Journal of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Nov 2018)

Sorafenib plus tegafur–uracil (UFT) versus sorafenib as first line systemic treatment for patients with advanced stage HCC: a Phase II trial (ESLC01 study)

  • Azim HA,
  • Omar A,
  • Atef H,
  • Zawahry H,
  • Shaker MK,
  • Abdelmaksoud AHK,
  • EzzElarab M,
  • Abdel-Rahman O,
  • Ismail M,
  • Kassem L,
  • Waked I

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 5
pp. 109 – 119

Abstract

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Hamdy A Azim,1 Ashraf Omar,2 Hesham Atef,1,† Heba Zawahry,3 Mohamed K Shaker,4 AH Kamel Abdelmaksoud,5 Mohamed EzzElarab,6 Omar Abdel-Rahman,7 Mohamed Ismail,8 Loay Kassem,1 Imam Waked9 1Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt; 2Department of Gastroenterology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt; 3Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Institute, Cairo, Egypt; 4Tropical Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; 5Department of Diagnostic and Intervention Radiology, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt; 6National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt; 7Clinical Oncology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; 8Clinical Oncology Department, Cairo Oncology Center, Cairo, Egypt; 9Institute of Liver Disease, Menoufiya University, Menoufiya, Egypt †Dr Hesham Atef passed away on November 16, 2017, during the preparation of the manuscript Background: Phase II trials found that tegafur–uracil (UFT) is an effective drug in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), while preclinical data suggested that its combination with sorafenib may have a promising activity. Our Phase II randomized trial aimed to evaluate efficacy and tolerability of sorafenib plus UFT vs sorafenib in advanced HCC.Methods: Patients with advanced HCC, with no prior systemic therapy, were randomized to receive either UFT at 125 mg/m2 twice daily for 4 out of 5 weeks plus sorafenib at 400 mg twice daily (arm 1) or single agent sorafenib at 400 mg twice daily (arm 2). Primary end point was time to progression (TTP).Results: Between March 2012 and March 2014, 76 eligible patients – out of 143 preplanned – were randomized. The study was terminated early because of futility. This is the final analysis of the study, after a median follow-up of 10.2 months and death of 86% of randomized patients (n=64). Median TTP was 7.5 months and 8.2 months in arms 1 and 2 respectively (HR: 1.07; 95% CI, 0.52–2.22; P=0.855), while the median overall survival was 8.2 months and 10.5 months respectively (HR: 1.58; 95% CI: 0.90–2.76, P=0.112). Nine patients (25%) in the combination arm discontinued treatment because of toxicity vs eight patients (21.1%) in the sorafenib monotherapy arm (P=0.899).Conclusion: In patients with advanced HCC, adding UFT to sorafenib is feasible, but it did not improve efficacy outcome over sorafenib monotherapy. Keywords: advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, sorafenib, tegafur/uracil, Egypt

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