A phase II open-label multicenter study of gefitinib in combination with irradiation followed by chemotherapy in patients with inoperable stage III non-small cell lung cancer

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BACKGROUND: Gefitinib is an oral EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors which may act as a radiosensitizer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This phase II study evaluated the efficacy of gefitinib 250 mg once daily in combination with thoracic radiotherapy (66 Gy in 6.5 weeks, 2 Gy/day, 5 fractions/week) followed by consolidation chemotherapy (IV cisplatin and vinorelbine) as first line treatment in a population of unselected stage IIIB NSCLC patients according to EGFR mutation status. RESULTS: Due to a low accrual rate in this study, the sample size (n = 50) was not reached. Sixteen patients were included in four centers, 50% had adenocarcinoma and 75% were male. Genomic alterations (7 patients studied) retrieved TP53 mutation in 2 patients and no EGFR mutation. Four weeks after radiotherapy, 3 patients (19%) had a partial response, 6 (38%) had a stable disease, and 7 had a progression (44%). Median overall survival was 11 months and median progression-free survival was 5 months. At the time of the last contact, 5 patients (31%) were still alive. Main toxicities were gastrointestinal (81%), cutaneous (81%), general (56%), and respiratory (50%). There were 12>G3 adverse events in 7 (47%) patients, and there was one toxic-death during the concomitant period due to an interstitial pneumonitis. There were two possible adverse events-related deaths during the chemotherapy period (pulmonary embolism (n = 1) and sudden death after the administration of the 3rd course of chemotherapy (n = 1)). CONCLUSION: The benefit of Gefitinib-RT could not be confirmed due to premature trial discontinuation. Further evaluation is required, especially in patients with EGFR mutated NSCLC.