and society was incredible. For recurrent
or metastatic HNSCC, the average life span was around 4-6 months. Most patients just can
receive chemotherapy. However the chemotherapy can't have any survival benefit. Recently a
study showed the Cetuximab plus chemotherapy with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil had survival
benefit in the recurrent or metastatic HNSCC. However in Taiwan, the cetuximab can't be given
by health insurance for the patients of the situation.
A lot of investigations recently showed the B lymphocytes got involvements in the squamous
cell carcinoma carcinogenesis and tumor progression. In addition the B cell will influence
the tumor associated macrophages and myeloid derived suppressor cells. Those immune cells
could decrease the affect of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Thus the B cell depletion has the
possibility to develop a new treatment policy. Therefore investigators create a pilot
clinical trial using Rituximab plus chemotherapy with cisplatin and gemcitabine for recurrent
or metastatic HNSCC.