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Sunitinib is effective and tolerable in Chinese patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: a multicenter retrospective study in China

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Abstract

Purpose

To determine the efficacy and safety of sunitinib in Chinese patients with unresectable or metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) and the clinical significance of steady-state sunitinib serum concentrations.

Methods

We conducted a multicenter retrospective study including six centers from across China. A total of 60 patients with unresectable or metastatic pNETs who were treated with sunitinib were evaluated retrospectively.

Results

The median overall survival (OS) was 47.5 months and the median time to progression (TTP) was 15.3 months. The objective response rate was 5.0%, and the stable disease (SD) rate was 81.7%. About 35.2% of patients required a dosage decrease from 37.5 to 25 mg/day due to adverse events, which in most cases were alleviated or disappeared with the dosage reduction. In 14 patients who experienced sunitinib-related hypertension, 2 achieved a partial response (PR) and 11 had SD. The median OS and TTP of these 14 patients experienced hypertension were both not reached. The median Css of sunitinib was similar between patients treated with sunitinib 37.5 and 25 mg/day (P = 0.955), but higher in patients who had PR than in those who achieved SD or progressive disease, although no statistically significant difference was found (P = 0.173).

Conclusions

Sunitinib had similar treatment efficacy to western patients with pNET in China. A 25 mg/day dosage was better tolerated than 37.5 mg/day in Chinese patients, and there were no significant differences in sunitinib Css between the two dosage groups. Patients with higher sunitinib Css seem to have better efficacy. Sunitinib-related hypertension may be a predictor of a better treatment effect.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Xiao-yan Pang (Shanghai Research Center for Drug Metabolism) for steady-state serum concentrations of sunitinib and N-desethyl sunitinib measurement, and Prof. Li Ling (School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University) for statistical consultation.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Yuhong Wang, Kaizhou Jin, and Huangying Tan have contributed equally to the work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhongshan II Road, Guangzhou, 510080, Guangdong, China

    Yuhong Wang, Qiuchen Yang, Minhu Chen & Jie Chen

  2. Department of Pancreatic Oncology, Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, No. 270, Dong An Road, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Kaizhou Jin & Xianjun Yu

  3. Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine Oncology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, No. 2 Yinghua Dongjie, Hepingli, Beijing, 100029, China

    Huangying Tan & Pan Zhang

  4. Department of Gastric and Pancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, 510080, Guangdong, China

    Wei Wang

  5. Department of Gastroenterological Oncology, Peking University Cancer Hospital, No. 52 Fucheng Road, Beijing, 100142, China

    Jie Li

  6. Department of General Surgery, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, 415 Fengyang Road, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Chenghao Shao

  7. Department of Pathology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhongshan II Road, Guangzhou, 510080, Guangdong, China

    Ling Xue

  8. Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhongshan II Road, Guangzhou, 510080, Guangdong, China

    Shiting Feng

Authors
  1. Yuhong Wang
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  2. Kaizhou Jin
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  3. Huangying Tan
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  8. Chenghao Shao
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  9. Ling Xue
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  11. Minhu Chen
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  13. Jie Chen
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xianjun Yu or Jie Chen.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional review board of each institution and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. For this type of study formal consent is not required.

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Wang, Y., Jin, K., Tan, H. et al. Sunitinib is effective and tolerable in Chinese patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: a multicenter retrospective study in China. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 80, 507–516 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-017-3367-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-017-3367-9

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