Conditions: Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer
Keywords: docetaxel gefitinib head and neck cancer
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 270
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as docetaxel, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Gefitinib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking the enzymes necessary for their growth. Combining docetaxel with gefitinib may kill more tumor cells. It is not yet known whether docetaxel is more effective with or without gefitinib in treating head and neck cancer. This randomized phase III trial is studying docetaxel and gefitinib to see how well they work compared to docetaxel alone in treating patients with metastatic or locally recurrent head and neck cancer.

Detailed description:
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To determine the survival of poor prognosis patients with recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck treated with docetaxel with or without ZD1839 (Iressa, gefitinib).

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To determine the time to progression and response rate in poor prognosis patients with recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck treated with docetaxel with or without ZD1839 (Iressa, gefitinib).

II. To correlate the expression and activation status of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway with clinical outcome in the above patient population. The following specific biomarkers will be measured by immunohistochemistry on paraffin-embedded tumor tissue: EGFR, p-EGFR, AKT, p-AKT, Transforming growth factor (TGF)-alpha, Ki-67, extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK), p-ERK, p70s6, p- p70s6 , and p27.

III. To evaluate the frequency of common polymorphisms of Cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) and EGFR in this study population and the impact of these polymorphisms on survival, time to progression, response rate, and toxicities.

IV. To analyze docetaxel and ZD1839 (Iressa, gefitinib) pharmacokinetics and to correlate polymorphisms with pharmacokinetic variability, response, toxicity, and other endpoints.

V. To evaluate disease-related symptoms and overall quality of life among patients receiving docetaxel only to those receiving docetaxel and ZD1839 (Iressa, gefitinib).

VI. To evaluate whether additional clinical benefit associated with ZD1839 (Iressa, gefitinib) can be detected as an improvement in patient-reported symptoms on the FACT Head and Neck Symptom Index (FHNSI)-10 and GP5.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to treatment with prior chemotherapy (pretreated vs untreated), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (0 vs 1 vs 2), weight loss within the past 6 months (\< 5% vs ≥ 5%), and prior cetuximab treatment (yes or no). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

Arm I: Patients receive docetaxel intravenously (IV) over 30-60 minutes on days 1, 8, and 15 and oral placebo once daily on days 1-28.

Arm II: Patients receive docetaxel as in arm I and oral gefitinib once daily on days 1-28.

In both arms, courses repeat every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients in arm I who have disease progression may receive single-agent oral gefitinib once daily until further disease progression (which is called step 2 in the study).

Quality of life is assessed at baseline, on days 15 and 28 of course 1, on day 28 of all subsequent courses, and at 2-4 weeks after completion of study treatment.

Patients are followed every 3 months for 2 years and then every 6 months for 3 years.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 330 patients (165 per treatment arm) will be accrued for this study within 31.5 months.

Arms:
arm 1: Patients receive docetaxel intravenously (IV) over 30-60 minutes on days 1, 8, and 15 and oral placebo once daily on days 1-28. arm 2: Patients receive docetaxel as in arm I and oral gefitinib once daily on days 1-28.

ZD1839 (Iressa, gefitinib) will be given at a dose of 250 mg (one tablet) orally each day starting on day 1 and continuing for days 1 to 28 of each cycle until progression.

In both arms, courses repeat every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients in arm I who have disease progression may receive single-agent oral gefitinib once daily until further disease progression.

Interventions: intervention 1: docetaxel intervention 2: placebo intervention 3: gefitinib
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Given IV intervention 2: Given orally intervention 3: Given orally

Protocol document: