Abstract

CONTEXT
Leucovorin, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) is the standard adjuvant therapy for resected stage III colon cancer. Adding cetuximab to FOLFOX benefits patients with metastatic wild-type KRAS but not mutated KRAS colon cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the potential benefit of cetuximab added to the modified sixth version of the FOLFOX regimen (mFOLFOX6) in patients with resected stage III wild-type KRAS colon cancer.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
A randomized trial of 2686 patients aged 18 years or older at multiple institutions across North America enrolled following resection and informed consent between February 10, 2004, and November 25, 2009. The primary randomized comparison was 12 biweekly cycles of mFOLFOX6 with and without cetuximab. KRAS mutation status was centrally determined. The trial was halted after a planned interim analysis of 48% of predicted events (246/515) occurring in 1863 (of 2070 planned) patients with tumors having wild-type KRAS. A total of 717 patients with mutated KRAS and 106 with indeterminate KRAS were accrued. The 2070 patients with wild-type KRAS provided 90% power to detect a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.33 (2-sided α = .05), with planned interim efficacy analyses after 25%, 50%, and 75% of expected relapses.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Disease-free survival in patients with wild-type KRAS mutations. Secondary end points included overall survival and toxicity.
RESULTS
Median (range) follow-up was 28 (0-68) months. The trial demonstrated no benefit when adding cetuximab. Three-year disease-free survival for mFOLFOX6 alone was 74.6% vs 71.5% with the addition of cetuximab (HR, 1.21; 95% CI, 0.98-1.49; P = .08) in patients with wild-type KRAS, and 67.1% vs 65.0% (HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.86-1.46; P = .38) in patients with mutated KRAS, with no significant benefit in any subgroups assessed. Among all patients, grade 3 or higher adverse events (72.5% vs 52.3%; odds ratio [OR], 2.4; 95% CI, 2.1-2.8; P < .001) and failure to complete 12 cycles (33% vs 23%; OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.4-1.9; P < .001) were significantly higher with cetuximab. Increased toxicity and greater detrimental differences in all outcomes were observed in patients aged 70 years or older.
CONCLUSION
Among patients with stage III resected colon cancer, the use of cetuximab with adjuvant mFOLFOX6 compared with mFOLFOX6 alone did not result in improved disease-free survival.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00079274.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Alberts SR, Sargent DJ, Nair S, Mahoney MR, Mooney M, Thibodeau SN, Smyrk TC, Sinicrope FA, Chan E, Gill S, Kahlenberg MS, Shields AF, Quesenberry JT, Webb TA, Farr GH, Pockaj BA, Grothey A, Goldberg RM

Institution

Department of Oncology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First St SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. alberts.steven@mayo.edu

Source

JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association 307:13 2012 Apr 4 pg 1383-93

MeSH

Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Antibodies, Monoclonal
Antineoplastic Agents
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols
Chemotherapy, Adjuvant
Colonic Neoplasms
Disease-Free Survival
Female
Fluorouracil
Humans
Leucovorin
Male
Middle Aged
Mutation
Organoplatinum Compounds
Proto-Oncogene Proteins
Treatment Outcome
Young Adult
ras Proteins

Pub Type(s)

Clinical Trial
Journal Article
Multicenter Study
Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22474202