Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma clinical trials at UC Davis

This is a phase I/II study that will evaluate the safety and toxicity of this combinatorial approach. Eligible patients >18 years of age with histologically proven metastatic NSCLC, melanoma, RCC, or HNSCC who have failed PD-1 / PD-L1 checkpoint blockade therapy will be enrolled. Patients must have a candidate treatment lesion (subcutaneous, nodal, or visceral) accessible and safe for radiotherapy and serial intralesional injections as specified by the protocol. They must also have at least one target lesion (distinct from treatment lesion and outside of treatment lesion radiation field) evaluable for response by RECIST. This study will consist of a phase I dose escalation using a standard 3+3 design to determine safety and MTD of intralesional IL-2 which will be dose escalated in conjunction with standard fixed doses of RT and Pembrolizumab. At the MTD there will be a phase II dose expansion which will incorporate a simon-two stage design to assess efficacy and safety. Patients will receive pembrolizumab and intralesional IL-2 in combination with hypofractionated radiotherapy.

This phase II trial tests whether atezolizumab works to shrink tumors before surgery in patients with head and neck squamous cell cancer with an unknown or historic primary site that has spread to other places in the lymph nodes (regionally metastatic). Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as atezolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Giving atezolizumab before surgery may reduce the size of the tumor.

This phase II/III trial compares the effect of the combination of high-dose cisplatin every three weeks and radiation therapy versus low-dose cisplatin weekly and radiation therapy for the treatment of patients with locoregionally advanced head and neck cancer. Chemotherapy drugs, such as cisplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Radiation therapy uses high energy x-rays to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. This study is being done to find out if low-dose cisplatin given weekly together with radiation therapy is the same or better than high-dose cisplatin given every 3 weeks together with radiation therapy in treating patients with head and neck cancer.

This phase II/III trial studies how well sentinel lymph node biopsy works and compares sentinel lymph node biopsy surgery to standard neck dissection as part of the treatment for early-stage oral cavity cancer. Sentinel lymph node biopsy surgery is a procedure that removes a smaller number of lymph nodes from your neck because it uses an imaging agent to see which lymph nodes are most likely to have cancer. Standard neck dissection, such as elective neck dissection, removes many of the lymph nodes in your neck. Using sentinel lymph node biopsy surgery may work better in treating patients with early-stage oral cavity cancer compared to standard elective neck dissection.

This phase II/III trial studies how well radiation therapy works when given together with cisplatin, docetaxel, cetuximab, and/or atezolizumab after surgery in treating patients with high-risk stage III-IV head and neck cancer the begins in the thin, flat cells (squamous cell). Specialized radiation therapy that delivers a high dose of radiation directly to the tumor may kill more tumor cells and cause less damage to normal tissue. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as cisplatin and docetaxel, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Cetuximab is a monoclonal antibody that may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as atezolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. The purpose of this study is to compare the usual treatment (radiation therapy with cisplatin chemotherapy) to using radiation therapy with docetaxel and cetuximab chemotherapy, and using the usual treatment plus an immunotherapy drug, atezolizumab.

This phase II/III trial studies how well a reduced dose of radiation therapy works with nivolumab compared to cisplatin in treating patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal cancer that is early in its growth and may not have spread to other parts of the body (early-stage), and is not associated with smoking. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Chemotherapy drugs, such as cisplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as nivolumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. This trial is being done to see if a reduced dose of radiation therapy and nivolumab works as well as standard dose radiation therapy and cisplatin in treating patients with oropharyngeal cancer.