title: Promising survival in patients with recurrent non-small cell lung cancer treated with docetaxel and gemcitabine in combination as second-line therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men and women, and current second-line chemotherapy regimens yield relatively poor response and survival rates.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We hypothesized that the combination of weekly docetaxel (D) and gemcitabine (G) would show activity in the second-line setting. We therefore conducted a phase II trial evaluating this regimen in patients with relapsed or progressive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after first-line platinum-based therapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with recurrent NSCLC, adequate physiologic indices, and exposure to one prior platinum-based regimen were eligible. Docetaxel 40 mg/m intravenous (IV) and gemcitabine (G) 800 mg/m IV weekly were administered on day 1 and 8 every 21 days. In the absence of dose-limiting toxicity, G was escalated on an intrapatient basis to 1 g/m/wk. The primary endpoint was response rate (RR); event-free (EFS) and overall survival were secondary endpoints.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-five patients (median age 61 years; 20 [57%] male) were accrued. Most (88%) had previously received carboplatin/paclitaxel, 31.4% in combination with a third investigational agent, more than half (57.1%) had prior radiation. The median number of cycles was four. RR was 23%. Median EFS was 5.7 months and median overall survival was 12.5 months. Patients who had their cancer diagnosed more than or equal to 12 months before entering the trial had superior EFS (13.7 months versus 4.8 months). Toxicity was acceptable. There were no treatment-related deaths.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A nonplatinum doublet with GD is feasible and effective in the treatment of recurrent, platinum-exposed NSCLC patients. RR and survival are promising.
authors.affiliation: University of Kansas Medical Center, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Kansas City, Missouri, USA. chuang2@kumc.edu
authors.forename: Chao Hui
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Michael M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Millenson
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Sherman
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Borghaei
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Mintzer
authors.forename: Roger B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Arthur P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Staddon
authors.forename: Judi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seldomridge
authors.forename: Ocn Joseph
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Treat
authors.forename: Holly
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tuttle
authors.forename: Karen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Ruth
authors.forename: Corey J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Langer