Anti-epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody plus palliative chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Platinum-based chemotherapy is the standard of care as first-line treatment for recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (RM-NPC); however, the prognosis of patients with RM-NPC remains poor. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (anti-EGFR) antibody plus chemotherapy for RM-NPC. METHODS: RM-NPC patients who received first-line chemotherapy plus an anti-EGFR antibody were recruited from Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center between July 2007 and November 2017. Survival analyses were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method with a log-rank test. A Cox proportional hazards model was used for the multivariate analyses. RESULTS: A total of 203 patients were enrolled in the present study. The median follow-up time was 34.3 months (interquartile range: 19.7-66.5 months). The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 8.9 months (95% CI: 7.7-10.0 months) and the median overall survival (OS) was 29.1 months (95% CI: 23.5-34.6 months). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year PFS and OS rates were 35.5% and 79.6%, 15.2% and 42.5%, and 11.6% and 23.6%, respectively. The objective response rate (ORR) was 67.5% and the disease control rate (DCR) was 91.1%. The multivariate analysis identified the following prognostic factors for PFS: anti-EGFR agent (P = .010), recurrence/metastasis sequence (P = .016), KPS (P = .017), and combined chemotherapy regimen (P = .015). Independent risk factors for OS included age >43 years (P = .002), Karnofsky performance score ≤80 (P < .001), and higher level of baseline Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA (P = .008). Leukopenia was the most common adverse event (AE) in this cohort (any grade, 84.2%; grades 3-4, 43.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Anti-EGFR antibody plus chemotherapy achieved promising antitumor activity with a tolerable toxicity profile in RM-NPC. Thus, randomized clinical trials are warranted to compare the efficacy of chemotherapy with or without anti-EGFR antibody in these patients.