Nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with bevacizumab combined with paclitaxel liposome plus cisplatin: a case report and literature review

Abstract

Wan He,1,* Chang Zou,2,* Zhongkai Tian,1 Wenyong Tan,1 Weixi Shen,3 Jinghua Chen,1 Liping Liu,4 Ruilian Xu1 1Department of Oncology, The Second Clinical Medical College, Shenzhen People’s Hospital, Jinan University, Shenzhen, China; 2Clinical Medical Research Center, The Second Clinical Medical College, Shenzhen People’s Hospital, Jinan University, Shenzhen, China; 3Department of Oncology, Shenzhen Hospital of Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, China; 4Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The Second Clinical Medical College, Shenzhen People’s Hospital, Jinan University, Shenzhen, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: Patients with stage IV nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) have a poor prognosis, even with effective chemotherapy. Target agents combined with chemotherapy may improve NPC patients’ outcome. The case of a patient with NPC, who was treated by adding bevacizumab to chemotherapy after disease progression using first-line chemotherapy, is reported. Recently published literature about effects of combining bevacizumab with standard chemotherapy in NPC cell lines or patients are also reviewed and discussed. Consistent with a few preclinical trials and Phase II clinical trials, bevacizumab may reverse the drug resistance to chemotherapy, and its toxic side effects are well tolerated. Keywords: nasopharyngeal carcinoma, bevacizumab, drug resistance, combination therapy

Keywords

• nasopharyngeal carcinoma
• bevacizumab
• drug resistance