Cren PY, Rosier G, Penel N, Pannier D, Dereumaux N, et al.
Bulletin du cancer •
Management of immediate hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs) is an everyday practice issue in oncology. Our primary objective aimed to harmonize the management of HSRs. The second aim was to evaluate the implementation of this new protocol and to describe HSRs in real life settings. First, we held several multidisciplinary meetings to develop an internal consensus. Then, we conducted a prospective assessment. First, this work led to a consensus, resulting in new management guidelines. Second, we identified 25 HSRs involving 23 patients (we treat about 100 patients daily, five days a week). On average, a reaction occurred every 9.8 days. According to Brown's classification, our observations included 9 grade 3 HSRs (36%), 9 grade 2 HSRs (36%), and 7 grade 1 HSRs (28%). Most frequent treatments involved in grade 3 HSRs were: Paclitaxel 3 cases (33%), Carboplatin 3 cases (33%) and Cetuximab 2 cases (22%). Following HSR, we observed a change in the planned anti-cancer treatment strategy in 76% of cases. Our work has standardized the management of HSRs in our cancer hospital. It also allows for close monitoring of HSRs, enabling us to understand them more clearly.
Cetuximab is an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor antibody used for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer and head and neck cancer. Hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs) are associated with cetuximab use. The aim of the study was to evaluate the utility of anti-cetuximab immunoglobulin E (IgE) detection in order to identify patients at risk of HSR to cetuximab. We included patients ready to receive a first cetuximab infusion in a prospective cohort carried out at nine French centres. Pretreatment anti-cetuximab IgE levels were measured. We compared the proportion of severe HSRs in the low anti-cetuximab IgE levels (≤29 IgE arbitrary units) subgroup with that in a historical cohort of 213 patients extracted from a previous study. Of the 301 assessable patients (mean age: 60.9 ± 9.3 years, head-and-neck cancer: 77%), 66 patients (22%) had high anti-cetuximab IgE levels, and 247 patients received cetuximab (including 38 with high anti-cetuximab levels). Severe HSRs occurred in eight patients (five grade 3 and three grade 4). The proportion of severe HSRs was lower in the low anti-cetuximab IgE levels subgroup vs. the historical cohort (3/209 [1.4%] vs. 11/213 [5.2%], odds ratio, 0.27, 95% confidence interval, 0.07-0.97), and higher in high vs. low anti-cetuximab IgE levels subgroup (5/38 [13.2%] vs. 3/209 [1.4%]; odds ratio, 10.4, 95% confidence interval, 2.4-45.6). Patients with severe HSRs had higher anti-cetuximab IgE levels than patients without reaction (median, 45 vs. 2 IgE arbitrary units, P = 0.006). Detection of pretreatment anti-cetuximab IgE is feasible and helpful to identify patients at risk of severe cetuximab-induced HSRs.
Colorectal cancers (CRC) express the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R), a type I transmembrane receptor with tyrosine kinase activity. EGF-R signaling inhibition is a promising target for cancer therapy. ZD1839 (Iressa, AstraZeneca) and OSI-774 (Tarceva, Roche) are small molecular weight molecules with selective and reversible tyrosine kinase inhibition properties directed to EGF-R. Orally administered, these molecules induce sustained tumor stabilizations in previously treated metastatic CRC patients. The most frequent treatment-related toxicities are fatigue, diarrhea and acne-like follicular rash. The addition in the clinic of 5-FU, lOHP or CPT-11 to ZD1839 or OSI-774 does not seem to increase the own toxicity of each cytotoxic agents. Cetuximab (Erbitux, Merck) is an intravenously administered humanized monoclonal antibody which bind with high affinity with the extracellular domain of the EGF-R. The most frequent treatment-related toxicities are diarrhea, fatigue, nausea and cutaneous toxicity (allergic or acne-like follicular rashes, folliculitis). Most, if not all of these adverse events are mild. Partial responses were observed with cetuximab either alone (RR: 10%) or in combination with CPT-11 (RR: 22%) in patients with CPT-11 refractory advanced CRC which expressed EGF-R. The combination of cetuximab to folinic acid, 5-FU and CPT-11 seems tolerable at the cost of a slight increase of severe diarrhea and neutropenia. Finally, the promising activity of these EGF-R inhibitors has to be confirmed throughout randomized studies.