Currently, although NCCN(National Comprehensive Cancer Network) guidelines recommend induction chemotherapy combined with concurrent chemoradiotherapy as IIA level-evidenced treatment for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (stage II-IVa),there is still about 20-30% of patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma experienced recurrence and metastasis after radical treatment.

Our previous results showed that patients with plasma Epstein-Barr virus(EBV) DNA> 0 copy/mL or stable disease/progressive disease(SD/PD) after induction chemotherapy had a significantly higher risk of disease progression than patients with plasma EBV DNA=0 copy/mL and complete response/partial response(CR/PR),according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). As for these high-risk patients, the urgent clinical problem to be solved is whether increased treatment intensity during concurrent chemoradiotherapy can improve their survival rates.

Epidermal growth factor (EGFR) is an important therapeutic target for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Multiple retrospective studies have shown that chemoradiotherapy combined with the EGFR blocker nimotuzumab improved the survival rate of patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma compared with chemoradiotherapy alone. However, phase II randomized clinical trial about the incorporation of nimotuzumab into concurrent chemoradiotherapy is still limited.

This is the first phase II randomized clinical trial of concurrent chemoradiotherapy with or without Nimotuzumab for high risk locally advanced NPC patients, determining whether concurrent chemoradiotherapy combined with nimotuzumab can improve the survival rate of high-risk patients and may provide new evidence for individualized comprehensive treatment of locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.