Conditions: Cancer
Keywords: Phase II Erlotinib Radiotherapy Squamous Cell Carcinomas Cutaneous Stage III
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 15
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This is a phase II study designed to study the effectiveness of combined radiotherapy and erlotinib in the postoperative setting for patients with cutaneous SCC that are at high risk for recurrence. Participants enrolled in the study will be evaluated by a head and neck surgeon, and a radiation oncologist. Whenever possible, a preoperative biopsy will be performed after participant enrollment in the study for histological confirmation and for molecular correlates. Participants enrolled prior to surgical resection will begin erlotinib at 150 mg by mouth (PO) every day (QD) (14 tablets) to be taken 14 days prior to surgical resection. Following planned surgical resection, the participant will begin Erlotinib therapy and radiotherapy at the same time and within 4-8 weeks of the surgical resection.

Detailed description:
This is a single-institution, open-label, non-randomized phase II trial of erlotinib administered concomitantly with radiation therapy following surgical resection of gross disease. A total of 45 patients with previously unirradiated, high-risk cutaneous SCC requiring post-operative radiotherapy will be enrolled to assess the primary endpoints of time to recurrence and disease free survival. Pretreatment biopsies will be required to confirm the histological diagnosis of SCC. Four to six weeks after surgical resection, patients will begin erlotinib (150 mg po qd) beginning the first day of radiotherapy. Patients will receive 5040 cGy beginning on day 1 of therapy in standard fractionations. Patients will be followed to evaluate for toxicity based on NCI common toxicity criteria (v3.0). Patients will be followed on protocol for a minimum of 2 years with regularly scheduled CT scans, clinical evaluations, and laboratory work. Patients with residual or recurrent cancer will be taken off protocol for salvage therapy.

As a secondary objective, molecular response of tumors to erlotinib monotherapy will be determined. When possible, participants will be enrolled and treated for 14 days with erlotinib prior to surgical resection. The pretreatment biopsy specimen (control) will then be compared to tissue acquired during the surgical resection after 14 days of erlotinib (experimental group).

Arms:
arm 1: Erlotinib therapy for 2 weeks (150 mg po qd)(for those who are enrolled before surgery is done), surgery/biopsy up to 8 weeks recovery, radiation/Erlotinib therapy for 6 weeks (150mg po qd).

Interventions: intervention 1: Erlotinib
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Erlotinib therapy for 2 weeks (150 mg po qd)(for those who are enrolled before surgery is done), surgery/biopsy up to 8 weeks recovery, radiation/Erlotinib therapy for 6 weeks (150mg po qd).

Protocol document: