Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2016 Mar;17(2):142-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.cllc.2015.09.008. Epub 2015 Oct 9.

A Phase II Trial of Erlotinib and Concurrent Palliative Thoracic Radiation for Patients With Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Anand Swaminath  1 , James R Wright  2 , Theodoros K Tsakiridis  2 , Yee C Ung  3 , Gregory R Pond  4 , Ranjan Sur  2 , Thomas B Corbett  2 , Gordon Okawara  2 , Mark N Levine  5
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

A Phase II Trial of Erlotinib and Concurrent Palliative Thoracic Radiation for Patients With Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Anand Swaminath et al. Clin Lung Cancer. 2016 Mar.

Abstract

Background: The downstream signaling pathways of the epidermal growth factor receptor might influence radiation resistance. Data from preclinical work support the hypothesis that erlotinib concurrent with radiation therapy (RT) might increase cancer cell killing. The present trial was designed to examine the efficacy and toxicity of combined erlotinib and palliative chest thoracic RT in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Materials and methods: Patients with newly diagnosed stage III-IV (American Joint Committee on Cancer, version 6) or recurrent NSCLC received 3 weeks of erlotinib at a dose of 150 mg daily, starting 1 week before palliative thoracic RT to 30 Gy in 10 fractions within 2 weeks. The primary outcome was a change in the quality of life, as measured by the Lung Cancer Symptom Scale (LCSS) question on the "symptoms of lung cancer" from baseline to 4 weeks after treatment.

Results: A total of 40 patients were recruited from 2 institutions. Of the 40 patients, 22 (55%) were men, with an average age of 71 years, and 60% had stage IV disease. A total of 26 patients (65%) completed the full course of erlotinib, and 35 (88%) completed the planned RT. Twenty-five patients (62.5%) reported LCSS scores at 4 weeks after treatment, with an average change (improvement) of -12.5 U (95% confidence interval, -23.0 to -1.9; 2P = .023). This was less than the a priori hypothesis of a change of -17.5 U. The median overall and progression-free survival was 5.2 and 3.2 months, respectively.

Conclusion: The present single-arm, phase II trial did not demonstrate additional symptomatic benefit from concurrent erlotinib therapy with standard palliative thoracic RT for patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC.

Keywords: Clinical trial; Combined-modality therapy; Palliative radiation; Quality of life; Radiation sensitizer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms