Cancer Research and Treatment

Original Article

Lung cancer

Phase II Study of Pemetrexed as a Salvage Chemotherapy for Thymidylate Synthase–Low Squamous Cell Lung Cancer: Mihong Choi, Heung Tae Kim, Ji-Youn Han, Geon Kook Lee, Soo-Hyun Lee, Kun Young Lim, Jungnam Joo, Hye Jin Won, Jin Soo Lee, Youngjoo Lee; Cancer Res Treat. 2021;53(1):87-92. Published online August 13, 2020; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4143/crt.2020.741

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Purpose
Squamous cell carcinomas (SqCC) of the lung often express high levels of thymidylate synthase (TS), which is associated with primary resistance to pemetrexed. We explored the efficacy of pemetrexed in a selected population of patients with lung SqCC with low TS expression.
Materials and Methods
In this single-arm phase II trial, we enrolled 32 previously-treated patients with advanced lung SqCC exhibiting low immunohistochemical staining for TS (i.e., in 10% or less of tumor cells). The primary endpoint was 12-week progression-free survival (PFS) rate.
Results
Of 32 patients, eight patients (25%) had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 2, and seven patients (22%) had previously received three or more lines of chemotherapy. The disease control rate from pemetrexed treatment was 30%, and no objective response was observed. The 12-week PFS rate was 24.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 13.0 to 46.1). Median PFS was 1.3 months (95% CI, 1.3 to 2.7), and median overall survival was 11.8 months (95% CI, 8.1 to not applicable). Most of adverse events were grade 1 or 2.
Conclusion
Pemetrexed demonstrated modest activity as a salvage chemotherapy in patients with advanced lung SqCC with low TS expression, although its toxicity was generally manageable.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

Bioengineered miR-7-5p modulates non–small cell lung cancer cell metabolism to improve therapy
Gavin M. Traber, Mei-Juan Tu, Su Guan, Neelu Batra, Ai-Ming Yu
Molecular Pharmacology.2025; 107(1): 100006. CrossRef

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