Efficacy of sequential chemoradiotherapy combined with toripalimab in de novo metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A phase II trial

Abstract

Locoregional radiotherapy added to chemotherapy has significantly improved survival in de novo metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (mNPC). However, only 54% of de novo mNPC patients who received sequential chemoradiotherapy have complete or partial response 3 months after radiotherapy. This Simon's optimal two-stage design phase II study (NCT04398056) investigates whether PD-1 inhibitor could improve tumor control in combination with chemoradiation. The primary endpoint is objective response rate (ORR) at 3 months after radiotherapy. Twenty-two patients with primary mNPC are enrolled. The ORR at 3 months after radiotherapy is 81.8% (22.7% complete response, n = 5; 59.1% partial response, n = 13), and the disease control rate is 81.8%. The 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate is 44.9% (95% confidence interval 26.4%-76.3%). Fifteen patients (68.2%) experienced grade 3-4 adverse events. Patients with high baseline plasma Epstein-Barr virus DNA copy number (>10⁴ cps/mL) show worse PFS. Addition of toripalimab to sequential chemoradiotherapy suggests promising tumor response in patients with primary mNPC.

Keywords: PD-1 inhibitor; combination modality therapy; immune checkpoint inhibitors; metastases; nasopharyngeal carcinoma; toripalimab.