A Phase 2 interventional study of Nab-paclitaxel and Cisplatin in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma, sponsored by West China Hospital. Completed at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-05-22.
Sponsored by West China Hospital · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
To explore the efficiency and safety of TP chemotherapy, tislelizumab, combined with afatinib as a new neoadjuvant treatment regimen for patients with resectable HNSCC.
More than 60% of patients with Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) have locally advanced or metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis, with a 5-year overall survival rate of less than 60%. The clinical outcomes of those patients still need to be improved.
Neoadjuvant therapy theoretically could reduce tumor volume, increase organ retention rate, and improve clinical prognosis. However, results from several phase III clinical trials have not proved a significant survival benefit of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients with resectable HNSCC except for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. There is an urgent need to explore new neoadjuvant treatment options for those patients.
Immunotherapy such as PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors have shown excellent efficiency in the treatment of malignancies. Anti-PD-1 therapy is approved as the first-line treatment of recurrent/metastatic HNSCC. Neoadjuvant immunotherapy for the treatment of locally advanced and resectable HNSCC has been demonstrated to be feasible in some trials.
Afatinib, as an irreversible ErbB tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), has been used as the second-line treatment for recurrent and/or metastatic HNSCC. A previous study published in 2018 confirmed that afatinib can be administered safely before surgery.
In summary, we designed this study to explore the efficiency and safety of chemotherapy (TP regimen), anti-PD1 immunotherapy (tislelizumab), combined with EGFR-TKI (afatinib) as a new neoadjuvant treatment regimen for patients with resectable HNSCC, aiming to provide a new treatment option for those patients.
6,741 studies on the registry are indexed under Carcinoma; 1,161 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 40 is below the median of 45 across 5,170 interventional studies indexed under Carcinoma.
Browse Carcinoma studies →West China Hospital is the lead sponsor of 483 studies on the registry; 240 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Patients with pathologically confirmed HNSCC (except for nasopharyngeal carcinoma) and meet the following conditions:
Adequate organ and bone marrow function:
Exclusion Criteria:
Any of prior therapy with:
Participants will receive * TP chemotherapy every 3 weeks x 2 cycles (Nab-paclitaxel 260mg/m\^2 IV on day1, Cisplatin 75mg/m\^2 IV on day 1); * Tislelizumab 200mg IV every 3 weeks x 2 cycles; * Afatinib 30mg PO everyday x 6 weeks.
Drug: Nab-paclitaxel · Drug: Cisplatin · Biological: Tislelizumab · Drug: Afatinib
260mg/m\^2 IV Q3W
Also known as: Albumin-bound paclitaxel, Abraxane
75mg/m\^2 IV Q3W
Also known as: CDDP
200mg IV Q3W
Also known as: BGB-A317
30mg PO QD
Pathologic Complete Response
Pathologic complete response was defined as the absence of viable tumor cells.
Time frame: Time of surgery
Major Pathologic Response
Major pathologic response was defined as fewer than 10% viable tumor cells.
Time frame: Time of surgery
Objective Response Rate
Objective response rate was defined as the percentage of participants with a best overall response of CR or PR using RECIST Criteria
Time frame: Up to 8 weeks
Adverse Events
Adverse events included adverse events using CTCAE Criteria and unplanned surgery delays.
Time frame: Up to 12 weeks
Disease-free Survival
Disease-free survival was defined as the time from the administration of the first dose to first disease progression or death.
Time frame: 1 year
Overall Survival
Overall survival was defined as the time from the administration of the first dose to death.
Time frame: 1 year
This study is completed, as verified in May 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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West China Hospital