Clinical Study of Nimotuzumab Combined with Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Late Stage Gastric Cancer

Objective: To explore the clinical effects of nimotuzumab combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of late gastric cancer. Methods: A total of 34 reoccurrence or metastatic patients with late stage gastric cancer who were confirmed by histopathology and/or cytology were selected and randomly divided into observational and control groups, of 17 cases each. Patients in the control group were treated with the standard DCF plan, while patients in observational group additionally received nimotuzumab. The short-term and long-term efficacy and adverse reactions in the 2 groups were followed. Results: The objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) were 64.7% (11/17) and 82.4% (14/17) in observational group and 25.0%(4/16) and 37.5%(6/16) in the control group(ORR and DCR between 2 groups, chi(2)=5.2412, P=0.0221 and chi(2)=6.9453, P=0.0084). The median progression-free survival (PFS) time and median overall survival (OS) time were 6.50 months and 12.50 months in observational group and 4.50 months and 8.25 months in the control group (P=0.0212; P=0.0255). The main toxic and side effects in the 2 groups were reduced leukocytes and hemoglobin, gastrointestinal reactions and hair loss and these were relieved after symptomatic treatment and nutrition support therapy. There were no differences in the occurrence of toxic and side effects between the 2 groups. Conclusions: Nimotuzumab combined with DCF plan is effective in treating late stage gastric cancer. A larger scale study is now warranted for confirmation of the findings.