63P - Role of EGFR-targeted therapy in the treatment of advanced and metastatic cervical cancers

Background

The treatment of choice for locally advanced cervical cancer is radiation therapy combined with concomitant chemotherapy using platinum complexes. 30 to 50% of patients with locally advanced stage will have a recurrence. The overall outcome for such recurrent cervical cancer is bleak, and treating such individuals remains a challenge. Due to chemotherapy's limited effectiveness and toxicity, targeted therapy agents have been tried to improve the outcomes. There are only a handful of studies wherein Gefitinib has been used to treat carcinoma of the cervix. This research looked at gefitinib’s role in treating recurrent and metastatic cervical cancer.

Methods

Patients diagnosed with metastatic cervical cancer or those who developed any recurrence post-chemoradiation or distant metastases either upfront or post-chemoradiation were eligible to be enrolled in the study. The patients were administered with gefitinib at 250 mg per day after verification of their blood parameters. Gefitinib was continued until the patient withdrew consent or the disease progressed. RECIST criteria was used to evaluate the patient's response to therapy. Toxicities were assessed with CTCAE criteria.

Results

Thirty patients with a median age of 58.5 years were included. Majority of the patients had FIGO stage IIIB disease at their initial presentation. Twenty-seven patients received salvage chemotherapy prior to Gefitinib. The median follow-up time was seen to be 6 months (3 -15 months). Two patients (7%) had a complete clinical response, 7 patients in the study (23%) was seen to have a partial response, 5 patients out of the 30 patients (17%) showed a stable disease whereas 16 patients were seen to have progressive disease (53%). The disease control rate, signified by patients with complete, partial response, and stable disease was 47%. The median PFS was noted to be 4.5 months and the 1-year PFS was 20%. None of the individuals experienced toxicity of grade 3 or higher. All toxicities were managed conservatively.

Conclusions

The EGF receptor, expressed by different types of cancers has been discovered as a promising anti-cancer target. Given the positive results and low toxicity, gefitinib could be a promising treatment approach for individuals with advanced cervical cancers.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.