Isamu Okamoto1, Hiroshi Nokihara2, Shogo Nomura3, Seiji Niho4, Shunichi Sugawara5, Hidehito Horinouchi6, Koichi Azuma7, Yasuto Yoneshima1, Haruyasu Murakami8, Yukio Hosomi9, Shinji Atagi10, Tomohiro Ozaki11, Atsushi Horiike12, Yuka Fujita13, Hiroaki Okamoto14, Masahiko Ando15, Nobuyuki Yamamoto16, Yuichiro Ohe6, Kazuhiko Nakagawa17. 1. Research Institute for Diseases of the Chest, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. 2. Department of Respiratory Medicine and Rheumatology, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima, Japan. 3. Japan Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG) Data Center/Operations Office, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. 4. Department of Thoracic Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Chiba, Japan. 5. Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Sendai Kousei Hospital, Miyagi, Japan. 6. Department of Thoracic Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. 7. Division of Respirology, Neurology, and Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan. 8. Division of Thoracic Oncology, Shizuoka Cancer Center, Shizuoka, Japan. 9. Department of Thoracic Oncology and Respiratory Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Diseases Center, Komagome Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. 10. Department of Thoracic Oncology, National Hospital Organization Kinki-chuo Chest Medical Center, Osaka, Japan. 11. Division of Medical Oncology, Kishiwada City Hospital, Osaka, Japan. 12. Department of Thoracic Medical Oncology, The Cancer Institute Hospital of Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo, Japan. 13. National Hospital Organization Asahikawa Medical Center, Asahikawa, Japan. 14. Department of Respiratory Medicine, Yokohama Municipal Citizen's Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan. 15. Center for Advanced Medicine and Clinical Research, Nagoya University Hospital, Nagoya, Japan. 16. Internal Medicine III, Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama, Japan. 17. Department of Medical Oncology, Kindai University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
Abstract
Importance: Few clinical trials have been specifically designed for elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and the anticipated increase in the number of such patients has prompted a search for new treatment options that provide a greater palliative benefit. Objective: To determine whether treatment with carboplatin plus pemetrexed followed by pemetrexed maintenance is noninferior compared with docetaxel monotherapy with regard to overall survival (OS) for elderly patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC. Design, Setting, and Participants: This open-label, multicenter, noninferiority phase 3 randomized clinical trial was conducted at 79 institutions in Japan. Cytotoxic chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC, an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 or 1, and age of 75 years or older were enrolled between August 2013 and February 2017. Data were analyzed from November 2018 to February 2019. Interventions: Patients were randomized to receive either docetaxel monotherapy (60 mg/m2) every 3 weeks or 4 cycles of carboplatin (area under the curve of 5) plus pemetrexed (500 mg/m2) administered every 3 weeks followed by maintenance therapy with the same dose of pemetrexed for 3 weeks. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary end point was OS analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis with a noninferiority margin of 1.154 for the upper limit of the 95% CI of the hazard ratio (HR) estimated with a stratified Cox regression model. Results: Of the 433 enrolled patients, 250 (57.7%) were male, and the median (range) age was 78 (75-88) years. The median OS was 15.5 months (95% CI, 13.6-18.4) in the docetaxel group (n = 217) and 18.7 months (95% CI, 16.0-21.9) in the carboplatin-pemetrexed group (n = 216), with a stratified HR for OS of 0.850 (95% CI, 0.684-1.056; P for noninferiority = .003). Progression-free survival was also longer in the carboplatin-pemetrexed group (unstratified HR, 0.739; 95% CI, 0.609-0.896). Compared with those in the docetaxel group, those in the carboplatin-pemetrexed had lower rates of leukopenia (60 of 214 [28.0%] vs 147 of 214 [68.7%]) and neutropenia (99 of 214 [46.3%] vs 184 of 214 [86.0%]) of grade 3 or 4 and of febrile neutropenia (9 of 214 [4.2%] vs 38 of 214 [17.8%]) and higher rates of thrombocytopenia (55 of 214 [25.7%] vs 3 of 214 [1.4%]) and anemia (63 of 214 [29.4%] vs 4 of 214 [1.9%]) of grade 3 or 4. Dose reductions were less frequent with carboplatin-pemetrexed. Conclusion and Relevance: Carboplatin-pemetrexed treatment followed by pemetrexed maintenance is a valid option for first-line treatment of elderly patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC. Trial Registration: University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry Identifier: UMIN000011460.
RCT Entities:
Importance: Few clinical trials have been specifically designed for elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and the anticipated increase in the number of such patients has prompted a search for new treatment options that provide a greater palliative benefit. Objective: To determine whether treatment with carboplatin plus pemetrexed followed by pemetrexed maintenance is noninferior compared with docetaxel monotherapy with regard to overall survival (OS) for elderly patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC. Design, Setting, and Participants: This open-label, multicenter, noninferiority phase 3 randomized clinical trial was conducted at 79 institutions in Japan. Cytotoxic chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC, an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 or 1, and age of 75 years or older were enrolled between August 2013 and February 2017. Data were analyzed from November 2018 to February 2019. Interventions: Patients were randomized to receive either docetaxel monotherapy (60 mg/m2) every 3 weeks or 4 cycles of carboplatin (area under the curve of 5) plus pemetrexed (500 mg/m2) administered every 3 weeks followed by maintenance therapy with the same dose of pemetrexed for 3 weeks. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary end point was OS analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis with a noninferiority margin of 1.154 for the upper limit of the 95% CI of the hazard ratio (HR) estimated with a stratified Cox regression model. Results: Of the 433 enrolled patients, 250 (57.7%) were male, and the median (range) age was 78 (75-88) years. The median OS was 15.5 months (95% CI, 13.6-18.4) in the docetaxel group (n = 217) and 18.7 months (95% CI, 16.0-21.9) in the carboplatin-pemetrexed group (n = 216), with a stratified HR for OS of 0.850 (95% CI, 0.684-1.056; P for noninferiority = .003). Progression-free survival was also longer in the carboplatin-pemetrexed group (unstratified HR, 0.739; 95% CI, 0.609-0.896). Compared with those in the docetaxel group, those in the carboplatin-pemetrexed had lower rates of leukopenia (60 of 214 [28.0%] vs 147 of 214 [68.7%]) and neutropenia (99 of 214 [46.3%] vs 184 of 214 [86.0%]) of grade 3 or 4 and of febrile neutropenia (9 of 214 [4.2%] vs 38 of 214 [17.8%]) and higher rates of thrombocytopenia (55 of 214 [25.7%] vs 3 of 214 [1.4%]) and anemia (63 of 214 [29.4%] vs 4 of 214 [1.9%]) of grade 3 or 4. Dose reductions were less frequent with carboplatin-pemetrexed. Conclusion and Relevance: Carboplatin-pemetrexed treatment followed by pemetrexed maintenance is a valid option for first-line treatment of elderly patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC. Trial Registration: University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry Identifier: UMIN000011460.
Authors: Andreea Crintea; Alina Gabriela Dutu; Anne-Marie Constantin; Zsolt Fekete; Gabriel Samasca; Iulia Lupan; Ioan Alexandru Florian; Ciprian Nicolae Silaghi; Alexandra Marioara Craciun Journal: Biology (Basel) Date: 2022-01-06