Yuan Zhang1, Lei Chen1, Guo-Qing Hu1, Ning Zhang1, Xiao-Dong Zhu1, Kun-Yu Yang1, Feng Jin1, Mei Shi1, Yu-Pei Chen1, Wei-Han Hu1, Zhi-Bin Cheng1, Si-Yang Wang1, Ye Tian1, Xi-Cheng Wang1, Yan Sun1, Jin-Gao Li1, Wen-Fei Li1, Yu-Hong Li1, Ling-Long Tang1, Yan-Ping Mao1, Guan-Qun Zhou1, Rui Sun1, Xu Liu1, Rui Guo1, Guo-Xian Long1, Shao-Qiang Liang1, Ling Li1, Jing Huang1, Jin-Hua Long1, Jian Zang1, Qiao-Dan Liu1, Li Zou1, Qiong-Fei Su1, Bao-Min Zheng1, Yun Xiao1, Ying Guo1, Fei Han1, Hao-Yuan Mo1, Jia-Wei Lv1, Xiao-Jing Du1, Cheng Xu1, Na Liu1, Ying-Qin Li1, Melvin L K Chua1, Fang-Yun Xie1, Ying Sun1, Jun Ma1. 1. From the Departments of Radiation Oncology (Y.Z., L.C., Y.-P.C., W.-H.H., W.-F.L., L.-L.T., Y.-P.M., G.-Q.Z., R.S., X.L., R.G., F.H., J.-W.L., X.-J.D., C.X., N.L., Y.-Q.L., F.-Y.X., Ying Sun, J.M.), Medical Oncology (Y.-H.L.), and Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (H.-Y.M.) and the Clinical Trials Center (Y.G.), Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, the State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy (Y.Z., L.C., Y.-P.C., W.-H.H., W.-F.L., L.-L.T., Y.-P.M., G.-Q.Z., R.S., X.L., R.G., F.H., J.-W.L., X.-J.D., C.X., N.L., Y.-Q.L., F.-Y.X., Ying Sun, J.M.), and the Department of Radiation Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University (X.-C.W., Q.-F.S.), Guangzhou, the Cancer Center, Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College (G.-Q.H., G.-X.L.), and the Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College (K.-Y.Y., J.H.), Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, the Department of Radiation Oncology, First People's Hospital of Foshan, Foshan (N.Z., S.-Q.L.), the Department of Radiation Oncology, Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning (X.-D.Z., L.L.), the Department of Head and Neck Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guizhou Cancer Hospital, Guiyang (F.J., J.-H.L.), the Department of Radiation Oncology, XiJing Hospital of Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an (M.S., J.Z.), the Cancer Center (Z.-B.C.), and the Department of Head and Neck Oncology (S.-Y.W., Q.-D.L.), Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, the Department of Radiation Oncology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou (Y.T., L.Z.), the Department of Radiation Oncology, Peking University Cancer Hospital, Beijing (Yan Sun, B.-M.Z.), and the Department of Radiation Oncology, Jiangxi Cancer Hospital, Nanchang (J.-G.L., Y.X.) - all in China; and the Divisions of Radiation Oncology and Medical Sciences, National Cancer Center Singapore, and the Oncology Academic Program, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School - both in Singapore (M.L.K.C.).
Abstract
BACKGROUND:Platinum-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy is the standard of care for patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Additional gemcitabine and cisplatin induction chemotherapy has shown promising efficacy in phase 2 trials. METHODS: In a parallel-group, multicenter, randomized, controlled, phase 3 trial, we compared gemcitabine and cisplatin as induction chemotherapy plus concurrent chemoradiotherapy with concurrent chemoradiotherapy alone. Patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive gemcitabine (at a dose of 1 g per square meter of body-surface area on days 1 and 8) plus cisplatin (80 mg per square meter on day 1), administered every 3 weeks for three cycles, plus chemoradiotherapy (concurrent cisplatin at a dose of 100 mg per square meter every 3 weeks for three cycles plus intensity-modulated radiotherapy) or chemoradiotherapy alone. The primary end point was recurrence-free survival (i.e., freedom from disease recurrence [distant metastasis or locoregional recurrence] or death from any cause) in the intention-to-treat population. Secondary end points included overall survival, treatment adherence, and safety. RESULTS: A total of 480 patients were included in the trial (242 patients in the induction chemotherapy group and 238 in the standard-therapy group). At a median follow-up of 42.7 months, the 3-year recurrence-free survival was 85.3% in the induction chemotherapy group and 76.5% in the standard-therapy group (stratified hazard ratio for recurrence or death, 0.51; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.34 to 0.77; P = 0.001). Overall survival at 3 years was 94.6% and 90.3%, respectively (stratified hazard ratio for death, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.24 to 0.77). A total of 96.7% of the patients completed three cycles of induction chemotherapy. The incidence of acute adverse events of grade 3 or 4 was 75.7% in the induction chemotherapy group and 55.7% in the standard-therapy group, with a higher incidence of neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, anemia, nausea, and vomiting in the induction chemotherapy group. The incidence of grade 3 or 4 late toxic effects was 9.2% in the induction chemotherapy group and 11.4% in the standard-therapy group. CONCLUSIONS:Induction chemotherapy added to chemoradiotherapy significantly improved recurrence-free survival and overall survival, as compared with chemoradiotherapy alone, among patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. (Funded by the Innovation Team Development Plan of the Ministry of Education and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01872962.).
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND:Platinum-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy is the standard of care for patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Additional gemcitabine and cisplatin induction chemotherapy has shown promising efficacy in phase 2 trials. METHODS: In a parallel-group, multicenter, randomized, controlled, phase 3 trial, we compared gemcitabine and cisplatin as induction chemotherapy plus concurrent chemoradiotherapy with concurrent chemoradiotherapy alone. Patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive gemcitabine (at a dose of 1 g per square meter of body-surface area on days 1 and 8) plus cisplatin (80 mg per square meter on day 1), administered every 3 weeks for three cycles, plus chemoradiotherapy (concurrent cisplatin at a dose of 100 mg per square meter every 3 weeks for three cycles plus intensity-modulated radiotherapy) or chemoradiotherapy alone. The primary end point was recurrence-free survival (i.e., freedom from disease recurrence [distant metastasis or locoregional recurrence] or death from any cause) in the intention-to-treat population. Secondary end points included overall survival, treatment adherence, and safety. RESULTS: A total of 480 patients were included in the trial (242 patients in the induction chemotherapy group and 238 in the standard-therapy group). At a median follow-up of 42.7 months, the 3-year recurrence-free survival was 85.3% in the induction chemotherapy group and 76.5% in the standard-therapy group (stratified hazard ratio for recurrence or death, 0.51; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.34 to 0.77; P = 0.001). Overall survival at 3 years was 94.6% and 90.3%, respectively (stratified hazard ratio for death, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.24 to 0.77). A total of 96.7% of the patients completed three cycles of induction chemotherapy. The incidence of acute adverse events of grade 3 or 4 was 75.7% in the induction chemotherapy group and 55.7% in the standard-therapy group, with a higher incidence of neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, anemia, nausea, and vomiting in the induction chemotherapy group. The incidence of grade 3 or 4 late toxic effects was 9.2% in the induction chemotherapy group and 11.4% in the standard-therapy group. CONCLUSIONS: Induction chemotherapy added to chemoradiotherapy significantly improved recurrence-free survival and overall survival, as compared with chemoradiotherapy alone, among patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. (Funded by the Innovation Team Development Plan of the Ministry of Education and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01872962.).
Authors: Longlong Xie; Feng Shi; Yueshuo Li; We Li; Xinfang Yu; Lin Zhao; Min Zhou; Jianmin Hu; Xiangjian Luo; Min Tang; Jia Fan; Jian Zhou; Qiang Gao; Weizhong Wu; Xin Zhang; Weihua Liao; Ann M Bode; Ya Cao Journal: Signal Transduct Target Ther Date: 2020-05-20
Authors: Kenneth C W Wong; Edwin P Hui; Kwok-Wai Lo; Wai Kei Jacky Lam; David Johnson; Lili Li; Qian Tao; Kwan Chee Allen Chan; Ka-Fai To; Ann D King; Brigette B Y Ma; Anthony T C Chan Journal: Nat Rev Clin Oncol Date: 2021-06-30 Impact factor: 66.675