Using CircuLating Tumor DNA to Risk Adapt Post-Operative Therapy for HPV-associated Oropharyngeal Cancer

NCT ID: NCT06445114

Last Updated: 2025-11-04

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: PHASE2
• Total Enrollment: 50 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-05-12
• Study Completion Date: 2032-06-30

Brief Summary

This is a single institution phase II study that will enroll patients with T0-3N0-2 p16-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) undergoing resection of all gross visible disease at the primary site and in the lymph nodes.

Detailed Description

All eligible patients will be treated with a de-intensified cisplatin-based chemoradiation regimen after undergoing transoral robotic surgery. Enrolled patients will be risk-assessed and assigned to specific regimens based on a combination of their post-operative cTTMV-HPV DNA, as determined by results from NavDx kits by Naveris, and pathologic features. All patients will receive a dose of 40 mg/m2 IV weekly concurrently with radiation therapy. Patients ineligible to receive cisplatin at this dose will undergo modified sydtemic therapy. Patients will recieve concurrent radiation in a dose of 30 Gy in 15 fractions to the primary tumor bed, ipsilateral neck +/- contralateral neck. Based on risk-stratification, some patients will receive a sequential boost of 10 Gy over 5 fractions or 20 Gy over 10 fractions.

Conditions

Oropharyngeal Cancer; Carcinoma

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Single Arm

Low risk pathology with post-op HPV DNA (-): cisplatin-based chemoradiation with 30 Gy in 15 fractions and 3 cycles of weekly cisplatin 40mg/m2 IV on Days 1, 8, and 15 of radiation.

Low risk pathology with post-op HPV DNA (+): cisplatin-based chemoradiation with 40 Gy in 20 fractions and 4 cycles of weekly cisplatin 40mg/m2 IV on Days 1, 8, 15, and 22 of radiation.

High risk pathology with post-op HPV DNA (-), excluding patients with both 5 LN+ and ENE+ or pre-op HPV DNA≤12 copies/mL: cisplatin-based radiation with 40 Gy in 20 fractions and 4 cycles of weekly cisplatin 40mg/m2 IV on Days 1, 8, 15, and 22 of radiation.

High risk pathology with post-op HPV DNA (+) OR pre-op HPV DNA≤12 copies/mL OR both 5 or more LN+ and ENE+: cisplatin-based radiation with 50 Gy in 25 fractions with 5 cycles of weekly cisplatin 40mg/m2 IV on Days 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 of radiation.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Cisplatin

Intervention Type: DRUG

Low risk pathology with post-op HPV DNA (-): cisplatin-based chemoradiation with 30 Gy in 15 fractions and 3 cycles of weekly cisplatin 40mg/m2 IV on Days 1, 8, and 15 of radiation.

Low risk pathology with post-op HPV DNA (+): cisplatin-based chemoradiation with 40 Gy in 20 fractions and 4 cycles of weekly cisplatin 40mg/m2 IV on Days 1, 8, 15, and 22 of radiation.

High risk pathology with post-op HPV DNA (-), excluding patients with both 5 LN+ and ENE+ or pre-op HPV DNA≤12 copies/mL: cisplatin-based radiation with 40 Gy in 20 fractions and 4 cycles of weekly cisplatin 40mg/m2 IV on Days 1, 8, 15, and 22 of radiation.

High risk pathology with post-op HPV DNA (+) OR pre-op HPV DNA≤12 copies/mL OR both 5 or more LN+ and ENE+: cisplatin-based radiation with 50 Gy in 25 fractions with 5 cycles of weekly cisplatin 40mg/m2 IV on Days 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 of radiation.

Interventions

Cisplatin

Low risk pathology with post-op HPV DNA (-): cisplatin-based chemoradiation with 30 Gy in 15 fractions and 3 cycles of weekly cisplatin 40mg/m2 IV on Days 1, 8, and 15 of radiation.

Low risk pathology with post-op HPV DNA (+): cisplatin-based chemoradiation with 40 Gy in 20 fractions and 4 cycles of weekly cisplatin 40mg/m2 IV on Days 1, 8, 15, and 22 of radiation.

High risk pathology with post-op HPV DNA (-), excluding patients with both 5 LN+ and ENE+ or pre-op HPV DNA≤12 copies/mL: cisplatin-based radiation with 40 Gy in 20 fractions and 4 cycles of weekly cisplatin 40mg/m2 IV on Days 1, 8, 15, and 22 of radiation.

High risk pathology with post-op HPV DNA (+) OR pre-op HPV DNA≤12 copies/mL OR both 5 or more LN+ and ENE+: cisplatin-based radiation with 50 Gy in 25 fractions with 5 cycles of weekly cisplatin 40mg/m2 IV on Days 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 of radiation.

Intervention Type: DRUG

Other Intervention Names

Chemoradiation

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• AJCC 8th edition T0-3N0-2 p16-positive oropharyngeal (tonsil, base of tongue, glossotonsillar sulcus, soft palate, oropharyngeal wall) squamous cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary involving the cervical lymph nodes. Cytologic diagnosis from a cervical lymph node is sufficient for diagnosis in the presence of clinical evidence of a primary tumor in the oropharynx.
• For patients with pT0 tumors (unknown primary), there must be at least one metastatic lymph node present in cervical level II.
• p16 is strongly positive by immunohistochemistry or high-risk HPV is detected by in-situ hybridization.
• Have undergone or will undergo gross total resection of all known disease in the head and neck via transoral robotic surgery. For patients with clinical unknown primary tumors, a patient must undergo both ipsilateral tonsillectomy and base of tongue resection unless the primary is identified clinically or pathologically at the time of surgery. If the primary is identified, then only resection of the primary site is required. If the primary tumor is resected with negative margins with a non-robotic surgery, such as a diagnostic tonsillectomy, this is considered acceptable and further robotic surgery is not necessary.
• Have undergone or will undergo neck dissection.
• Have at least one of the following after surgery:

• Pathologic stage T3
• 2 or more positive lymph nodes
• At least one lymph node >3cm
• Contralateral lymph node involvement
• Lymphovascular invasion
• Perineural invasion
• Extranodal extension
• Close/positive margins: Close margins are considered ≤3mm from the peripheral margins and ≤1mm from the deep margin on the en bloc specimen, unless the area of close margin is re-resected and without carcinoma.
• Patients consented preoperatively are required to have detectable cTTMV-HPV DNA based on pre-operative NavDx testing. For patients consented post-operatively, NavDx testing should be performed on the tumor tissue to ensure detectable HPV DNA and for HPV subtyping.
• Age ≥ 18 years old
• ECOG performance status 0 or 2 within 56 days of start of chemoradiation.
• Women of childbearing potential require a negative serum or urine pregnancy test within 28 days prior to start of chemoradiation.
• Written informed consent obtained from subject and ability for subject to comply with the requirements of the study.
• Adequate hematologic and renal function within 56 days of start of chemoradiation, defined as:

• Hemoglobin ≥ 9.0 g/dL
• Platelets ≥ 100, 000 cells/mm3
• ANC ≥ 1.5 X 109/L
• Total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN)
• Aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase ≤ 3.0 x upper limit of normal (ULN)
• Serum creatinine ≤1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) OR a calculated creatinine clearance ≥50 mL/min estimated using the following Cockcroft-Gault equation

• Severe, active co-morbidity, defined as follows:

• Unstable angina and/or congestive heart failure requiring hospitalization within the last 6 months
• Transmural myocardial infarction within the last 6 months
• Acute bacterial or fungal infection requiring intravenous antibiotics at the time of enrollment
• Hepatic insufficiency resulting in clinical jaundice and/or known coagulation defects
• Moderate to severe hearing loss.
• Active connective tissue disease (e.g. systemic lupus erythematous, scleroderma) requiring immunosuppression.
• Pregnant or breast-feeding women.
• Prior allergic reaction to cisplatin.
• Live vaccines within 30 days prior to the first dose of chemoradiation. Examples of live vaccines include, but are not limited to, the following: measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, yellow fever, rabies, BCG, and typhoid (oral vaccine). Season influenza vaccines for injection are generally killed virus vaccines and are allowed; however intranasal influenza vaccines (e.g. Flu-Mist®) are live attenuated vaccines and are not allowed.

Exclusion Criteria

• AJCC 8th edition pT4 or cN3 disease.
• Radiologic or clinical evidence of distant metastasis.
• Recurrent disease.
• Inability to achieve gross total resection at time of surgery.
• Greater than 56 days (8 weeks) after surgical resection of the primary site.
• Prior radiation to the head and neck > 30 Gy.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Zachary Zumsteg

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Zachary Zumsteg

Sponsor-Investigator

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Zachary S Zumsteg, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Locations

Cedars-Sinai Cancer at Beverly Hills (THO)

Beverly Hills, California, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Cedars Sinai Medical Center

Los Angeles, California, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

CS Cancer at Valley Oncology Medical Group

Tarzana, California, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

CS Cancer at the Hunt Cancer Center

Torrance, California, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Clinical Trial Navigator

Role: CONTACT

cancer.trial.info@cshs.org

3104232133

Facility Contacts

Clinical Trial Recruitment Navigator

Role: primary

Zachary S Zumsteg, MD

Role: primary

zachary.zumsteg@cshs.org

310-248-8375

Vanessa Vasco

Role: primary

Vanessa.Vasco@cshs.org

Sarah Valdez

Role: primary

Sarah.Valdez@tmphysicians.com

310-750-3300 ext. 73422

Other Identifiers

IIT2023-14-ZUMSTEG-ULTRA-HPV

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id