Gene expression associated with panitumumab efficacy in squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck

Platinum-based chemotherapy plus cetuximab, an anti-Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody (Mab), is usually offered to recurrent/metastatic (R/M) head-neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients, with only a small portion experiencing durable responses. The anti-EGFR-Mab panitumumab, was used as single agent in platinum pre-treated R/M-HNSCC patients in a phase II trial (PANI01). By analyzing gene expression profiles of a selected retrospective series of HNSCC patients treated with cetuximab, an anti-Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody (MAb), associated to chemotherapy, we were able to propose that long progression-free survival (PFS) cases consistently belong to defined molecular subtypes, such as Cluster3-hypoxia and Basal subtypes, respectively defined by De Cecco et al [DeCecco; Oncotarget, 2015] and Keck et al [Keck; CCR,2015], while short-PFS cases are characterized by an over-activation of RAS signaling Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor specimens were collected from PANI01 trial: 20 samples were retrieved from primary tumors and five from R/M. RNA extraction, quality control and hybridization on DASL microarrays (Illumina) were performed as described [Bossi et al; CCR, 2016].