Efficacy of third-generation chemotherapeutic agents combined with cisplatin or carboplatin in 3100 Chinese patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

Background: Recently, differences in tumor biology have been observed between Asian and Caucasian lung cancer patients, resulting in different sensitivities to targeted therapy. To date, all registered third-generation chemotherapeutic agents have been investigated mainly in Caucasians, but little is known whether this data can be transferred to an Asian population. The aim of this study was to provide evidence about the efficacy of chemotherapy in a Chinese population.
Methods: Three thousand one hundred patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer NSCLC, treated between 2002 and 2009 with a platinum-based doublet first-line chemotherapy, including vinorelbine, gemcitabine, docetaxel or paclitaxel, were included for retrospective survival analysis.
Results: Overall survival (OS) was 12.1 months and progression free survival (PFS) was four months for all patients. No advantage in OS was seen for any of the four compounds. Gemcitabine was associated with a better PFS compared to the other three (P < 0.001). Docetaxel led to higher response rates, but this finding didn't reach statistical significance (P = 0,054). Chinese patients appear to have longer survival times compared to historical data in Caucasians.
Conclusion: Our retrospective analysis suggests, that there is no difference in efficacy of third-generation chemotherapy between Asians and Caucasians.
(© 2012 Tianjin Lung Cancer Institute and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.)