Projects / Programmes
Inoperable carcinoma of the head and neck: an attempt to improve treatment results and analysis of some biological characteristics
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 3.04.00 |
Medical sciences |
Oncology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| B200 |
Biomedical sciences |
Cytology, oncology, cancerology |
carcinoma of the head and neck, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, mitomycin C, cisplatin, p53, cyclin D1, stefin A, DNA ploidy, nuclear texture features
Researchers (17)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
The treatment results in inoperable squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck are poor.
In part one (clinical) of the study, the authors will test the toxicity and efficacy of concomitant chemoradiotherapy regimen in a group of 40 such patients. The treatment regimen will consist of: (1) conventional radiotherapy - 70 Gy in 35 fractions over 7 weeks; (2) mitomycin C (bioreductive agent, selectively toxic for hypoxic cells) - 15 mg/m2 IV, after delivery of 10 Gy; and (3) cisplatin (radiosensitizer) - 10 mg/m2/day IV (starting dose), days 1-5 during weeks 6 and 7 of radiotherapy (to counteract the effect of accelerated repopulation of surviving clonogens in tumor). In phase I clinical trial, the cisplatin dose is planned to be escalated systematically by 2 mg/m2/day up to maximum-tolerated dose or at most 14 mg/m2/day. This dose will be applied in phase II clinical trial. Special attention in the study will be paid to the quality of planning and executing radiotherapy.
In part two (preclinical) of the study, the authors will: (1) determine immunohistochemically and immunocytochemically the expression of molecular markers p53, cyclin D1 and stefin A; and (2) analyze, using image cytometer, the DNA content and characteristics of nuclear chromatin structure and organization in both the tissue from primary tumors and from regional metastases of patients treated with the investigated regimen. The aim of the analysis is to identify those biological tumor characteristics that describe its degree of aggressiveness and best predict effectiveness of treatment regimen under study.
