OncoTargets and Therapy (Aug 2016)
Survival benefit and safety of the combinations of FOLFOXIRI ± bevacizumab versus the combinations of FOLFIRI ± bevacizumab as first-line treatment for unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis
Abstract
Wei Xu,1,* Meng Kuang,1,2,* Yang Gong,1 Chunxiang Cao,3 Jinfei Chen,1 Cuiju Tang1 1Department of Oncology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 2Department of Oncology, Liyang People’s Hospital, Liyang, Jiangsu, 3Nanjing Department of Radiation Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work and share first authorship Background: The survival of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) could be improved with exposure to three active drugs, irinotecan, fluorouracil/leucovorin, and oxaliplatin, irrespective of their sequence. However, only 50%–80% of patients can be exposed to all the three drugs in a sequential strategy with two-drug combinations. We carried out this systematic assessment to compare the survival benefit and safety of FOLFOXIRI (irinotecan, fluorouracil/leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) ± bevacizumab (with or without bevacizumab) versus FOLFIRI (irinotecan and fluorouracil/leucovorin) ± bevacizumab (with or without bevacizumab) as first-line treatment for unresectable mCRC. Methods: PubMed and EMBASE were searched for original articles written in English and published before December 2015. A total of 1,035 patients from three randomized controlled trials were included. Results: Our results demonstrated that overall survival (hazard ratio [HR], 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73–0.97), progression-free survival (HR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.59–0.81), and overall response rate (odds ratio, 1.96; 95% CI, 1.28–2.98) were significantly improved in the FOLFOXIRI ± bevacizumab arm compared to the FOLFIRI ± bevacizumab arm. Significantly higher incidences of neutropenia, anemia, diarrhea, stomatitis, and neuropathy were observed in the FOLFOXIRI ± bevacizumab arm. Conclusion: Current evidence shows that the combination of FOLFOXIRI ± bevacizumab significantly improves the overall survival, progression-free survival, and overall response rate of patients with mCRC, with an increased but manageable toxicity, compared with the combinations of FOLFIRI ± bevacizumab. The combination of FOLFOXIRI ± bevacizumab should be considered as a treatment option for these patients under the premise of reasonable selection of target population. Keywords: meta-analysis, FOLFOXIRI, FOLFIRI, colorectal cancer, chemotherapy
