Operational Metrics for the ELAINE 2 Study Combining a Traditional Approach With a Just-in-TIME Model.

Purpose: There are numerous barriers to enrollment in oncology biomarker-driven studies.

Methods: The ELAINE 2 study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04432454) is an open-label phase 2 study of lasofoxifene combined with abemaciclib in patients with advanced or metastatic estrogen receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative breast cancer with an mutation.

Pharmacokinetic study of omacetaxine mepesuccinate administered subcutaneously to patients with advanced solid and hematologic tumors.

Purpose: Omacetaxine mepesuccinate is a first-in-class cephalotaxine demonstrating clinical activity in chronic myeloid leukemia. A subcutaneous (SC) formulation demonstrated efficacy and safety in phase 1/2 trials in patients previously treated with ≥1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor. This study assessed pharmacokinetics and safety of SC omacetaxine in patients with advanced cancers.

A comparison of treatments of squamous cell carcinoma of the base of tongue: surgical resection combined with external radiation therapy, external radiation therapy alone, and external radiation therapy combined with interstitial radiation.

Purpose: The outcomes of patients treated at a single institution over a specific time frame using three different therapeutic approaches for cancer of the base of tongue were reviewed.

Methods And Materials: Between 1992 and 1998, 53 patients were treated with curative intent for base of tongue cancer. Seventeen patients underwent surgical resection with postoperative radiation therapy, 16 patients received definitive external radiation therapy only, and 20 patients were treated with external and interstitial radiation, with neck dissection in 16 of those patients.

Major histocompatibility gene therapy: the importance of haplotype and beta 2-microglobulin.

Objectives/hypothesis: Alloantigen gene therapy with the genes for the Class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) HLA-B7 and beta 2-microglobulin in HLA-B7-negative patients has potential efficacy in the treatment of head and neck cancer, although the mechanism of response is unclear. Whether tumor regression is due to a response to HLA-B7 in HLA-B7-negative patients (i.e.

Recurrent advanced (T3 or T4) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: is salvage possible?

Background: Salvage surgery is often the only curative option for recurrent cancer. In patients whose initial tumor is stage T3 or T4, the primary therapy often makes salvage even more difficult. We therefore analyzed the outcome in patients who were originally treated for T3 or T4 squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, larynx, oropharynx, or hypopharynx and who then had a recurrence and chose to undergo further therapy for cure.

Microsatellite instability as a predictor of survival in head and neck cancer -- is there a link with colon cancer?

Objective: A reliable genetic marker to predict outcome for head and neck cancer is needed. In colon cancer, microsatellite instability (MSI) predicts response to therapy and improved prognosis. Colon cancer patients with MSI have a 60% improvement in survival as compared to patients without MSI.

Dietary antioxidant intake in patients at risk for second primary cancer.

Objectives: To analyze dietary antioxidant intake for head and neck cancer patients at risk for development of second primary cancers.

Study Design: Prospective observational study.

Methods: Twenty-four patients underwent three random, unscheduled, 24-hour dietary recalls over a 15-day period within 6 to 60 months after successful treatment for stage I or II oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma.

Alloantigen gene therapy for head and neck cancer: evaluation of animal models.

Background: Human trials of alloantigen gene therapy, using the class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) HLA-B7, have demonstrated the potential efficacy of this treatment for head and neck cancer. Its mechanism remains unclear. An immune-competent mouse model of MHC gene therapy to test factors potentially important to the tumor response is needed.

Antitumor effect of secreted Flt3-ligand can act at distant tumor sites in a murine model of head and neck cancer.

The Flt3 ligand (Flt3-L) manifests antitumor activity, presumably due to its capacity to recruit dendritic cells and cause their proliferation. To assess whether local production of Flt3-L can mediate a "distant bystander" effect, murine B4B8 squamous cell carcinoma cells were transfected with a plasmid encoding a secretory form of Flt3-L to produce B4B8FL cells. Similarly, B4B8FL and B4B8 cells were transfected with herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSVTK) to produce B4B8TK and B4B8FL/TK cells, which should be sensitive to ganciclovir (GCV), to know whether the effects of Flt3-L and HSVTK/GCV would be synergistic.

Therapeutic decision making in stages III and IV head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: The best treatment for advanced head and neck cancer remains unclear. Proponents of various therapeutic regimens continue to debate this issue with inconclusive and frequently biased data and with carefully selected patients in controlled trials to support their approach. To assess the outcome of patients in a real-world situation, we reviewed a prospectively maintained database of patients with head and neck cancer.

Molecular genetics of head and neck cancer.

Background: Head and neck cancers have multiple genetic abnormalities that influence tumor behavior and may be useful in developing new treatments.

Methods: Genetic alterations implicated in head and neck cancer oncogenesis and behavior are reviewed, and molecular techniques for detection and treatment are evaluated.

Results: The large number of genetic changes present in head and neck cancer cells precludes meaningful use of simple molecular tests and treatments.

Organ preservation with interstitial radiation for base of tongue cancer.

Management options for squamous cell carcinoma of the base of tongue include surgical resection (often with adjuvant radiation), definitive external radiation and external combined with interstitial radiation. The reported series is a single institution experience with interstitial radiation for base of tongue cancer. Twenty patients were treated definitively with interstitial radiation as a boost to external radiation, and four patients were treated palliatively with interstitial radiation alone for recurrent base of tongue cancers or disease arising in a previously irradiated base of tongue.

A multicenter phase II study of tgDCC-E1A for the intratumoral treatment of patients with recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: The anti-cancer gene, E1A, can be complexed to a lipid carrier, DC-Cholesterol:DOPE, to form tgDCC-E1A, which can be injected directly into tumors.

Methods: Twenty-four patients with recurrent, unresectable, head and neck cancer were treated with intratumoral injections of tgDCC-E1A over 8 weeks. Tumor response was assessed using CT scans.