Correlation between the efficacy of amrubicin and the previous chemotherapy regimen for relapsed small cell lung cancer.

Amrubicin has been demonstrated to be beneficial in the treatment of patients with relapsed small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether there is a significant difference in the efficacy of amrubicin between patients with relapsed SCLC who were previously treated with a platinum agent in combination with a topoisomerase I inhibitor, and those patients previously treated with a platinum agent in combination with a topoisomerase II inhibitor. The medical records of patients with SCLC, who were diagnosed as having relapsed following treatment with a platinum-based regimen and subsequently received amrubicin monotherapy, were retrospectively reviewed. Of a total of 48 patients with SCLC who were treated with amrubicin, the overall response rate, median progression-free survival (PFS) time and median survival time (MST) were determined to be 31.3%, 7.1 and 17.0 months, respectively. The response rate, PFS time and MST did not differ significantly between the patients treated previously with a platinum agent in combination with irinotecan, a topoisomerase I inhibitor, (36.4%, 5.7 and 11.4 months, respectively) and those treated previously with a platinum agent in combination with etoposide, a topoisomerase II inhibitor (30.0%, 4.7 and 14.8 months, respectively). The results indicate that amrubicin may be effective as a second-line chemotherapeutic agent for patients with SCLC, irrespective of which platinum agent and topoisomerase inhibitor-based chemotherapy regimen was previously administered.