Montefiore Medical Center researchers are studying a new drug that has the potential to fight recurrent and highly resistant head and neck cancer. Montefiore is the only medical center in New York City involved in the phase 3, multi-institutional national study that will enroll 140 people.

"The drug is designed to kill the cancer cells and to stop tumor growth by using what is called the p53 suppressor gene," said Missak Haigentz, an oncologist and principal investigator for the study at Montefiore. The p53 gene, when mutated, is frequently associated with the unregulated growth of cancer cells.

Head and neck cancers account for approximately three percent of all cancers in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute. They are more common in people over the age of fifty. It is estimated that 38,000 men and women in the U.S. will develop head and neck cancer in 2002.

"The drug, called Advexin, has been shown to be safe and well tolerated in earlier clinical trials," said Dr. Haiglentz. "At Montefiore, we will be comparing its effectiveness and safety to current standard treatments in two trials."

In the first trial, Montefiore researchers will compare Advexin combined with standard chemotherapy, with a treatment of chemotherapy alone in patients with recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. In a second trial, researchers will compare Advexin with the drug methotrexate in patients with highly resistant squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.