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Background To explore the efficacy and safety of crizotinib versus platinum-based double agent chemotherapy as the first-line treatment in patients with advanced anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive lung adenocarcinoma. Method We retrospectively analyzed data from 19 patients with advanced ALK-positive lung adenocarcinoma who had received no previous systemic treatment for advanced disease. Seven patients received oral crizotinib at a dose of 250 mg twice daily; 12 patients were administered standard chemotherapy (pemetrexed, paclitaxel, vinorelbine or gemcitabine plus either cisplatin or carboplatin) every three weeks for up to six cycles. The primary endpoint was overall response rate ( ORR), disease control rate ( DCR), and safety. Results The ORR was significantly higher with crizotinib than with chemotherapy (83.3% in the crizotinib vs. 25.0% in the chemotherapy group, P < 0.05); the DCRs were 100% and 75%, respectively ( P < 0.05). The common adverse events associated with crizotinib were visual abnormality and diarrhea, whereas those associated with chemotherapy were neutropenia and nausea. In the crizotinib group, liver aminotransferase elevation (adverse events grade 3 or 4) occurred in one patient (14.3%). In the chemotherapy group, the same grade neutropenia adverse event occurred in two patients (16.6%). The incidence of treatment-related grade 3 or 4 adverse events was similar in both groups. Compared with chemotherapy, crizotinib was associated with a greater reduction in lung cancer symptoms and a greater improvement in quality of life. Conclusion As a first-line treatment, crizotinib was superior to platinum-based double chemotherapy in patients with previously untreated advanced ALK-positive lung adenocarcinoma. Therefore, crizotinib is an optimal therapy as a first-line treatment in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Icotinib - an orally administered, highly potent selective inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR) and its active mutations, in the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer ( NSCLC). Methods A total of 101 patients with stage IIIb/ IV NSCLC were treated with 125 mg Icotinib three times a day until disease progression or intolerable toxicity. Response rate was evaluated using response evaluation criteria in solid tumors and progression-free survival ( PFS) was collected. Results The overall response rate ( ORR) and disease control rate ( DCR) were 37.6% (38/101) and 79.2% (80/101), respectively. The median PFS was 6.5 months. Multivariate analysis showed that female gender ( P = 0.048, 95% confidence interval [ CI] 1.010-6.016) and occurrence of rash ( P = 0.002, 95% CI 1.667-9.809) were the independent predictive factors for ORR, while a performance status ( PS) score of 0-1 ( P = 0.001, 95% CI 0.024-0.402) and rash ( P = 0.042, 95% CI 1.089-76.557) were the independent predictive factors for DCR. In addition, PS scores of 0-1 ( P < 0.001, 95% CI 0.135-0.509), and non-smoking ( P = 0.017, 95% CI 0.342-0.900) were found to be independent influencing factors for PFS. Moreover, patients with EGFR mutations had better PFS than patients with wild type EGFR, while patients with EGFR exon 19 deletion had better survival than those with EGFR exon 21 mutation. The most common adverse effects of Icotinib were rash (35.6%) and diarrhea (17.8%), which was tolerable. Conclusion Treatment of stage IIIb/ IV NSCLC patients with Icotinib was effective and tolerable, specifically in patients with EGFR mutation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]