Antibiotic minocycline reduced facial rash and itching when given to patients with colorectal cancer from the beginning of their treatment with Erbitux® (cetuximab). Erbitux causes an unsightly and uncomfortable skin rash in almost all patients, although its presence and intensity is related to successful response to treatment.
Dermatologists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York randomly assigned 48 patients to receive either daily oral minocycline or a placebo as soon as they began treatment with Erbitux. They also tested applying tazarotene ointment to one side of the face only.
After four weeks of treatment, patients receiving minocycline had
- Less moderate to severe rash: 20 percent of minocycline group versus 42 percent of placebo.
- Less moderate to severe itching: 20 percent versus 50 percent.
- To stop treatment due to severe rash: no minocycline patients compared to four in the placebo arm
No benefit was seen with tazarotene applied to the skin, and one third of patients had to stop using it because of severe irritation.
After 8 weeks, there were few differences between the treated and placebo groups.
Minocycline belongs to the tetracycline family of antibiotics and has been used to treat acne and other skin infections.
Alon Scope and team concluded,
Prophylaxis with oral minocycline may be useful in decreasing the severity of the acneiform rash during the first month of cetuximab treatment. Topical tazarotene is not recommended for management of cetuximab-related rash.
SOURCE: Scope et al. Journal of Clinical Oncology,Volume 25, Number 34, December 1, 2007.
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