Refractory Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

This phase III trial compares the effect of adding cetuximab to pembrolizumab versus pembrolizumab alone in treating patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) that has come back after a period of improvement (recurrent) and/or that has spread from where it first started (primary site) to other places in the body (metastatic). Cetuximab is in a class of medications called monoclonal antibodies. It binds to a protein called EGFR, which is found on some types of tumor cells. This may help keep tumor cells from growing. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the tumor, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Giving cetuximab and pembrolizumab together may be more effective at treating patients with recurrent and/or metastatic HNSCC than pembrolizumab alone.

This is a multicenter, open-label, Phase I, first-in-human trial to characterize the safety and clinical activity of an antigen-specific CD8+ T-cell product in patients with relapsed or refractory locally advanced or metastatic HPV-related oropharyngeal cancers. Patients must have received at least one prior standard treatment regimen consisting of systemic immunotherapy and/or chemotherapy. The investigative agent is an autologous adoptive T-cell product derived from the patient's endogenous cytolytic T cells that are directed toward HPV-16 E6/E7, HPV-18 E6/E7 antigens, and a tumor-associated antigen (Survivin) by ex vivo exposure to an artificial antigen presenting cell to which HLA-A2 antigen-peptides have been fit within the pocket of an MHC class 1 molecule. Patients must express HLA-A\*0201.