Real world effectiveness and safety of low dose nivolumab with metronomic chemotherapy in patients with advanced platinum-resistant head and neck cancer: An Indian institutional experience.

Abstract

6050 Background: Triple Metronomic chemotherapy (TMC) regimen of low-dose methotrexate, erlotinib, and celecoxib has been proven to improve overall survival (OS) of advanced platinum-resistant head and neck cancer (HNC) patients. The addition of low-dose nivolumab to metronomic chemotherapy is an alternative standard of care for those patients, who cannot access full-dose checkpoint inhibitors. In the present study, we aimed to assess the real world effectiveness and safety of low-dose nivolumab along with TMC. Methods: We performed a prospective analysis of advanced platinum-resistant HNC patients treated at our institute from June 2021 to June 2023 with TMC and low-dose immunotherapy consisting of capsule celecoxib (200 mg twice daily), tablet methotrexate (9 mg/m2/week), and erlotinib (150 mg once daily), along with intravenous nivolumab 20 mg (once every 2 weeks). Data was analysed descriptively and the Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate OS, progression-free survival (PFS), and duration of response (DOR). Results: Overall, 85 patients of advanced platinum-resistant HNC were enrolled in this study. The median age of the patients was 54 years with male predominance. The most common primary sites were buccal mucosa (54%) and tongue (32%). The median follow-up was 6.5 months with 5 months of DOR to therapy. Median number of nivolumab doses received were 8 (IQR 2–48). The termination of therapy in the majority of patients was due to disease progression (55%). Most common adverse events reported were acneiform rash (62%), mucositis (52%), and fatigue (34%). Dose reduction for triple metronomic chemotherapy was required in 42% of patients for grade 3 and above adverse events. No grade 3/4 immune-related adverse events were reported throughout the study period. The median PFS and OS of the study population were observed to be 4.3 months and 8.8 months, respectively. Overall, 8 of 85 patients survived for ≥30 months and 20 (24%) patients were on treatment at the time of data analysis. Conclusions: Low-dose immunotherapy along with triple metronomic chemotherapy is a safe treatment option in real world advanced platinum-resistant HNC patients with acceptable outcomes.