Pemetrexed-based chemotherapy in patients with advanced, ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is highly responsive to crizotinib. To determine whether ALK-positive NSCLC is also sensitive to pemetrexed, we retrospectively evaluated progression-free survival (PFS) of ALK-positive versus ALK-negative patients who had been treated with pemetrexed-based chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC.

Patients and methods

We identified 121 patients with advanced, ALK-positive NSCLC in the USA, Australia, and Italy. For comparison, we evaluated 266 patients with advanced, ALK-negative, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-wild-type NSCLC, including 79 with KRAS mutations and 187 with wild-type KRAS (WT/WT/WT). We determined PFS on different pemetrexed regimens.

Results

Among 70 ALK-positive

SUBMITTER: Shaw AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3525134 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature