New insights in drug development for the non-small cell lung cancer therapy.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains a major problem worldwide. Since most patients with NSCLC have advanced disease at diagnosis, to date, chemotherapy, with third-generation platinum-based doublets, represents the standard of care. However, a plateau has been reached with the use of cytotoxic chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC. Advances in the knowledge of tumour biology and mechanisms of oncogenesis have granted the singling out of several molecular targets for NSCLC treatment. To date, erlotinib and gefitinib, epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK) inhibitors have been licensed, erlotinib worldwide and gefitinib in Asian countries, for refractory NSCLC. Currently, bevacizumab, an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) monoclonal antibody, is the only clinically available antiangiogenic agent licensed, in combination with carboplatin plus paclitaxel, for first-line therapy of advanced NSCLC patients in the United States. Several new biologic agents are being evaluated in clinical research and some of them, such as ZD6474, sorafenib and sunitinib, due to the reported preliminary results and the oral administration seem to be promising targeted agents for the treatment of NSCLC. Aim of this review is to discuss about the new insights in targeted agents development for the treatment of NSCLC patients.

Safety of a 3-weekly schedule of carboplatin plus pegylated liposomal doxorubicin as first line chemotherapy in patients with ovarian cancer: preliminary results of the MITO-2 randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: The MITO-2 (Multicentre Italian Trials in Ovarian cancer) study is a randomized phase III trial comparing carboplatin plus paclitaxel to carboplatin plus pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in first-line chemotherapy of patients with ovarian cancer. Due to the paucity of published phase I data on the 3-weekly experimental schedule used, an early safety analysis was planned. METHODS: Patients with ovarian cancer (stage Ic-IV), aged < 75 years, ECOG performance status

Safety profile of gefitinib in advanced non-small cell lung cancer elderly patients with chronic renal failure: two clinical cases.

OBJECTIVES: Comorbidities often contraindicate any chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, even single-agent one. This is the case of chronic renal failure. METHODS: Two elderly patients (age >70 years) affected by advanced non-small cell lung cancer and chronic renal failure were treated, as front-line treatment, with gefitinib (ZD1839--'Iressa') administered orally at the dose of 250 mg daily. RESULTS: In both patients renal function was not impaired by the treatment with gefitinib and no severe toxicity was recorded. One patient reported a stable disease, lasted 141 days, with symptoms relief. In the other patient a mixed response was reported with one large pulmonary site responding to gefitinib, but with appearance of new small lung metastases. He is still alive at 359 days. CONCLUSIONS: Gefitinib resulted safety when administered to advanced NSCLC elderly patients affected by chronic renal failure. Gefitinib should be further evaluated as front-line treatment in a larger sample of such patients, in order to establish a therapeutic option for a sort of patients unsuitable for any chemotherapy.

Randomized trial of intravenous iron supplementation in patients with chemotherapy-related anemia without iron deficiency treated with darbepoetin alpha.

PURPOSE: Unresponsiveness to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, occurring in 30% to 50% of patients, is a major limitation to the treatment of chemotherapy-related anemia. We have prospectively evaluated whether intravenous iron can increase the proportion of patients with chemotherapy-related anemia who respond to darbepoetin. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between December 2004 and February 2006, 149 patients with lung, gynecologic, breast, and colorectal cancers and >or= 12 weeks of planned chemotherapy were enrolled from 33 institutions. Patients were required to have hemoglobin or= 12 g/dL or >or= 2 g/dL increase). RESULTS: Hematopoietic response by intention-to-treat analysis was 76.7% (95%CI, 65.4% to 85.8%) in the darbepoetin/iron group and 61.8% (95%CI, 50.0% to 72.7%) in the darbepoetin group (P = .0495). Among patients fulfilling eligibility criteria and having received at least four darbepoetin administrations, hematopoietic responses in the darbepoetin/iron group (n = 53) and in the darbepoetin-only group (n = 50) were 92.5% (95% CI, 81.8% to 97.9%) and 70% (95% CI, 55.4% to 82.1%), respectively (P = .0033). Increase of hemoglobin during treatment period showed a time profile favoring darbepoetin/iron with statistically significant effect from week 5 on. The safety profile was comparable in the two arms. CONCLUSION: In patients with chemotherapy-related anemia and no iron deficiency, IV iron supplementation significantly reduces treatment failures to darbepoetin without additional toxicity.

Erlotinib in non-small-cell lung cancer.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) plays an essential role in normal cell growth and differentiation, and is involved in tumour proliferation and survival. EGFR overexpression is a common feature in solid malignancies, including non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and is associated with poor clinical prognosis. Erlotinib is a small-molecule inhibitor of EGFR tyrosine kinase, showing a significant improvement in median survival, quality of life and related symptoms in an unselected population of advanced NSCLC patients in the second- or third-line setting. Erlotinib is well tolerated (with common toxicities including rash and diarrhoea) when administered at a standard oral daily dose of 150 mg. Further investigations are ongoing to contribute to our understanding of the role of erlotinib in NSCLC treatment.

Three cases of long-lasting tumor control with erlotinib after progression with gefitinib in advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

INTRODUCTION: We report the cases of three patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer responding to erlotinib after progression under gefitinib treatment. METHODS: Three never-smoker women with advanced lung adenocarcinoma, two pretreated with chemotherapy and with gefitinib and one with gefitinib alone, received erlotinib in a daily dose of 150 mg. All three patients had disease progression and had achieved tumor control with gefitinib. RESULTS: The first patient achieved partial response of lung lesions, the second had partial response of brain lesions and stable disease of lung and bone disease, and the third had partial response of brain lesions and stable disease of lung disease. At the time of this analysis, all three patients were still receiving treatment with erlotinib with no evidence of treatment failure after more than 13, 13, and 7 months, respectively. Erlotinib was generally well tolerated, with grade 1 skin toxicity recorded in two patients. CONCLUSIONS: Erlotinib may be effective in patients with non-small cell lung cancer who were previously and successfully treated with gefitinib. However, careful selection of these patients is needed.

Sorafenib and sunitinib in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Despite the optimization of chemotherapy regimens, treatment outcomes for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are still considered to be disappointing. Thus, clinical research of new treatment strategies is warranted. Several targeted agents have been introduced into clinical trials in NSCLC, but to date, only a few of these new agents can offer hope of a substantial impact on the natural history of the disease. One of the main reasons for the failure of several clinical trials of targeted therapy in lung cancer is that there is multilevel cross-stimulation among the targets of the new biological agents along several pathways of signal transduction that lead to neoplastic events; blocking only one of these pathways, as most first-generation targeted agents do, allows others to act as salvage or escape mechanisms for cancer cells. Sorafenib and sunitinib are two oral multitargeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Sorafenib is a multikinase inhibitor that inhibits the kinase activity of both C-RAF and B-RAF and targets the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor family (VEGFR-2 and VEGFR-3) and platelet-derived growth factor receptor family (PDGFR-beta and stem cell factor receptor [KIT]). Sunitinib is a multitargeted inhibitor of PDGFR, KIT, fms-like tyrosine kinase 3, and VEGFR. The kinases targeted and inhibited by sorafenib and sunitinib directly and indirectly regulate tumor growth, survival, and angiogenesis, and this might be expected to result in broad antitumor efficacy. Sorafenib and sunitinib have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma; sunitinib has also been approved for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Their mechanism of action, preclinical data, and phase II studies suggest efficacy in the treatment of advanced NSCLC.

Treatment of small cell lung cancer in the elderly.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for approximately 20% of lung carcinomas. Chemotherapy is the cornerstone of treatment for SCLC. In limited disease, the median survival time is about 12-16 months, with a 4%-5% long-term survival rate; in extensive disease the median survival time is 7-11 months. More than 50% of lung cancer patients are diagnosed when they are over the age of 65, and about 30% are over 70. Elderly patients tolerate chemotherapy poorly compared with their younger counterparts, because of age-related progressive reductions in organ function and comorbidities. The standard therapy for limited disease is combined chemoradiotherapy, followed by prophylactic brain irradiation for patients achieving complete responses. In the elderly, the addition of radiotherapy to chemotherapy must be carefully evaluated, considering the slight survival benefit and potential for substantial toxicity incurred with this treatment. The best approach is to design clinical trials that specifically include geriatric assessment to develop active and well-tolerated chemotherapy regimens for elderly SCLC patients. Survival improvement for SCLC patients requires a better understanding of tumor biology and the subsequent development of novel therapeutic strategies. Several targeted agents have been introduced into clinical trials in SCLC, but a minority of these new agents offers a promise of improved outcomes, and negative results are reported more commonly than positive ones. This review focuses on the main issues in the treatment of elderly SCLC patients.