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Pilot Study of EGFR Inhibition with Erlotinib in Cirrhosis to Inhibit Fibrogenesis and Prevent Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The Schema is a timeline of the study. It indicates start/end points, visits expected, major testing to be done, and any other information that is crucial to understanding how the study was completed.



Participants completed informed consent forms and passed inclusion and exclusion checklists to get pre-registered. They were divided into a Surgical Cohort (Cohort A) and a Non-Surgical Cohort (Cohort B). The Surgical Cohort then had Screen 1A, which included a Physical exam, medical surgical history, baseline symptoms, concomitant medications, laboratory studies, pregnancy test, if applicable and baseline quantitative HCV RNA (only for HCV+ participants). The Surgical Cohort then had screen 2A, for individuals who are scheduled for liver resection surgery, percutaneous or trans jugular liver biopsy (US-guided, if applicable) with collection of cirrhotic liver tissue. The Non-Surgical Cohort first had Screen 1B to obtain and submit formalin- fixed tissue for real-time Phospho EGFR assessment. If the Phospho EGFR stain was positive, they went on to Screen 2B, consisting of, physical exam, medical surgical history, baseline symptoms, concomitant medications, laboratory studies, pregnancy test, if applicable, baseline quantitative HCV RNA (only for HCV+ participants). If the Phospho EGFR stain was negative resulted in a Screen Failure. Screening, for both Cohorts, was followed by Registration and Assignment to a Dose Level Group (n-45), (This accounts for screen failures from the non-surgical cohort as well as other screen failures from the surgical cohort (approximately 30%).

Intervention involved daily erlotinib for 7 days at assigned dose (5-14 days is the acceptable range for being considered evaluable). See Section 3 for detail concerning how treatment arms and expansion cohort will be assigned.

  • Dose level +2 = 150 mg/day
  • Dose level +1 = 100 mg/day
  • Dose level 0 = 75 mg/day (starting dose level)
  • Dose level -1 = 50 mg/day
  • Dose level -2 = 25 mg/day
  • Post-intervention Evaluation, Timeframe: May begin on the day prior to surgery (surgical cohort A only); must be complete before administration of anesthesia on the day of surgery (surgical cohort A) or biopsy (non-surgical cohort B).

    1. Physical exam, WIWI Questionnaire
    2. Final AE Assessment
    3. Final dose of erlotinib (on the day of surgery before blood is drawn for labs and research)
    4. Repeat laboratory studies and research blood draw (prior to anesthesia)

    Next, Collection of Post-Intervention Data and Specimens. Collection of portion of resected liver (non-tumor bearing tissue ≥ 1 cm from negative margin for surgical cohort A) or tissue from liver biopsy (non-surgical cohort B) for biomarker assessment and endpoint evaluation.

    Lastly, Endpoint: To find the safe and minimum effective dose (MED) that achieves at least a 40% response rate, where a response is defined as an evaluable participant that achieves a reduction of at least 50% from baseline in liver phospho-EGFR staining, defined as the percentage of positive pixels, after a 7-day intervention period with daily erlotinib.