Acceptable Safety of Bevacizumab Therapy in Combination with Chemotherapy in Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer

Abstract

Background and objective Bevacizumab is a recombinant humanized monoclonal IgG1 antibody that selectively binds to and neutralizes the biologic activity of human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Bevacizumab was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October 2006 for use in combination withcarboplatin and paclitaxel for the initial treatment of patients with unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent, or metastatic,nonsquamous, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study is to observe the safety of bevacizumab therapy in combination with chemotherapy in Chinese patients with NSCLC. Methods Patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC were treated with Bevacizumab 15 mg/kg, d1, repeated every 21 days until PD; Plus paclitaxel 175 mg/m2, on dl and carboplatin AUC=6 on dl. The cycle was repeated every 21 days. Results One grade 3 epistaxis was observed in onepatient. One grade 4 thrombosis was observed in one patient. 3/4-grade epistaxis and thrombosis was the most significant adverse events. Other adverse effects, such as hemoptysis, hypertension and proteinuria, were not severe and could be well tolerated. Conclusion Most chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC treated with bevacizumab in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin have little adverse effects that can be well tolerated.

Keywords

• Bevacizumab
• Lung neoplasms
• Safety