Martinez-Useros Javier, Garcia-Foncillas Jesus
Translational Oncology Division, OncoHealth Institute, Fundación Jiménez Díaz University Hospital Health Research Institute, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Oral Oncol. 2015 May;51(5):423-30. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2015.02.092. Epub 2015 Mar 6.
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) represent 95% of head and neck cancer with an incidence of over half a million people globally. The prognosis for patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC is generally poor with low 5-year survival rates despite treatment advances over the past few decades. Consequently, it is essential to search for new biomarkers and effective therapy options to optimize HNSCC treatment. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is overexpressed in approximately 90% of tumours. EGFR has become one of most common targets for new therapies being investigated in HNSCC. In this way, multiple therapies targeting EGFR in HNSCC have been tested but response rates are still low especially in the recurrent or metastatic setting. This has been attributed to mechanisms of resistance to EGFR-targeted therapies. Afatinib, an oral small molecule ErbB Family Blocker that irreversibly binds to ErbB1 (EGFR), ErbB2 (HER2) and ErbB4 (HER4), is being investigated in HNSCC treatment with encouraging phase II results and several ongoing phase III trials. Results of these trials will help to understand the place of afatinib in the HNSCC treatment armamentarium.
头颈部鳞状细胞癌（HNSCC）占头颈部癌症的95%，全球发病率超过50万人。尽管在过去几十年里治疗取得了进展，但复发或转移性HNSCC患者的预后通常较差，5年生存率较低。因此，寻找新的生物标志物和有效的治疗方案以优化HNSCC治疗至关重要。表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）在约90%的肿瘤中过度表达。EGFR已成为HNSCC正在研究的新疗法中最常见的靶点之一。通过这种方式，已经测试了多种针对HNSCC中EGFR的疗法，但有效率仍然很低，尤其是在复发或转移的情况下。这归因于对EGFR靶向疗法的耐药机制。阿法替尼是一种口服小分子ErbB家族阻滞剂，可不可逆地结合ErbB1（EGFR）、ErbB2（HER2）和ErbB4（HER4），目前正在HNSCC治疗中进行研究，II期结果令人鼓舞，还有几项正在进行的III期试验。这些试验的结果将有助于了解阿法替尼在HNSCC治疗方案中的地位。
