Phase I trial of gemcitabine and cisplatin in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: a preliminary report

Phase II Trial of Gemcitabine and Cisplatin Sequentially Administered in Asian Patients With Unresectable or Metastatic Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Introduction: The aim of this study was to assess toxicity and response in the sequential administration of gemcitabine followed by cisplatin in unresectable or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Materials and Methods: Twenty-three patients were enrolled in this study. Gemcitabine was given at 1250 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8, for four 21-day cycles, followed by cisplatin 40 mg/m2 on days 1, 8 and 15, for three further 28-day cycles. Results: There were 4 patients with partial responses, 5 patients with stable disease and 10 patients with progressive disease, giving a response rate of 21%. The median time to disease progression was 3.3 months. The median overall survival was 14.6 months. Toxicities graded 3 or 4 included anaemia (13.0%), neutropaenia (13.0%), supraventricular tachycardia (4.3%), and nausea and vomiting (4.3%). Conclusion: Although these results show similar efficacy to single-agent treatment regimens, the low toxicity profile and promising survival outcome with this regimen are important points for consideration. Key words: Anaemia, Neutropaenia, Supraventricular tachycardia

Non-surgical therapy for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) denotes those of TNM stage III and IV. NSCLC has its specific characteristics in respect of oncological behaviour, molecular biology, sensitivity to chemotherapy (CT) and radiotherapy (RT), and requires different therapeutic strategies in comparison with small cell lung cancer. The therapies include: (1) surgery in combination with new effective drugs is resulted in improved RR from 15% a decade ago to 40-60% today. Cisplatin (C-DDP) is the most attractive drug in the treatment of NSCLC, in lengthening the life-span of Stage IV NSCLC patients and as an indispensable sensitizer in RT. Taxinol, Gemcitabine (GEM), Navelbine (NVB), Edatrexate (ETX), CPT-11 and high dose Epirubicin (EPI HD) are recommended as new effective drugs. Response rates recently reported for the combination CT with the drugs mentioned above for NSCLC are from 30-65%, and with 8-42 weeks of MST. Induction or neoadjuvant therapies for advanced NSCLC, with 40-69% of RR, 25-29% of complete resection rate, 8-34% of CR and 17-45% of one year SR are reviewed. Eight random studies comparing MST between CT with C-DDP and best supportive care for NSCLC are statistically significant. (2) RT for Stage III NSCLC with 2 year and 5 year survivals of 20 and 5% respectively. Although such outcome is hardly acceptable, RT sensitizer, modified RT techniques and chemoradiotherapy (CRT) are imperative to improve the effect of RT in advanced NSCLC. Clinical literature suggest that CRT is better than RT, though without marked difference. Further studies and sufficient follow-up are necessary to judge the efficacy in terms of long-term survival and toxic reaction. (3) Biological therapy: gene therapy of NSCLC is still in the experimental and developmental stage. Of biological response modifier (BRM), alpha IFN in 11 cases of NSCLC with RR of 9% and MST of 14 months, IL-2 and LAK cell treatment in 11 cases with RR of 9% and MST of 18 months are reported. Instillation of BRM such as IL-2 or alpha-IFN into the pleura after drainage of cancerous effusion has been reported as the most effective for those whose RR is of 80-90% and the clinical response time is fairly long. Hematological cytokine as a protective adjuvant therapy against CT/RT toxicity makes high dose of CT possible and raises the response and patient tolerance. In multimodality therapy, it plays an important role to reduce post CT infection and septicemia.