Abstract
Background
Concurrent chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery is the standard treatment for locally advanced esophageal cancer (EC), and the role of induction chemotherapy (IC) remains unclear. We aimed to study if the addition of IC to standard treatment increases the rate of pathologic complete response (pCR).
Methods
We assembled a retrospective analysis of patients (pts) diagnosed with locally advanced EC and treated with preoperative chemoradiotherapy followed by esophagectomy (CRT+S), preceded or not by IC, between 2009 and 2017. Patients’ characteristics, tumor variables, and treatment outcomes were evaluated. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate overall survival and the Cox proportional hazard model to evaluate prognostic factors.
Results
One hundred and three patients were studied, with a median age of 62 years (range 37–84). Seventy-five patients (73%) were male, 67 (65%) had squamous cell carcinoma, and 31 (30%) had adenocarcinoma. Forty-three patients (41.7%) received IC followed by CRT+S (IC+CRT+S). The most frequent IC consisted of paclitaxel and platinum chemotherapy (90%), and the median number of cycles was 2. All patients received CRT+S. Concurrent chemotherapy was a combination of paclitaxel and platinum in 94 patients (91%). There was no statistically significant difference in pCR between the IC group and the standard CRT+S group. The pCR was 41.9% and 46.7% in the IC+CRT+S and CRT+S groups (p = 0.628), respectively. In the multivariate analysis, pCR was an independent prognostic factor for time to treatment failure (TTF) (HR 0.35, p = 0.021), but not for overall survival (OS) (p = 0.863). The factor that significantly affected OS in the multivariate analysis was positive lymph node (HR 5.9, 95%, p = 0.026).
Conclusions
Our data suggest that the addition of IC to standard CRT + S does not increase the pCR rate in locally advanced EC. No difference in OS was observed between pts. that received or not IC. Regardless of the treatment received, pts. achieving a pCR presented improved TTF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
INCA. Estimate/2018 – cancer incidence in Brazil. 2017. http://www1.inca.gov.br/estimativa/2018/estimativa-2018.pdf Access date 06 june 2019.
Rice TW, Blackstone EH, Rusch VW. 7th edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual: esophagus and esophagogastric junction. Ann Surg Oncol. 2010;17(7):1721–4. https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-010-1024-1.
van Hagen P, Hulshof MC, van Lanschot J, Steyerberg EW, van Berge Henegouwen M, Wijnhoven BP, et al. Preoperative chemoradiotherapy for esophageal or junctional cancer. N Engl J Med. 2012;366(22):2074–84.
Sjoquist KM, Burmeister BH, Smithers BM, Zalcberg JR, Simes RJ, Barbour A, et al. Survival after neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy for resectable oesophageal carcinoma: an updated meta-analysis. Lancet Oncol. 2011;12(7):681–92.
Jin J, Liao Z, Zhang Z, Ajani J, Swisher S, Chang JY, et al. Induction chemotherapy improved outcomes of patients with resectable esophageal cancer who received chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2004;60(2):427–36.
Ajani JA, Xiao L, Roth JA, Hofstetter WL, Walsh G, Komaki R, et al. A phase II randomized trial of induction chemotherapy versus no induction chemotherapy followed by preoperative chemoradiation in patients with esophageal cancer. Ann Oncol. 2013;24(11):2844–9.
Peiffert D, Tournier-Rangeard L, Gérard JP, Lemanski C, François E, Giovannini M, et al. Induction chemotherapy and dose intensification of the radiation boost in locally advanced anal canal carcinoma: final analysis of the randomized UNICANCER ACCORD 03 trial. J Clin Oncol. 2012;30(16):1941–8.
Silva S, Colombo Bonadio RRC, Gabrielli F, Aranha A, Genta ML, Miranda VC, et al. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with cisplatin and gemcitabine followed by chemoradiation with cisplatin in locally advanced cervical cancer: a phase II, prospective, randomized, trial. J Clin Oncol. 2018;36:5523. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2018.36.15_suppl.5523.
Pignon JP, Maître A, Maillard E, Bourhis J. Meta-analysis of chemotherapy in head and neck cancer (MACH-NC): an update on 93 randomised trials and 17,346 patients. Radiother Oncol. 2009;92(1):4–14.
Blum Murphy M, Xiao L, Patel VR, Maru DM, Correa AM, G. Amlashi F, et al. Pathological complete response in patients with esophageal cancer after the trimodality approach: the association with baseline variables and survival-the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center experience. Cancer. 2017;123(21):4106–13.
Soror T, Kho G, Zhao KL, Ismail M, Badakhshi H. Impact of pathological complete response following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in esophageal cancer. J Thorac Dis. 2018;10(7):4069–76.
Blackham AU, Yue B, Almhanna K, Saeed N, Fontaine JP, Hoffe S, et al. The prognostic value of residual nodal disease following neoadjuvant chemoradiation for esophageal cancer in patients with complete primary tumor response. J Surg Oncol. 2015;112(6):597–602.
Robb WB, Dahan L, Mornex F, Maillard E, Thomas PA, Meunier B, et al. Impact of neoadjuvant chemoradiation on lymph node status in esophageal cancer: post hoc analysis of a randomized controlled trial. Ann Surg. 2015;261(5):902–8.
zum Büschenfelde CM, et al. (18)F-FDG PET-guided salvage neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy of adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction: the MUNICON II trial. J Nucl Med. 2011;52(8):1189–96.
Greally M, Chou JF, Molena D, Rusch VW, Bains MS, Park BJ, et al. Positron-emission tomography scan-directed chemoradiation for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: no benefit for a change in chemotherapy in positron-emission tomography nonresponders. J Thorac Oncol. 2019;14(3):540–6.
Goodman KA, Hall N, Bekaii-Saab TS, Ou FS, Twohy E, Meyers MO, et al. Survival outcomes from CALGB 80803 (Alliance): a randomized phase II trial of PET scan-directed combined modality therapy for esophageal cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2018;36(15_suppl):4012. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2018.36.15_suppl.4012.
Makino T, Yamasaki M, Miyazaki Y, Wada N, Takahashi T, Kurokawa Y, Nakajima K, Takiguchi S, Mori M, Doki Y, Utility of initial induction chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin, and docetaxel (DCF) for T4 esophageal cancer: a propensity score-matched analysis. Dis Esophagus, 2018. 31(4).
Noronha V, Joshi A, Patil VM, Purandare N, Jiwnani S, Ghosh-Laskar S, et al. Efficacy and safety of induction chemotherapy in esophageal cancer with airway involvement. J Gastrointest Cancer. 2016;47(3):294–304.
Ruhstaller T, Thuss-Patience P, Hayoz S, Schacher S, Knorrenschild JR, Schnider A, et al. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by chemoradiation and surgery with and without cetuximab in patients with resectable esophageal cancer: a randomized, open-label, phase III trial (SAKK 75/08). Ann Oncol. 2018;29(6):1386–93.
Al-Batran S-E, et al. Perioperative chemotherapy with docetaxel, oxaliplatin, and fluorouracil/leucovorin (FLOT) versus epirubicin, cisplatin, and fluorouracil or capecitabine (ECF/ECX) for resectable gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma (FLOT4-AIO): a multicenter, randomized phase 3 trial. J Clin Oncol. 2017;35(15_suppl):4004. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2017.35.15_suppl.4004.
Hoeppner J, et al. ESOPEC: prospective randomized controlled multicenter phase III trial comparing perioperative chemotherapy (FLOT protocol) to neoadjuvant chemoradiation (CROSS protocol) in patients with adenocarcinoma of the esophagus (NCT02509286). BMC Cancer. 2016;16:503.
Chen D, et al. Interleukin-23 promotes the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of oesophageal carcinoma cells via the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Sci Rep. 2015;5:8604.
Lin EW, Karakasheva TA, Hicks PD, Bass AJ, Rustgi AK. The tumor microenvironment in esophageal cancer. Oncogene. 2016;35(41):5337–49.
Marcucci F, Stassi G, De Maria R. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition: a new target in anticancer drug discovery. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2016;15(5):311–25.
Chen GZ, Zhu HC, Dai WS, Zeng XN, Luo JH, Sun XC. The mechanisms of radioresistance in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and current strategies in radiosensitivity. J Thorac Dis. 2017;9(3):849–59.
Tsutsumi S, Saeki H, Nakashima Y, Ito S, Oki E, Morita M, et al. Programmed death-ligand 1 expression at tumor invasive front is associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition and poor prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer Sci. 2017;108(6):1119–27.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
Ethics approval was granted for this study by the ethics committee of our Institution.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Harada, G., Bonadio, R.R.d.C., de Araújo, F.C.C. et al. Induction Chemotherapy for Locally Advanced Esophageal Cancer. J Gastrointest Canc 51, 498–505 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12029-019-00266-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12029-019-00266-1