Abstract

<div>Abstract<p><b>Purpose:</b> The goals of this study were to investigate the clinical activity, safety, and biomarkers of dacomitinib, an irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor of EGFR, HER2, and HER4, in recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (R/M-SCCHN).</p><p><b>Experimental Design:</b> Patients were eligible if the diseases were not amenable to curative treatment and had progressed on platinum-based chemotherapy, and were treated with dacomitinib 45 mg/day. The primary endpoint was objective response rate by RECISTv1.1. Exploratory analysis included the characterization of somatic mutation, gene copy number, gene expression, p16<sup>INK4A</sup> expression by IHC, and investigation of their relationship with clinical outcomes.</p><p><b>Results:</b> Forty-eight patients were evaluable for efficacy and toxicity. Ten patients (20.8%) had partial responses and 31 patients (65%) had stable diseases. The median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 3.9 months [95% confidence interval (CI), 2.9–5.0] and 6.6 months (95% CI, 5.4–10.3). Adverse events were mostly grade 1–2. Mutations in the PI3K pathway (<i>PIK3CA</i>, <i>PTEN</i>) and high expression of inflammatory cytokines (<i>IL6</i>, <i>IL8</i>, <i>IL1A</i>, <i>IL1B</i>, <i>IL4</i>, and <i>TNF</i>) were significantly associated with shorter PFS (2.9 vs. 4.9 months without mutations, <i>P</i> = 0.013; 2.8 vs. 9.9 months with low expression, <i>P</i> = 0.004). Those harboring PI3K pathway mutations or high inflammatory cytokine expression had shorter median OS (6.1 vs. 12.5 months lacking PI3K pathway mutations and with low inflammatory cytokine expression, <i>P</i> = 0.005).</p><p><b>Conclusions:</b> Dacomitinib demonstrated clinical efficacy with manageable toxicity in platinum-failed R/M-SCCHN patients. Screening of PI3K pathway mutation and inflammatory cytokine expression may help identify which R/M-SCCHN patients are likely to gain benefit from dacomitinib. <i>Clin Cancer Res; 21(3); 544–52. ©2014 AACR.</i></p></div>

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