Vorinostat in Combination With Chemoradiation in Locally Advanced HPV Negative HNSCC

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors have been shown to increase reverse resistance to cisplatin and radiation therapy. This phase 2 study comes after an already completed phase 1 study which examined tolerability of pan-HDAC inhibitor, Vorinostat, in combination with chemoradiation in locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The study showed that Vorinostat in combination with concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CRT) is safe and estimated 5-year OS of HPV- patients is 77.8% which is considerably higher than the 5-year overall survival (OS) of 46.2% in HPV- HNSCC patients treated with standard concurrent chemoradiation. Based on this phase 1 study, the hypothesis is that Vorinostat, in combination with chemoradiation, will increase median progression-free survival compared to chemoradiation alone treatment in HPV-HNSCC.