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CompletedNCT05516589neoCHANCE-2Updated May 22, 2025

Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy, Tislelizumab With Afatinib for HNSCC

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

Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
40
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

To explore the efficiency and safety of TP chemotherapy, tislelizumab, combined with afatinib as a new neoadjuvant treatment regimen for patients with resectable HNSCC.

Read the detailed description

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.

02

Conditions studied

  • Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Keywords

  • Head and Neck Cancer
  • Neoadjuvant therapy
  • Immunotherapy
  • EGFR-TKI
  • Chemotherapy
03

In context

Carcinoma

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 →

Lead sponsor

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.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  1. Age 18 years or above.
  2. Patients with pathologically confirmed HNSCC (except for nasopharyngeal carcinoma) and meet the following conditions:

    • were newly diagnosed and without distant metastasis;
    • were deemed surgically resectable evaluated by a head and neck surgeon;
    • were willing to undergo surgery.
  3. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-1.
  4. Adequate organ and bone marrow function:

    • absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1.5 × 10\^9/L, hemoglobin ≥ 80 g/L, platelets ≥ 80 × 10\^9/L;
    • ALT, AST and ALP \< 2.5× upper limit of normal (ULN), total bilirubin ≤ 2×ULN;
    • albumin≥ 2.8 g/dL;
    • creatinine clearance ≥ 60 ml/min;
    • INR≤ 1.5;APTT≤ 1.5×ULN;
  5. Written informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. History of other malignancies (except for the history of malignant tumors that have been cured and have not recurred within 5 years, such as skin basal cell carcinoma, skin squamous cell carcinoma, superficial bladder cancer, in situ cervical cancer, and gastrointestinal mucosal cancer, etc.)
  2. Have an active autoimmune disease requiring systemic treatment or a documented history of clinically severe autoimmune disease.
  3. Any history of allergic disease, or a sever hypersensitivity reaction to drugs, or allergy to the study drug components.
  4. Any of prior therapy with:

    • anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1/2, anti-CTLA-4 antibody, anti-EGFR antibody or EGFR-TKIs;
    • antitumor vaccine;
    • any active vaccine against an infectious disease within 4 weeks prior to the first dose or planned during the study period;
    • major surgery or serious trauma within 4 weeks before the first dose;
    • toxicity from prior antitumor therapy has not recovered to ≤ CTCAE Version 5.0 Grade 1 or the level specified by the inclusion/exclusion criteria.
  5. With serious medical diseases, such as grade II and above cardiac dysfunction (NYHA criteria), ischemic heart disease, supraventricular or ventricular arrhythmia, poorly controlled diabetes mellitus, poorly controlled hypertension, echocardiographic ejection fraction \< 50%, etc.
  6. With interstitial pneumonitis, non-infectious pneumonitis, active pulmonary tuberculosis, or history of pulmonary tuberculosis infection that were not controlled by treatment.
  7. With hyperthyroidism, or organic thyroid disease.
  8. With active infection, or unexplained fever during the screening period or 48 hours before the first dose.
  9. With active hepatitis B or C, or known history of positive HIV test, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
  10. History of a clear neurological or psychiatric disorder.
  11. History of drug abuse or alcohol abuse.
  12. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, or have a reproductive plan from the screening period to 3 months after the end of the study, or have sex without contraceptive measures, or are unwilling to take appropriate contraceptive measures.
  13. Received any investigational drug within 4 weeks prior to the first dose, or concurrently enrolled in another clinical trial.
  14. Any other factors that are not suitable for inclusion in this study judged by investigators.
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
40 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Treatment Cohort

    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

Interventions

  • DrugNab-paclitaxel

    260mg/m\^2 IV Q3W

    Also known as: Albumin-bound paclitaxel, Abraxane

  • DrugCisplatin

    75mg/m\^2 IV Q3W

    Also known as: CDDP

  • BiologicalTislelizumab

    200mg IV Q3W

    Also known as: BGB-A317

  • DrugAfatinib

    30mg PO QD

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Pathologic Complete Response

    Pathologic complete response was defined as the absence of viable tumor cells.

    Time frame: Time of surgery

Secondary outcomes

  1. Major Pathologic Response

    Major pathologic response was defined as fewer than 10% viable tumor cells.

    Time frame: Time of surgery

  2. 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

  3. Adverse Events

    Adverse events included adverse events using CTCAE Criteria and unplanned surgery delays.

    Time frame: Up to 12 weeks

  4. 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

  5. Overall Survival

    Overall survival was defined as the time from the administration of the first dose to death.

    Time frame: 1 year

07

Study locations

1 site
  • West China Hospital, Sichuan University
    Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 22, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05516589
Lead sponsor
West China Hospital
Responsible party
Xingchen Peng (Professor, West China Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 25, 2022
Start date
Sep 12, 2022
Primary completion
Oct 29, 2023
Completion
Dec 31, 2024
Last update
May 22, 2025

Study contacts

Xingchen Peng, Professor
principal investigator · West China Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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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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