Circulating Tumor Cells as an Early Predictive head-and -Neck Squamous-cell Carcinoma (CIRCUTEC)

In France, the incidence of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) is 16 000 new cases/year. During these last years, many new chemotherapies and targeted therapies have been developed improving significantly the overall survival of patients notably anti-HER molecules. In inoperable recurrent and/or metastatic HNSCC, the best treatment is based on an anti-Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) antibody, targeting Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 1 (HER1), the Cetuximab combined with platinum +/- 5 Fluoro Uracil (5FU): " Extreme protocol ". However, no clinical or biological criteria predictive of drug efficacy have been reported yet. Thus, the development of such a predictive factor is an urgent need in HNSCC at both the clinical and pharmacy-economic level, to propose the best personalized treatment. One idea would be to enumerate and characterize the circulating tumor cells (CTC) which could give us an early evaluation of the therapeutic efficiency. In this context, the investigators have developed an innovative technology, the EPISPOT assay (patent of the University Medical Center of Montpellier), that allows the detection & characterization of viable CTC in the peripheral blood. The EPISPOT technology has been already evaluated in the breast and prostate cancer.Thus, the investigors would like for the first time to perform a prospective study on a cohort of patients treated following the Extreme protocol, with this technology, to assess the predictive value of CTC count. The investigators will use the CellSearch® system as the reference test.