Conditions: Neoplasms, Oral Mouth Neoplasms
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 20
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This phase II trial studies how trametinib effects tumor cells in patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma that can be removed by surgery. Trametinib may shrink the tumor by blocking an enzyme pathway needed for cell growth.

Detailed description:
The rationale for this study in oral cavity squamous cell carcinomas rests on pre-clinical findings demonstrating that (a) activation of the ERK1/2 kinases is associated with aggressive features, (b) this aggressive phenotype is directly linked to expression of CD44, a cell surface hyaluronan receptor and (c) this association between activated ERK1/2 and CD44 is also identified in human cell lines and primary tumors. These data suggest that ERK1/2 is targetable biochemical pathway in CD44 expressing cells. These cells represent putative cancer stem cells or tumor initiating cells that have been associated with worse patient outcomes. Thus, the application of GSK1120212 to target OCSCC is a specific translational application of our laboratory findings.

Arms:
arm 1: GSK1120212 2 mg PO daily for a total of 14 days with the intent of the last pill being the day before surgery.

Interventions: intervention 1: GSK1120212
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Trametinib (GSK1120212) is a selective MEK1 and MEK2 inhibitor with selective activity towards BRAF and RAS mutant cancer cell lines and hematopoietic cancer cells from AML and CML origins.

Protocol document: