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. Time to progression and overall survival were calculated.

Results: Intratumoral tgDCC-E1A was well tolerated in all patients. No significant toxicities related to tgDCC-E1A were reported. One patient (4.2%) had a complete response, two patients (8.3%) had minor response, and seven patients (29.2%) had stable disease by two-dimensional cross-products on blinded CT scans. The median time to progression was 8.6 weeks (range, 3.3-43.7 weeks), and median survival was 4.6 months (range, 1.3-15.6 months).

Conclusions: Intratumoral injections of tgDCC-E1A were safe and well tolerated. Modest tumor response was observed. Further development of tgDCC-E1A is warranted in combination with other treatment modalities.