Abstract:
OBJECTIVE To explore the predictive value of serum tumor marker levels in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in the treatment effect and prognosis of nimotuzumab.
METHODS The clinical data of 160 patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who received nimotuzumab, including RECIST 1.1 efficacy evaluation four weeks after treatment, progression-free survival(PFS), and thymidine kinase 1(TK1), cytokeratin-19-fragment (CYFRA21-1) and squamous-cell carcinoma-related antigen(SCC-Ag) levels before and during treatment were evaluated.
RESULTS The treatment response ratecomplete response(CR) + partial response(PR) of 160 patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma was 33.13%(53/160). The baseline levels of serum TK1 and CYFRA21-1 in CR+PR patients were higher than those in patients with SD and PD(
P<0.05), and the baseline level of SCC-Ag was lower than that in SD and PD patients. After targeted therapy, the levels of TK1 and CYFRA21-1 in CR+PR patients were decreased, the level of TK1 and CYFRA21-1 in patients with PD were increased, and the level of TK1 in patients with SD was decreased(
P<0.05). The ROC curves showed that the best cut-off points for TK1, CYFRA21-1, SCC-Ag change rates and imaging evaluation consistency were 0.265, 0.357, 0.393, and the AUC were 0.774, 0.683, and 0.660, respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the median PFS was longer in patients with an increase of TK1 ≤ 26.5% than before treatment and in patients with an increase of >26.5%22.524 months
vs 18.793 months,
P=0.002. The median PFS of patients with an elevation of ≤ 35.7% compared with before treatment was longer than that of patients with an elevation of >35.7%22.381 months
vs 20.130 months,
P=0.030, there was no significant difference in median PFS between SCC-Ag elevation ≤ 39.3% and elevation >39.3% compared with before treatment20.773 months
vs 18.947 months,
P=0.078.
CONCLUSION The levels of TK1, CYFRA21-1, and SCC-Ag have important predictive value for the short-term efficacy and prognosis of nitolimumab in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.