Preoperative Panitumumab and Radiotherapy in Rectal Cancer

The purpose of this study is to investigate the activity of panitumumab in combination with standard preoperative radiotherapy in locally advanced rectal cancer, followed by complete surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. The main hypothesis of the study is that the association of EGFR-targeting agent and radiation therapy could be as effective or even improve the rate of pathological complete tumoral response with fewer toxicities in comparison to the standard of care using chemoradiation therapy.