First-line FOLFIRI and bevacizumab in patients with advanced colorectal cancer prospectively stratified according to serum LDH: final results of the GISCAD (Italian Group for the Study of Digestive Tract Cancers) CENTRAL (ColorEctalavastiNTRiAlLdh) trial

• Published in: British journal of cancer Vol. 117; no. 8; pp. 1099 - 1104
• Main Authors: Giampieri, Riccardo, Puzzoni, Marco, Daniele, Bruno, Ferrari, Daris, Lonardi, Sara, Zaniboni, Alberto, Cavanna, Luigi, Rosati, Gerardo, Pella, Nicoletta, Zampino, Maria Giulia, Sozzi, Pietro, Germano, Domenico, Zagonel, Vittorina, Codecà, Carla, Libertini, Michela, Labianca, Roberto, Cascinu, Stefano, Scartozzi, Mario
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 10.10.2017; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/67/1059; 631/67/1504/1885; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Angiogenesis Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - therapeutic use; Bevacizumab; Bevacizumab - therapeutic use; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Camptothecin - analogs & derivatives; Camptothecin - therapeutic use; Cancer Research; Clinical Study; Colorectal cancer; Colorectal carcinoma; Colorectal Neoplasms - blood; Colorectal Neoplasms - drug therapy; Colorectal Neoplasms - pathology; Disease-Free Survival; Drug Resistance; Epidemiology; Female; Fluorouracil - therapeutic use; Gastrointestinal tract; Humans; Immunotherapy; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase - blood; Leucovorin - therapeutic use; Male; Middle Aged; Molecular Medicine; Monoclonal antibodies; Oncology; Prospective Studies; Serum levels; Survival; Targeted cancer therapy; Treatment Outcome; bevacizumab; LDH; colorectal cancer; predictive factors
• ISSN: 0007-0920; 1532-1827
• DOI: 10.1038/bjc.2017.234

Background: Previous findings suggested that bevacizumab might be able to improve response rate (RR) in colorectal cancer patients with high lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) basal levels. Methods: We conducted a phase II trial to prospectively ascertain whether bevacizumab in combination with FOLFIRI could have an improved clinical activity in patients with high LDH serum levels. Primary end point of the study was RR; secondary end points were median overall survival and median progression-free survival (mPFS). Results: A total of 81 patients were enrolled. No difference in terms of ORR (39% vs 31% for low vs high LDH level stratum, P =0.78) and mPFS (14.16 vs 10.29 months, HR: 1.07, 95% CI: 0.51–2.24, P =0.83) between the strata was observed, whereas overall survival (OS) was significantly longer for patients with low LDH (24.85 vs 15.14 months, HR: 4.08, 95% CI: 1.14–14.61, P =0.0004). In a not-pre-planned exploratory analysis using different cut-off ranges for LDH, we observed RR up to 70%, with no improvement in progression-free survival or OS. Conclusions: The CENTRAL trial failed to demonstrate that high LDH levels were related to a significantly improved RR in patients receiving first-line FOLFIRI and bevacizumab. The LDH serum levels should then no further be investigated as a predictive factor in this setting.