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Int J Clin Exp Med 2016;9(10):20137-20144 www.ijcem.com /ISSN:1940-5901/IJCEM0022001 Original Article Recombinant human endostatin combined with definitive chemoradiotherapy for patients with locally advanced esophageal carcinoma Xiaoling Ge1*, Yuandong Wang1*, Wei Wen2*, Hongcheng Zhu1, Hongxun Ye3, Xi Yang1, Jiayan Chen1, Yuandong Cao1, Sheng Zhang1, Qingxia Mu1, Hongyan Cheng4, Jianxin Ma5, Shenbin Dai6, Qing Guo6, Baixia Yang7, Jing Cai7, Min Yang1, Xinchen Sun1 Departments of 1Radiation Oncology, 2Cardiothoracic Surgery, 4General Internal Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, China; 3Department of Radiation Oncology, Taixin People’s Hospital, Taizhou 225499, Jiangsu, China; 5Department of Radiation Oncology, Lianyungang No. 2 People’s Hospital, Lianyungang 222023, Jiangsu, China; 6Department of Radiation Oncology, Taizhou People’s Hospital, Taizhou 225300, Jiangsu, China; 7Department of Radiation Oncology, Nantong Tumor Hospital Affiliated to Nantong University, Nantong 226361, Jiangsu, China. *Equal contributors. Received December 15, 2015; Accepted September 7, 2016; Epub October 15, 2016; Published October 30, 2016 Abstract: Background: The efficacy and toxicity of recombinant human endostatin combined with docetaxel, cisplatin, and radiation therapies were evaluated in patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer. Methods: Between August 2010 and December 2012, 32 patients with clinical stage II and III squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus were included in this retrospective analysis. The patients received recombinant human endostatin combined with definitive chemoradiotherapy. The Kaplan-Meier method was conducted to compute the survival time and progression-free survival time. Early and late toxicities were mainly scored based on the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events 3.0. Results: A total of 21 and 11 patients had locally advanced stage II and III esophageal carcinoma, respectively. All patients received 60 Gy radiation. However, two only received one-cycle chemotherapy because of hematological toxicities. Complete response, partial response, stable disease, and progressive disease characteristics were observed in 17 (53.1%), 10 (31.3%), 3 (9.4%) and 2 (6.3%) patients, respectively, at 1 month post-treatment. After a median follow-up of 30 months, the median survival time was 22.0 months. The one- and three-year overall survival (OS) rates were 68.8% and 43.8%, respectively. The median progression-free survival (PFS) time was 16.0 months. The one- and three-year PFS rates were 56.3% and 31.3%, respectively. Hematologic toxicity, gastrointestinal toxicity, and treatment-related esophagitis were 16.1%, 10.7%, and 19.6%, respectively. Late toxicities, including esophagostenosis, were observed in six (19.6%) patients. Conclusions: The combined treatment modality can be a promising therapeutic option for patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Additional prospective randomized control studies are necessary to confirm this finding. Keywords: Recombinant human endostatin, chemoradiation, esophageal cancer, IMRT Introduction Esophageal cancer is the fourth most common cancer in China and has one of the highest mortality rates. Approximately 95% of esophageal cancer cases are squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) [1]. Similar to other solid tumors, ESCC primarily occurs in the elderly, and most patients diagnosed with advanced stages of the disease are unsuitable for surgery. Definitive chemoradiotherapy is a standard treatment for patients with esophageal carcinoma who have no indications for surgery based on randomized clinical trial results [2, 3]. However, esophageal cancer is not always sensitive to chemoradiotherapy. Its prognosis remains unsatisfactory, with a 5-year survival rate of < 30% [4]. Alternative regimens, such as new chemotherapy drugs and targeted therapy, must be developed to improve both local and distant control in patients with locally advanced ESCC. Docetaxel and cisplatin combination therapy is an active, rh-Endo combined with CRT in ESCC well-tolerated regimen for metastatic esophageal cancer. Moreover, this therapy is effective in combination with radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer, with a median survival time (MST) of 7-16 months [5, 6]. The density of blood and lymphatic vessels is related to the malignancy and biological characteristics of the tumor. Thus, tumor development can be suppressed by inhibiting angiogenesis [7]. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression is one of the most important predictors of prognostic factors in patients with ESCC. VEGF may be a potential target for anticancer therapy in ESCC, and depressing VEGF may be a promising method to delay tumor progression [8]. Substantial experimental and clinical evidence has indicated that radiotherapy combined with angiogenesis inhibitors can be beneficial to improving the tumor response to radiotherapy [9]. Winkler et al. found that VEGF-R antibody enables the normalization of the tumor vasculature over a period of time to relieve tumor hypoxia in mouse brain tumor models. Normalization of the tumor vasculature is temporary and often occurs over 1 week of radiotherapy. Therapy yields its best results during this period [10]. The preliminary results of a phase II clinical study of chemoradiation plus bevacizumab for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma suggested that bevacizumab prolongs progression-free survival [11]. Endostatin is a 20-kDa internal fragment of the C-terminus of collagen XVIII. In a Phase III clinical study, recombinant human endostatin significantly improved the overall and progressionfree survival when used in combination with the first-line chemotherapy regimen in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer [12]. A study has indicated that endostatin significantly sensitizes tissue to the anti-tumor and anti-angiogenesis functions of radiation in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma xenografts by increasing the apoptosis of endothelial and tumor cells, improving tumor cell hypoxia, and altering the proangiogenic factors [13]. In the present study, we used recombinant human endostatin combined with definitive chemoradiotherapy to treat esophageal carcinoma with long-term follow-up and described the clinical outcomes, including survival and the early and late toxicity profiles. 20138 Patients and methods Patients A total of 32 patients with locally advanced ESCC were admitted to receive recombinant human endostatin combined with definitive chemoradiotherapy in the Department of Radiation Oncology of The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between August 2010 and December 2012. This time period was selected to allow a sufficient follow-up interval and reveal late toxicities. The following are the criteria for the inclusion of patients in this study: histologically proven ESCC; age ≥ 18 years with clinically confirmed stage II-III carcinoma of the esophagus and without distant metastasis by computed tomography (CT) or positron emission computed tomography at the time of diagnosis; and initially treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and recombinant human endostatin. All patients also had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status score of 0 or 1. The required laboratory parameters for inclusion were an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≥ 1×109/L, a platelet count ≥ 75×109/L, a total bilirubin level ≤ 1.5 mg/dL, creatinine ≤ 1.5 mg/dL, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase ≤ 2.5× the upper limit of normal (ULN), and alkaline phosphatase ≤ 5× the ULN. Patients with a break in treatment lasting > 3 days, prior thoracic cancer, thoracic radiation, or disease recurrence were excluded. Patients with metastases to distant organs or nonregional lymph nodes, biopsy-proven invasion into the tracheobronchial tree, tracheo-esophageal fistula, malignant pleural effusion, pericardial effusion, or ascites were ineligible. Individuals with other active malignancy or significantly uncontrolled co-morbidity, making chemoradiation inadvisable, were also ineligible for the study. All patients who refused surgery voluntarily joined this study with informed consent, which was approved by the Ethical Board of The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. Thirty-two patients who met the selection criteria were included in the analysis. Tumor evaluation was based on esophagoscopy, esophagography, chest/abdominal contrast-enhanced CT, chest contrast-enhanced MRI, and endoscopic ultrasound of the esophagus. Tumor baseline characteristics (TNM stage, location, size, and histopathology) were re- Int J Clin Exp Med 2016;9(10):20137-20144 rh-Endo combined with CRT in ESCC Table 1. Clinical characteristics of the patients (n = 32) Characteristics Number of patients Median (range) age, yrs Gender Male Female Performance status 0 1 Length (cm) < 5 cm ≥ 5 cm Tumor site Upper Middle Lower Histologic type Squamous cell carcinoma Clinical stage II III Value 32 66 (45-82) 23 (71.9%) 9 (28.1%) 25 (78.1%) 7 (21.9%) 12 (37.5%) 20 (62.5%) 4 (12.5%) 17 (53.1%) 11 (34.4%) 32 (100%) 21 11 corded. Tumor staging was based on the International Union Against Cancer Tumor length was defined by esophagoscopy and/or barium esophagography and tumor diameter by CT scan. Treatments radiotherapy Patients were immobilized in a supine position. Planning CT scans, with a 3-mm slice thickness, were performed using a dedicated helical CT scanner (Siemens) throughout the entire neck and thorax. The CT images were transferred to and registered in the treatment planning system. The gross tumor volume (GTV) included all macroscopic tumors and enlarged lymph nodes determined using available resources, including data from PET/CT fusion scans, endoscopic ultrasonography images, diagnostic CT images, and chest contrast-enhanced MRI. The GTV was expanded to the CTV by extending the radiation coverage to 3 cm superiorly, 3 cm inferiorly and 1 cm laterally. The PTV was then generated using a uniform 0.3-cm expansion beyond the borders of the CTV. The organs at risk (lung and spinal cord) were outlined. All radiation treatments were delivered as IMRT. Treatment plans were generated using the Monaco System. The PTV irradiation dose 20139 was prepared at 60 Gy with 2.0 Gy per fraction and 5 fractions per week. The prescription dose covered at least 95% of the PTV volume, and the hot point was limited within 105% of the prescription dose. The spinal cord had a dose constraint maximum of < 45 Gy, whereas for the lungs, the mean dose and V20 were limited to 15 Gy and 28%, respectively. IMRT plans were generated using five or seven coplanar beams with a 6-MV linear accelerator. Chemotherapy The concurrent chemotherapy regimen started on the first day of radiotherapy. The patients received two cycles of cisplatin-based doublets with docetaxel. The regimens consisted of 75 mg/m2 docetaxel and 75 mg/m2 DDP on day 1 per 4 weeks. Dose modification for hematological toxicity was based on a full blood count before the start of each chemotherapy cycle. Full-dose chemotherapy was given if the ANC (absolute neutrophil count) was 1×109/L or higher and the platelet count was 75×109/L or higher. If the ANC was 0.5×109/L to less than 1×109/L or the platelet count was 50×109/L to less than 75×109/L, chemotherapy was stopped until the counts were recovered. Therapy was restarted with a 25% dose reduction of cisplatin and docetaxel. Chemotherapy was restarted with a 50% dose reduction if the ANC dropped below 0.5×109/L or the platelet count was below 50×109/L. Cisplatin was withheld if the renal function did not return to normal by the time of the next scheduled dose. For other grade 2 or higher non-hematological toxicities, chemotherapy was withheld until the toxicities resolved to grades 0 to 1. Recombinant human endostatin Recombinant human endostatin was used with 3-4 h continuous infusion at a dose of 15 mg once a day for 14 days, with a second course repeated after a 1-week interval. The first course began on the first day of radiotherapy. All toxicities related to the treatment were evaluated using the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria (NCI CTC, version 3.0). Follow-up Follow-up visits were scheduled for 1 month after radiation and at 3-month intervals thereafter. Visits were more frequent for those patients who received chemoradiotherapy, experienced severe treatment-related compliInt J Clin Exp Med 2016;9(10):20137-20144 rh-Endo combined with CRT in ESCC Figure 1. Overall survival of included patients. from any cause. The progression-free survival (PFS) interval was defined as the time from treatment to any type of recurrence. Locoregional recurrence was defined as recurrence at the primary or nodal site. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 13.0 software. Differences between groups were analyzed with Student’s t test, and a value of P < 0.05 was considered significant. Survival curves were calculated with the KaplanMeier method to compute the survival time and the progression-free survival time, and a one-sided logrank test was performed for the hazard ratio (HR). Results Patient and tumor characteristics Figure 2. Progression-free survival of included patients. cations, or were found to have disease progression. Follow-up examinations included basic laboratory studies, liver and renal function tests, esophagography, chest CT scan, and PET/CT scans when needed. Statistical analysis Overall survival (OS) duration was defined as the time from treatment completion to death 20140 The patient and tumor characteristics are listed in Table 1. Thirty-two patients were admitted from August 2010 and December 2012. The median age at admission was 66 years. The majority of the patients were male (71.9%), and all had squamous cell carcinoma (100%). The most common site of the primary tumor was the middle esophagus (53.1%). At the time of presentation, 65.6% and 34.4% of patients were clinically confirmed with stages II and III cancer, respectively. Clinical outcomes April 30, 2014 was the date of the last followup, with a median follow-up time of 30 months (range 26-36 months). At 1 month post-treatment, 17 (53.1%) of the patients attained a complete response (CR) and 10 (31.3%) achieved a partial response (PR), whereas 3 (9.4%) and 2 (6.3%) patients showed stable disease (SD) and progressive disease, respectively. The Int J Clin Exp Med 2016;9(10):20137-20144 rh-Endo combined with CRT in ESCC Table 2. Response, recurrence rate and distant metastasis rate result CR rate PR rate SD rate PD rate 1-y OS 3-y OS 1-y PFS 3-y PFS Recurrence rates Distant metastasis rates Value 17 (53.1%) 10 (31.3%) 3 (9.4%) 2 (6.3%) 22 (68.8%) 14 (43.8%) 18 (56.3%) 10 (31.3%) 13 (40.6%) 9 (28.1%) MST was 22.0 months, and the median PFS was 16.0 months. The 1- and 3-year OS rates were 68.8% and 43.8% (Figure 1), and the corresponding PFS rates were 56.3% and 31.3%, respectively (Figure 2). Local recurrence and distant metastases were observed in 13 (40.6%) and 9 (28.1%) patients, respectively. Four metastases were detected in the lungs, one in the bones, three in the liver, and one in a distant lymph node (Table 2). Toxicities The most common acute and late toxicities are shown in Table 3. Esophagitis, hematologic, and gastro-intestinal complications were common acute toxicities during treatment. Two patients refused to receive the second cycle of chemotherapy because of grade 3 platelet toxicity. Other toxicities included acute cerebral infarction (1/32), herpes virus infection (1/32), pulmonary infection (2/32), severe fatigue (3/32), fever (3/32), tracheoesophageal fistula (1/32), and endostatin-related mild allergic rash (1/32). One patient died of radiation pneumonia. All patients received 60 Gy of irradiation, except for one who received only 42 Gy for acute cerebral infarction. Late toxicities after the treatment included radiation pneumonia (2/32), esophageal stenosis (6/32), and heart injury (1/32). Serious late radiation toxicities, such as radiation-induced myelitis and pericarditis, were not observed. Discussion Esophageal cancer is the most common thoracic cancer. Surgery or radiotherapy can achieve satisfactory results in the early stages of 20141 the disease, and a multidisciplinary treatment is needed in the late stages [14]. Definitive chemoradiotherapy can improve the survival rate of patients with esophageal cancer. Recent studies confirmed that concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy in advanced esophageal cancer are safe and feasible [15, 16]. However, esophageal cancer is not always sensitive to chemoradiotherapy. As a result, local invasion could not be controlled, and relapses, lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis occur. Most patients with esophageal cancer presenting with advanced inoperable disease have an extremely poor prognosis. With combination chemotherapy, MSTs of 9 and 14 months are reported for patients with metastatic and locally advanced inoperable diseases, respectively [17]. New molecular-targeted drugs are potential future treatment options to improve the therapeutic effect. In many cancers, proangiogenic pathways have been established as important and effective therapeutic targets because they are essential for tumor growth, progression, and metastasis [18]. The research on antiangiogenic therapy for cancer began in 1971 with the publication of Folkman’s imaginative hypothesis that tumor growth and progression depend on tumor angiogenesis [19]. The proof of principle for VEGF inhibition in NSCLC has been demonstrated in clinical trials of bevacizumab in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy. Combination treatment improved survival versus chemotherapy alone in a first-line setting in patients with non-squamous NSCLC [20]. The pivotal AVF2107g trial proved that adding bevacizumab to irinotecan, fluorouracil, and leucovorin resulted in a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in the primary end point, OS (median OS, 20.3 mo vs. 15.6 mo, HR = 0.66, P < 0.001) and the secondary end point, PFS (median PFS, 10.6 mo vs. 6.2 mo, HR = 0.54, P < 0.001) [21]. Endostatin is one of the most potent endothelial cell inhibitors of angiogenesis and tumor growth without displaying toxic side effects and drug resistance. Endostatin suppresses endothelial cell proliferation and migration, thereby inhibiting tumor angiogenesis [22]. In vitro experimental results showed that radiotherapy combined with endostatin can significantly inhibit tumor growth and induce tumor regression, which may be related to the improvement Int J Clin Exp Med 2016;9(10):20137-20144 rh-Endo combined with CRT in ESCC attributed to the fact that the majority of cases in this study Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 were in stage II (65.6%). A previAcute toxicities ous study of concurrent chemoEsophagitis 13 (40.6%) 11 (34.4%) 2 (6.3%) 0 radiotherapy for locally advanced Hematologic 17 (53.1%) 9 (28.1%) 2 (6.3%) 0 esophageal cancer patients shoGastrointestinal 18 (56.3%) 6 (18.8%) 4 (12.5%) 0 wed that the 2- and 3-year OS Late toxicities rates were 38.5% and 18.5%, reRadiationpneumonia 1 (3.1%) 0 0 1 (3.1%) spectively [25]. Endostatin can potentially cause cardiovascular Esophagealstenosis 4 (12.5%) 2 (6.3%) 0 0 toxicities; thus, we applied intenHeart injury 1 (3.1%) 0 0 0 sity-modulated radiotherapy to reEndostatin-related 1 (3.1%) 0 0 0 duce the doses to the heart and lungs. Despite adding a targeted of tumor hypoxia and the inhibition of radiationdrug to the chemoradiotherapy regimen, definiinduced tumor angiogenesis in human xenotive CRT was not reduced. This result suggestgraft tumor models [23]. Zhou reported that ed that combination with endostatin seems endostatin combined with radiotherapy can sigtolerable for patients with locally advanced esonificantly improve antitumor activity. The tumor phageal cancer. The primary toxicities observed inhibition rates of endostatin, radiation, and were associated with CRT. The present study is endostatin plus radiation were 27.1%, 60.5%, limited by the small number of cases analyzed. and 86.1%, respectively. VEGF levels in the Future studies with a larger number of cases tumor tissue in the endostatin plus radiation need to be conducted. group were lower than those in the radiation Conclusions and control groups [24]. The results of the present study are important because they verified We conclude that combining endostatin with that endostatin can create a vascular normalCRT in treating primary unresectable carcinoization time window after treatment in lung canma of the esophagus may be a promising treatcer xenografts. Moreover, the results verified ment for patients with unresectable esophathat the anti-tumor effect of irradiation is engeal cancer without systemic metastases, with hanced during the normalization time induced no observable increase in adverse effects and by delivering endostatin. Zhong studied the tolerable toxicity. Further prospective randomcombination of endostatin with definitive chemized controlled studies are needed to confirm oradiotherapy for patients with advanced esothis finding. phageal cancer. CRT combined with endostatin resulted in a marked improvement in the comAcknowledgements plete response rates (44.4% vs. 30.0%) and an increase in the 1- and 3-year OS rates (72.0% This work was supported by the Natural Science vs. 50.0% and 32.0% vs. 22.0%, respectively). Foundation of China (No. 81272504, No. 8147The median time to progression was extended 2809), Innovation Team [No. LJ201123 (EH11)], to 11.3 months in the combination group vs. A Project Funded by the Priority Academic Pr8.1 months in the CRT-alone group. Treatmentogram Development of Jiangsu Higher Educarelated toxicities that could be attributed spetion Institutions (PAPD) (JX10231801), grants cifically to endostatin were not observed [8]. In from Key Academic Discipline of Jiangsu Provin our study of patients with esophageal cancer, ce “Medical Aspects of Specific Environments”, endostatin combined with chemoradiotherapy the Six Major Talent Peak Project of Jiangsu was well tolerated. The incidence of grade 3 Province (2013-WSN-040), Jiangsu Provincial toxicity was 12.5%, and no grade 4 toxicity Science and Technology Projects [BK2011854 occurred. The 1- and 3-year OS rates were (DA11)], and the “333” Project of Jiangsu 68.8% and 43.8%, respectively, and the correProvince [BRA2012210 (RS12)]. sponding PFS rates were 56.3% and 31.3%. The CR rate was 53.1%. These results are more Disclosure of conflict of interest favorable than those reported previously for chemoradiotherapy alone, which may be partly None. Table 3. 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