Sasan Razmjoo - Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
Seyed Mohammad Hosseini - Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
Hojatollah Shahbazian - Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
Shole Arvandi - Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
Pari Ghadamgahi - Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

Background: Target therapy of apoptosis signaling has been previously shown to have a therapeutic role in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The present study aimed to investigate the safety and maximum dose of Lovastatin (۸۰ mg/day) in additional standard therapy with cisplatin.Method: The current study is a phase III randomized clinical trial, conducted to determine the effect of Lovastatin on HNSCC. To eliminate the interference effect of previous treatments and surgeries, newly-diagnosed HNSCC patients were included. A total of ۴۵ patients from May ۲۰۱۷ to February ۲۰۱۸ were enrolled. The intervention group received Lovastatin/cisplatin chemoradiotherapy and the control group received only cisplatin. All the subjects were evaluated on a weekly basis during the treatment and three and six weeks after that for related adverse events (AEs). The response rate to the treatment was assessed eight weeks following the treatment.Results: No significant differences were found between the two groups concerning the objective response (OR) rate (۹۵.۸% vs. ۹۵.۲%, P = ۱, ۹۵% confidence interval). In the intervention group, tumors were entirely removed in ۷۰.۸% of the subjects and partial response was seen in ۲۵% of them. No patient was excluded due to the AEs. The gastrointestinal AE (۳۱.۱%) was the most frequent one.Conclusion: In the present study, comparing the intervention and control groups, no significant differences were observed concerning OR, but unlike previous investigations, the related cardiac AEs were not seen. This observation confirmed the hypothesis that there is a possible association of Lovastatin use with better OR compared with standard chemoradiation (cisplatin) in the initial point of the treatment. However, further research is needed to investigate different doses of Lovastatin with longer follow-ups and new diagnoses of HNSCC patients.

Carcinoma, Squamous cell, Chemoradiation, Cisplatin, Lovastatin