Giaccone G, Gallegos Ruiz M, Le Chevalier T, Thatcher N, Smit E, Rodriguez JA, Janne P, Oulid-Aissa D, Soria JC. Erlotinib for frontline treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer: a phase II study.
Clin Cancer Res 2006;
12:6049-55. [PMID:
17062680 DOI:
10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-06-0260]
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Abstract
PURPOSE
Erlotinib has proven activity in pretreated patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We evaluated erlotinib in the frontline treatment of advanced NSCLC and assessed biological predictors of outcome.
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
In this phase II study, chemotherapy-naive patients with stage IIIB/IV NSCLC received oral erlotinib (150 mg/d) until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity occurred. Tumor response was assessed every 6 weeks, and samples were analyzed for potential molecular markers of treatment response and survival. The primary end point was the proportion of patients without disease progression after 6 weeks of treatment.
RESULTS
Fifty-three patients were eligible. The overall rate of nonprogression at 6 weeks was 52.8% (28 of 53 patients). Tumor response rate was 22.7%, with 1 complete response, 11 partial responses, and 16 cases of stable disease. Responses were seen across most patient clinical characteristics. The median duration of tumor response was 333 days; median overall survival was 391 days; and median time to disease progression was 84 days. Erlotinib was well tolerated, the main treatment-related adverse events being mild-to-moderate rash and diarrhea. Histologic material for biological studies was available in 29 cases. Four of five responders and one patient with stable disease had a classic epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase mutation. Two progressing patients exhibited epidermal growth factor receptor point mutations (one with T790M mutation), and K-ras mutations were detected in 10 nonresponders.
CONCLUSIONS
Erlotinib shows significant antitumor activity in the first-line treatment of advanced NSCLC and may be a viable alternative to chemotherapy. Patient selection cannot easily be based on clinical or biological variables.
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