Frontiers in Oncology (Sep 2020)

Survival Benefit and Genetic Profile of Pemetrexed as Initial Chemotherapy in Selected Chinese Patients With Advanced Lung Adenocarcinoma

  • Long-Hua Guo,
  • Ming-Feng Zhang,
  • He-Long Zhang,
  • Jian-Ying Zhou,
  • Xiao-Hong Cai,
  • Yu Long,
  • Qi-Sen Guo,
  • Nong Yang,
  • Jun Zhao,
  • Zhan-Hong Xie,
  • Bo Jiang,
  • Ying Zhu,
  • Yun Fan,
  • Cong-Ying Xie,
  • Yi Hu,
  • Yu Yao,
  • Jun Jia,
  • Xiao-Ling Li,
  • Jiu-Wei Cui,
  • Xi-Zhao Sui,
  • Wen Lin,
  • Ying Cheng,
  • Hui-Juan Wang,
  • Chang-Li Wang,
  • Ming-Fang Zhao,
  • Gui-Bin Qiao,
  • Li-Jun Peng,
  • Lin Yang,
  • Gong-Yan Chen,
  • Kai-Can Cai,
  • Xin-Hua Xu,
  • Liang-Ming Zhang,
  • Guo-Sheng Feng,
  • Jing-Min Zhou,
  • Guo-Wu Wu,
  • Xiao-Rong Dong,
  • Li-Feng Wang,
  • Hong-Mei Zhang,
  • Ya-Jie Gao,
  • Qiu-Ying Jiang,
  • Shun-Dong Cang,
  • Zhi-Xiong Yang,
  • Xia Song,
  • Xiao-Qing Liu,
  • Bo Zhu,
  • Feng-Xia Chen,
  • Chun-Hong Hu,
  • Xi Chen,
  • Yi-Long Wu,
  • Qing Zhou

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2020.01568
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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Objective: This study investigated survival in selected Chinese patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma who received initial chemotherapy with pemetrexed. We also explored the relationship between genetic biomarkers and pemetrexed efficacy.Methods: We retrospectively collected patients (n = 1,047) enrolled in the Chinese Patient Assistance Program from multiple centers who received pemetrexed alone or combined with platinum as initial chemotherapy and continued pemetrexed maintenance therapy for advanced lung adenocarcinoma from November 2014 to June 2017. The outcomes were duration of treatment (DOT) and overall survival (OS). Clinical features were analyzed for their influence on the treatment effect and prognosis. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was performed to identify genetic biomarkers associated with the efficacy of pemetrexed.Results: The median DOT was 9.1 months (95% CI: 8.5–9.8), and the median OS was 26.2 months (95% CI: 24.2–28.1). OS was positively correlated with DOT (r = 0.403, P < 0.001). Multivariable analysis showed that smoking status and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) were independently associated with DOT; smoking status, ECOG PS, targeted therapy, and EGFR/ALK/ROS1 status were independently associated with OS. NGS in 22 patients with available samples showed genes with high mutation rates were: TP53 (54.5%), EGFR (50.0%), MYC (18.2%), and PIK3CA (13.6%). When grouped based on progression-free survival (PFS) reported in the PARAMOUNT study, the DOT > 6.9 months set was associated with PIK3CA, ALK, BRINP3, CDKN2A, CSMD3, EPHA3, KRAS, and RB1 mutations, while ERBB2 mutation was observed only in the DOT ≤ 6.9 months set.Conclusion: This study shows that initial chemotherapy with pemetrexed is an effective regimen for advanced lung adenocarcinoma in selected Chinese patients. There is no specific genetic profile predicting the benefit of pemetrexed found by NGS. Biomarkers predicting the efficacy of pemetrexed need further exploration.

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