Docetaxel/Pembrolizumab in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2024-05-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Pembrolizumab monotherapy and platinum-based chemotherapy in the combination with
pembrolizumab for recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC)
have been widely used in daily clinical practice based on the KEYNOTE-048 study. On the other
hand, docetaxel is a commonly used antimitotic agent in cancer therapy and might have potent
antitumor effect by the immune response. A combination therapy of docetaxel and pembrolizumab
might be a promising treatment for R/M HNSCC. The KEYNOTE-048 study showed that pembrolizumab
plus platinum and 5-fluorouracil is a tolerable treatment for R/M HNSCC. The main grade 3/4
adverse event of platinum and 5-fluorouracil was myelosuppression such as neutropenia similar
to docetaxel in some studies for R/M HNSCC. The safety profile of platinum and 5-fluorouracil
is not much different from docetaxel. Therefore, docetaxel/pembrolizumab combination
treatment might also be tolerable. The hypothesis of this study is that a combination therapy
of docetaxel and pembrolizumab will provide benefit for patients with R/M HNSCC.