UW leads landmark lung cancer study

Researchers from the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center (UWCCC) announced May 22 results from a landmark research trial that shows chemotherapy offers survival benefits for advanced lung cancer patients. This study was presented at a general session at the 36th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in New Orleans, the largest oncology meeting in the world.

An estimated 164,100 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed this year, accounting for 14 percent of cancer diagnoses. Lung cancer will claim the lives of an estimated 156,900 men and women in 2000, accounting for 28 percent of all cancer deaths, according to estimates by the American Cancer Society.

“Lung cancer is a major disease with traditionally bad outcomes because there have not been many proven treatment regimens,” said Joan Schiller, professor of medicine and lead investigator of the study. “Our study shows that there is new hope for the treatment of advanced lung cancer patients that can help extend their survival with a better quality of life.”

Newer chemotherapy regimens are helping to achieve one-year survival rates of 35 to 40 percent for lung cancer patients, compared to 20 to 25 percent one-year survival rates five years ago. Based on these data, it is expected that more lung cancer patients will be offered treatment with chemotherapy. Currently, only 25 percent of all lung cancer patients undergo chemotherapy as treatment for their disease. The trial, conducted by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, was the largest randomized trial of advanced lung cancer patients in the United States. More than 1,200 patients with previously untreated stage IIIB or stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) participated in the trial. This study was designed to compare three platinum-based chemotherapy regimens in the treatment of NSCLC with a control arm of cisplatin and paclitaxel. The regimens were gemcitabine plus cisplatin, docetaxel plus cisplatin and paclitaxel plus carboplatin. “The study’s primary objective was to determine which of four different types of chemotherapy treatment is best for patients with advanced lung cancer. While all of the chemotherapy regimens used today are effective in the treatment of lung cancer, only the paclitaxel plus carboplatin regimen has shown to have statistically fewer life-threatening side effects,” said Schiller.

Results of the study showed no significant difference in survival among the three arms when compared to the control arm, paclitaxel and cisplatin. The median time of survival for all arms was 8 months; one-year survival was 33.5 percent and two-year survival was 12 percent.

For cancer patients who have to go to the hospital or outpatient facility for treatment, there was also a difference in the convenience of drug administration in the study. Both paclitaxel plus carboplatin and docetaxel plus cisplatin are administered on day one, every three weeks; gemcitabine plus cisplatin is administered on days one, eight and 15 every four weeks; and paclitaxel plus cisplatin is administered on day one every three weeks with cisplatin administered on day two.

Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in America; more men and women will die from lung cancer this year than from breast, prostate and colorectal cancers, combined. Eighty to 90 percent of the people who develop lung cancer will die of the disease. Yet there are few treatment options available for lung cancer patients. The goal in treating lung cancer has been to help people live longer with a better quality of life.

An estimated 164,100 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed this year, accounting for 14 percent of cancer diagnoses. NSCLC accounts for 75 percent to 80 percent of all lung cancer cases. Lung cancer will claim the lives of an estimated 156,900 men and women in 2000, accounting for 28 percent of all cancer deaths, according to estimates by the American Cancer Society.

The University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center is a multidisciplinary comprehensive center serving Wisconsin and adjoining areas of Iowa and Illinois. UWCCC is among the world’s leaders in cancer research, experimental therapeutics and medical physics. UWCCC also places particular emphasis on the evaluation of new agents, cancer prevention and treatments with combined modalities. In addition to conducting clinical and laboratory research on the biology of cancer, UWCCC also strives to improve the care of cancer patients through multidisciplinary clinics and clinical trials.