Patients with relapsing and/or metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma of the salivary gland of the head and neck are usually poor responders to conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy.~The investigation of proliferation pathways involving tyrosine kinase receptors such as c-kit receptor (KIT) and PDGF receptor may allow to identify a molecular target for novel therapeutic approaches in patients with adenoid cystic carcinoma who failed locoregional treatment.~Several publications in the literature and the pathological study we conducted in Institut Gustave Roussy show that KIT overexpression is observed in at least 80-90% of the cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma, supporting the investigation of imatinib in patients with adenoid cystic carcinoma overexpressing KIT.~Imatinib is an orally administrated, well tolerated compound that could be given on an outpatient schedule to patients with relapsing/metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck.~Because of the infrequent occurrence of salivary gland malignancies, a multicenter trial will be mandatory and the study will include at least 2 centers represented by Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif; and Hôpital Georges-Pompidou, Paris.
This is a Phase II study of imatinib (Glivec) administered as a daily oral treatment in patients with recurrent/metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck overexpressing KIT.