A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled safety study to evaluate the clinical effects and quality of life of paclitaxel-carboplatin (PC) alone or combined with endostar for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the efficacy and quality of life and safety for paclitaxel and carboplatin (TC) and TC combined with endostar in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This is a prospective, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study. A total of 126 cases of untreated advanced NSCLC were enrolled in this study. There were 63 patients in the TC control arm and TC combined endostar arm, respectively. All enrolled patients were continuously followed-up for disease progression and death.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The objective response rate (ORR) of TC combined with endostar arm was 39.3%, and that of TC control arm was 23.0%, P = 0.078. The progression-free survival rates for TC combined with endostar arm and TC control arm were 78.3% and 58.8%, respectively, in 24 weeks (P = 0.017). The hazard ratio for the risk of disease progression was 0.35 (95%CI 0.13 to 0.90, P = 0.030). The median time to progression (TTP) of the TC combined with endostar arm was 7.1 months and TC arm 6.3 months (P > 0.05). The follow-up results showed that the median survival time (mOS) of the TC + Endostar arm was 17.6 months; (95%CI 13.4 to 21.7 months), and the TC + placebo arm 15.8 months (95%CI 9.4 to 22.9 months) (P > 0.05). The quality of life scores (LCSS patient scale) after treatment of the TC combined with endostar arm was improved, and that of the TC group was improved after completion of two cycles and three cycles of treatment. The quality of life scores compared with baseline after the completion of one cycle treatment was significantly improved for both the TC combined with endostar arm (P = 0.028 and), and TC arm (P = 0.036). It Indicated that TC combined with endostar treatment improved the patient's quality of life in the early treatment. The difference of adverse and serious adverse event rates between the two groups was not significant (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Compared with TC alone treatmrnt, TC combined with endostar treatment can reduce the risk of disease progression at early time (24 weeks), increase the ORR, and can be used as first-line treatment for advanced NSCLC. The TC combined with endostar treatment has good safety and tolerability, improves the quality of life, and not increases serious adverse effects and toxicity for patients with advanced NSCLC.</p>

Clinical observation of gefitinib for the treatment of 125 cases with advanced non-small cell lung cancer / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the efficacy and safety of gefitinib for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>125 patients with advanced NSCLC who had failed or not tolerated or refused chemotherapy received 250 mg oral doses of gefitinib once daily until the disease progression or intolerable toxicity.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 125 NSCLC patients were studied, the overall response rate (RR) and the disease control rate (DCR) after administration of gefitinib were 35.2% (44/125) and 77.6% (97/125), respectively. The median progression-free survival and the median survival time were 5.8 and 11.2 months, respectively. The one-year survival rate was 40.5%. The response rate was significantly higher in females, adenocarcinoma and nonsmokers than that in males, non-adenocarcinoma and smokers (P < 0.05). The response rate did not show significant differences regarding ECOG score or previous treatment. The median progression-free survival was significantly longer in ECOG PS 0-1 and gefitinib effective patients than that in ECOG PS >or= 2 and gefitinib ineffective patients (P < 0.01). The median survival time was significantly longer in adenocarcinoma, nonsmokers and gefitinib effective patients than that in non-adenocarcinoma, smokers and gefitinib ineffective patients (P < 0.05). The most common side effects were rash (51.2%) and diarrhea (34.4%), but usually were mild.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Gefitinib is effective and safe in the treatment of advanced NSCLC patients.</p>

Randomized study of thalidomide combined with vinorelbine and cisplatin chemotherapy for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the efficacy, median time to progression (TTP), quality of life and toxicity in the patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), treated with thalidomide plus vinorelbine and cisplatin (NP) or NP alone.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty six patients with advanced NSCLC were divided randomly into two groups, the trial and control groups. The trial group was treated with vinorelbine 25 approximately 30 mg/m(2) i.v. on D1 and D8, cisplatin 70 approximately 80 mg/m(2) i.v. on D1 (NP regimen), and thalidomide 200 mg orally and daily from D1. The control group received vinorelbine and cisplatin as above described.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of 66 assessable patients, the overall response rate was 51.5% in the trial group and 36.4% in the control group (P = 0.22). The median TTP was 6.0 months for the trial group, and 3.6 months for the control group (P < 0.001). The score of quality of life in trial group was higher than that in the control group, but no significant difference was observed between the two groups (P > 0.05). There were no significant differences in toxicities between the two groups (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>NP regimen combined with thalidomide can significantly prolong the median time to tumor progression in patients with advanced NSCLC. Thalidomide may have a synergic activity with NP regimen without increased toxicities.</p>

Clinical significance of serum VEGF and bFGF detection in patients with non-small cell lung cancer / 上海第二医科大学学报

Objective To investigate the levels of serum vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) and relationships with c1inicopatho1ogica1 characteristics and their clinical significance. Methods The concentrations of serum VEGF and bFGF were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) in 40 patients with NSCLC before and after chemotherapy. Results The level of serum VEGF in patients with Ⅳ stage NSCLC was significantly higher than that of Ⅲ stage(P