Department of Clinical Korean Medicine, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
Am J Chin Med. 2013;41(4):773-87. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X13500523.
Chemotherapy improves the survival of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but tumor progression is often inevitable. Strategies are needed to improve the therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapy. Over recent years, there has been increasing interest in the role of maintenance therapy after first-line chemotherapy. We investigated the efficacy and safety of standardized allergen-removed Rhus verniciflua Stokes extract (aRVS) as maintenance therapy in patients with non-progressive disease following first-line chemotherapy. We reviewed the medical records of 33 patients with advanced NSCLC, who started treatment with aRVS in a state of tumor regression or stable disease after completion of four or six cycles of induction chemotherapy at the Integrative Cancer Center, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong from June 2006 to April 2012. The primary objective of this study was progression-free survival (PFS) of aRVS as maintenance therapy. Secondary objectives included assessments of disease control rate (DCR), overall survival (OS), and the safety of aRVS treatment. The median PFS was 5.2 months with a 6- and 12-month PFS rate of 40.6% and 12.9%, respectively. The DCR was 93.9% and the median OS was 34.8 months. The overall survival rates at 12, 24, and 36 months were 84.2%, 76.7% and 49.9%, respectively. We observed no hematologic toxicity, nephrotoxicity, or hepatotoxicity during aRVS treatment. In conclusion, maintenance therapy with aRVS for patients with advanced NSCLC is well-tolerated and offers encouraging improved PFS and OS compared with historical controls. Our data provide further evidence that aRVS may be used beyond disease progression in this clinical setting.
化疗可改善晚期非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）患者的生存，但肿瘤进展往往不可避免。需要采取策略来提高化疗的疗效。近年来，人们对一线化疗后维持治疗的作用越来越感兴趣。我们研究了标准化变应原去除漆树 verniciflua Stokes 提取物（aRVS）作为一线化疗后无进展疾病患者维持治疗的疗效和安全性。我们回顾了 2006 年 6 月至 2012 年 4 月期间，在庆熙大学东国大学医院综合癌症中心，33 例晚期 NSCLC 患者在完成 4 或 6 个周期诱导化疗后，处于肿瘤消退或疾病稳定状态时开始使用 aRVS 治疗的病历。本研究的主要目的是评估 aRVS 作为维持治疗的无进展生存期（PFS）。次要目标包括评估疾病控制率（DCR）、总生存期（OS）和 aRVS 治疗的安全性。aRVS 维持治疗的中位 PFS 为 5.2 个月，6 个月和 12 个月 PFS 率分别为 40.6%和 12.9%。DCR 为 93.9%，中位 OS 为 34.8 个月。12、24 和 36 个月的总生存率分别为 84.2%、76.7%和 49.9%。在 aRVS 治疗期间，未观察到血液学毒性、肾毒性或肝毒性。结论，aRVS 维持治疗晚期 NSCLC 患者耐受性良好，与历史对照相比，PFS 和 OS 得到改善。我们的数据进一步表明，在这种临床情况下，aRVS 可能在疾病进展后继续使用。
