Prognostic Nutrition Index as an Indicator of Therapeutic Response to Lenvatinib Therapy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Lenvatinib (LEN) has been approved as an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, in some patients, LEN does not provide adequate therapeutic benefits. In this study, we examined the factors that affect the therapeutic response to LEN. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective cohort study involved patients with HCC who received LEN therapy at Osaka Metropolitan University Hospital. We used the delivered dose intensity to body surface area ratio for 60 days (2M-DBR) as an index of the therapeutic response. RESULTS: This study included 83 patients divided into two groups, the high 2M-DBR group (47 patients, 56.7%) and low 2M-DBR group (36 patients, 43.4%). Univariate analysis showed that Child-Pugh class, C-reactive protein, and prognostic nutrition index (PNI) were significant factors for high 2M-DBR. Furthermore, multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that a PNI>39.15 was significantly associated with high 2M-DBR. CONCLUSION: A PNI cut-off value of less than 39.15 may indicate a poor response to LEN therapy. PNI, an easy, simple, and inexpensive tool, may be useful in identifying patients in need of early intervention.

Calcium Channel Blockers Possibly Delay the Elimination of Plasma Methotrexate in Patients Receiving High-Dose Methotrexate Therapy.

Delayed elimination of plasma methotrexate (MTX), which leads to elevated toxicity, is often observed in patients receiving high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) therapy, despite of the preventive measures. In this study, we investigated the factors that delay elimination of plasma MTX in patients on HD-MTX therapy. Fifteen patients who received HD-MTX therapy (21 cycles) were classified into two groups: delayed elimination of plasma MTX (38.1%, 8/21) and normal elimination of plasma MTX (61.9%, 13/21). Patient characteristics, plasma MTX concentrations, laboratory values, and adverse reactions were compared between the two groups using Fisher's exact test. Univariate analysis showed that co-administration of calcium channel blockers was significantly associated with delayed elimination of plasma MTX (p = 0.042). This is the first report demonstrating that co-administration of calcium channel blockers may be a predictive factor of delayed elimination of plasma MTX in patients receiving HD-MTX therapy.

Effectiveness and safety of the pre-prescription of garenoxacin in comparison to moxifloxacin for low-risk febrile neutropenia in breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of the pre-prescription of garenoxacin mesylate hydrate (GRNX) with that of moxifloxacin hydrochloride (MFLX) in the management of breast cancer patients with low-risk febrile neutropenia. METHODS: Data from female patients who had been instructed to take previously prescribed oral GRNX or MFLX for 3 days during adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy if their body temperature exceeded 38 °C were analyzed. This study compared the effectiveness between these fluoroquinolones using a propensity score matching analysis. RESULTS: The 330 patients received 1192 administrations of chemotherapy between May 2007 and April 2014 and 136 (41.2%) patients had a total of 212 (17.8%) febrile episodes. The frequencies of febrile episodes were 19.5% (113/579) and 16.2% (99/613) in the GRNX and MFLX groups, respectively. After propensity score matching, 384 episodes were matched in each group. Febrile events occurred in 80 and 56 cases in the GRNX and MFLX groups, respectively. Treatment success was identified in 80.0% (64/80) of cases in the GRNX group and 64.3% (36/56) of cases in the MFLX group (P = 0.0494). Additionally, the therapeutic use of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor was 6.3% (5/80) of cases in the GRNX group and 17.9% (10/56) of cases in the MFLX group (P = 0.0498). There were few differences in the frequency of adverse effects between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the pre-prescription of GRNX may be a more effective option for the management of low-risk febrile neutropenia during adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer.

[Analysis of Factors Influencing the Development of Hypomagnesemia in Patients Receiving Cetuximab Therapy for Head and Neck Cancer].

Cetuximab was approved in Japan as the only clinically available molecular targeted drug for the treatment of head and neck cancer. Hypomagnesemia associated with cetuximab is considered one of the most serious adverse events. However, the factors influencing the development of hypomagnesemia are not clear, although the drug was previously approved for the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer. Thus, we studied the factors involved in the development of hypomagnesemia in patients receiving cetuximab therapy for head and neck cancer. Patients' background data and laboratory values before starting cetuximab therapy did not affect the development of hypomagnesemia. Among patients who had never been treated with cisplatin (NT group), 36.4% developed hypomagnesemia. In contrast, all patients who had previously been treated with cisplatin (T group) developed hypomagnesemia (p=0.034). Magnesium is reabsorbed by transient receptor potential subfamily melastatin 6 (TRPM6) in the distal convoluted tubule. The expression level of TRPM6 is controlled by the epidermal growth factor (EGF) pathway. Cetuximab is an EGF receptor inhibitor and reduces the expression of TRPM6. Additionally, recent studies have shown that the expression of TRPM6 is reduced by cisplatin. Therefore, we considered that the serum magnesium level was cumulatively reduced by cetuximab and cisplatin. In conclusion, the T group was more likely to develop hypomagnesemia than the NT group, and therefore the serum magnesium level in the T group requires careful monitoring so that magnesium supplementation can be provided to patients when the level decreases.