Overall Survival of Patients with Locally Advanced or Metastatic Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Treated with Nimotuzumab in the Real World.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:

Despite improvements in surgical techniques and treatments introduced into clinical practice, the overall survival of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma remains low. Several epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors are being evaluated in the context of clinical trials, but there is little evidence of effectiveness in real-world conditions. This study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of nimotuzumab combined with onco-specific treatment in Cuban real-life patients with locally advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

METHODS:

A comparative and retrospective effectiveness study was performed. The 93 patients treated with nimotuzumab were matched, with use of propensity score matching, with patients who received a diagnosis of locally advanced or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus in three Cuban provinces reported between 2011 and 2015 to the National Cancer Registry. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate event-time distributions. Log-rank statistics were used for comparisons of overall survival between groups. A two-component mixture model assuming a Weibull distribution was fitted to assess the effect of nimotuzumab on short-term and long-term survival populations.

RESULTS:

There was an increase in median overall survival in patients treated with nimotuzumab (11.9 months versus 6.5 months without treatment) and an increase in the 1-year survival rate (54.0% versus 21.9% without treatment). The 2-year survival rates were 21.1% for patients treated with nimotuzumab and 0% in the untreated cohort. There were statistically significant differences in survival between groups treated and not treated with nimotuzumab, both in the short-term survival population (6.0 months vs 4.0 months, p = 0.009) and in the long-term survival population (18.0 months vs 11.0 months, p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS:

Our study shows that nimotuzumab treatment concurrent with chemoradiotherapy increases the survival of real-world patients with locally advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Further prospective studies are required to confirm the therapeutic effectiveness of nimotuzumab in esophageal cancer.

• Authors: Yaimarelis Saumell, Lizet Sanchez, Sandra González, Ramón Ortiz, Edadny Medina, Yaima Galán, Agustin Lage
• Journal: Advances in therapy (Adv Ther) Vol. 34 Issue 12 Pg. 2638-2647 (12 2017) ISSN: 1865-8652 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 29134427 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
• Antineoplastic Agents

Topics

• Adult
• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized (therapeutic use)
• Antineoplastic Agents (therapeutic use)
• Carcinoma, Squamous Cell (drug therapy, radiotherapy)
• Chemoradiotherapy
• Cuba
• Esophageal Neoplasms (drug therapy, radiotherapy)
• Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Prospective Studies
• Retrospective Studies