PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - FIALA, ONDREJ
AU  - PESEK, MILOS
AU  - FINEK, JINDRICH
AU  - SVATON, MARTIN
AU  - MINARIK, MAREK
AU  - BENESOVA, LUCIE
AU  - BORTLICEK, ZBYNEK
AU  - KUCERA, RADEK
AU  - TOPOLCAN, ONDREJ
TI  - Pemetrexed <em>Versus</em> Erlotinib in the Second-line Treatment of Patients with Advanced-stage Non-squamous NSCLC Harboring Wild-type <em>EGFR</em> Gene
DP  - 2016 Jan 01
TA  - Anticancer Research
PG  - 447--453
VI  - 36
IP  - 1
4099  - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/36/1/447.short
4100  - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/36/1/447.full
SO  - Anticancer Res2016 Jan 01; 36
AB  - Background: Pemetrexed and erlotinib represent different agents commonly used for the second-line treatment of patients with advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients and Methods: We analyzed data of 137 patients with advanced-stage non-squamous NSCLC treated with pemetrexed or erlotinib in the second line. All patients harbored a wild-type epidermal growth factor receptor gene. Genetic testing was performed using a combination of denaturing capillary electrophoresis and direct Sanger sequencing. Results: overall response rate and disease control rate in patients treated with pemetrexed was 20.8% and 62.5% vs. 6.3% and 53.2% in patients treated with erlotinib (p=0.022; p=0.358). Median progression-free and overall survival in patients treated with pemetrexed was 1.6 and 11.3 months vs. 1.9 and 11.4 months in patients treated with erlotinib (p=0.470 and p=0.942, respectively). Erlotinib was associated with skin rash and diarrhea; pemetrexed was associated with hematological toxicity and fatigue. Conclusion: A similar efficacy and different, although well-tolerated, toxicity profile of both pemetrexed and erlotinib was shown.