Nimotuzumab with chemoradiation confers a survival advantage in treatment-naïve head and neck tumors over expressing EGFR.

Head and neck cancer associated with the chewing of betel preparations, including tobacco, is common to South East Asia. We report a Phase IIB study in which ninety-two treatment naïve patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma received standard therapy with or without an anti-Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody (Nimotuzumab). In pretreatment samples, the tissue expression of ErbB family proteins and downstream molecules, including their association with clinical response and survival.