Seung Sei Lee

The Relationship between the Serum Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 Level and the Prognosis of the Disease in Lung Cancer

Background : Adhesion molecules are related to cell-to-cell interaction and inflammatory interaction. In addition, adhesive interactions between tumor cells and adjacent cells and/or extracellular matrix play important roles in the complex process of tumor growth and development. Among these adhesion molecules, expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) has been identified in colon cancer, bladder cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, pancreatic cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. In the current study, we analyzed serum ICAM-1 concentrations to investigate the relationship between the serum ICAM-1 level and prognosis in patients with lung cancer Methods : Serum ICAM-1 was measured in 84 patients with lung cancer according to the pathologic type and clinical stage using the ICAM-1 ELISA kit. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyse survival time. Results : There was no difference in serum ICAM-1 concentration among the different stages of lung cancer. Furthermore, there was no difference observed between histologic tumor type with regard to serum ICAM-1 concentration. Although the difference was not significant, the overall survival times of patients with a low serum ICAM-1 concentration (<306 ng/mL) was longer than that of patients with a high concentration (≥306 ng/mL) in non-small cell lung cancer patients. Conclusion : These results suggest that high levels of serum ICAM-1 reflect poor prognosis for patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Adenocarcinoma has an excellent outcome with pemetrexed treatment in Korean patients: a prospective, multicenter trial.

OBJECTIVE This prospective multicenter study conducted by the Korean Cancer Study Group evaluated the efficacy and safety of pemetrexed in Korean patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had prior chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with stage IIIB or IV NSCLC in whom prior chemotherapy failed received pemetrexed 500 mg/m(2) every 3 weeks with folic acid and vitamin B12 supplementation until disease progression or the development of intolerable toxicity. Eighty-one patients were enrolled. RESULTS The overall response rate for 78 evaluable patients was 5.1% [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4-12.6; partial response 4/78, no complete response]. The disease control rate including complete, partial response and stable disease was 46.2% (36/78, 95% CI 34.8-57.8). With a median 8.7 months follow-up, the median time to progression was 3.1 months (95% CI 1.17-5.03) and the median overall survival (OS) was 7.8 months (95% CI 5.19-10.35). The median OS for patients with adenocarcinoma histology was 18.7 months compared to 6.1 months for non-adenocarcinoma. In a multivariate analysis, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0-1 [hazards ratio (HR)=0.331, 95% CI 0.135-0.814] and adenocarcinoma (HR=0.504, 95% CI 0.283-0.899) were independent factors for prolongation of overall survival. CONCLUSIONS Pemetrexed monotherapy has promising efficacy in patients with advanced NSCLC as a second-line therapy with less hematologic and non-hematologic toxicity, especially in those with adenocarcinoma histology.

Safety and efficacy of single‐agent docetaxel (Taxotere) administered weekly in non‐small cell lung carcinoma patients in Korea: An observational study

To investigate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of weekly docetaxel treatment in advanced non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in Korea.

Impact of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Mutation on Clinical Outcomes of Nintedanib Plus Docetaxel in Patients with Previously Treated Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer from the Korean Named Patient Program

Objectives: Anti-angiogenic agents are reported to exert clinical activity on epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutant non-small-cell lung cancers. We evaluated the clinical outcomes of nintedanib and docetaxel in refractory NSCLC according to EGFR mutation status during the Korean nintedanib named patient program. Methods: Docetaxel was administered either 75 or 37.5 mg/m2 on D1, D8 q every 3 weeks for 4–6 cycles plus nintedanib 200 mg orally twice daily until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Results: Sixty-two patients were enrolled for study. Twenty-eight patients with activating EGFR mutations progressed after EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) therapy and 25 out of 28 patients showing progression after platinum doublet chemotherapy were enrolled. The objective response rate was 29% and median PFS and OS were 3.9 months and 11.7 months. Based on the EGFR mutation status, the objective response rate was 39.3 vs. 21.9% (EGFR mut(+) vs. EGFR mut(–), p = 0.142) and median PFS was 6.5 vs. 3.3 months (EGFR mut(+) vs. EGFR mut(–), p = 0.009). No treatment-related deaths were reported. The most frequent drug-related adverse events (AE) were neutropenia (53.2%) and diarrhea (37.1%). Treatment in 12 patients (19.3%) was permanently discontinued due to AEs without disease progression. Conclusions: Our data indicated that nintedanib-docetaxel combination could be considered to be effective treatment in EGFR TKI-resistant EGFR mutant NSCLC.