Efficacy and Safety of Nab-Paclitaxel Plus S-1 in the First-line Treatment of Advanced Pancreatic Cancer

Gemcitabine has been approved as the standard chemotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer since 1996, but the efficacy is extremely limited by a response rate of 6-8%, and median survival of 5.5-7 months. However, Gemcitabine-based combination treatments fail to transcend GEM monotherapy on overall survival, including GEM + 5-Fu [10], GEM + Oxaliplatin[11], and GEM + Irinotecan [12] and GEM + Cisplatin [13] (7-8) . Until 2011, Conroy et al.[15] reported that FOLFIRINOX solutions significantly improved ORR (31.6% vs 9%, P=0.0008), PFS (6.4 vs. 3.3 months, P<0.0001) and OS (11.1 vs. 6.8 months, P<0.001) than GEM single-agent, but the significant increase of grade 3/4 adverse reactions, to some extent, limited its wide application. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to explore effective and safe chemotherapy of advanced pancreatic cancer.

Nab-Paclitaxel was approved by FDA for advanced pancreatic cancer in September 2013. S-1 has demonstrated potential value in the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer as a new compound oral 5-FU(4-5) and has been approved for pancreatic cancer treatment in Japan.

We conducted a single arm, prospective, phase II study in our center on the first-line treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer with nab-Paclitaxel and S-1 to investigate the efficacy and safety of the combination regimen.

Inclusion criteria

• Age, years: 18-75
• Histologically and cytologically confirmed advanced pancreatic cancer , inresectable, measurable lesions according to RECIST criteria; ECOG score of 0-1; life expectancy ≥12 weeks;
• Untreated; more than 6 months after the last adjuvant chemotherapy (does not include taxanes and S1);
• Laboratory examination within 14 days before entering the study should meet following requirements: ANC ≥ 1.5 x 10^9/L; PLT ≥ 100 x 10^9/L; Hb ≥ 90g/L (9g/dL); AST, ALT ≤ 2.5 x ULN (with no liver metastasis), ≤ 5 x ULN（with liver metastasis); creatinine ≤ 1.5 x ULN; TBIL ≤ 1.5 x ULN
• Both male and female subjects of potential fertility have to agree effective birth control during the entire study
• Informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• Concurrent other effective treatment (including radiotherapy)
• Resectable patients
• Allergy history to other drugs in the same class patients with pregnancy or lactation
• Known severe internal medical diseases
• Abnormal heart function or relevant history of myocardial infarction and severe arrhythmia
• Immunocompromised patients, such as HIV positive
• Uncontrollable mental illness
• Other conditions the researchers considered ineligible for the study