Randomized clinical trial of adenosine 5'-triphosphate on tumor growth and survival in advanced lung cancer patients

H.J. Agteresch, S.A. Burgers, A. van der Gaast, J.H.P. Wilson, P.C. Dagnelie*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Randomized clinical trial of adenosine 5'-triphosphate on tumor growth and survival in advanced lung cancer patients.

Agteresch HJ, Burgers SA, van der Gaast A, Wilson JH, Dagnelie PC.

Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

We recently reported that regular infusions of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) inhibited loss of body weight and quality of life in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In the present paper we investigated whether ATP affects tumor growth and survival in the same group of patients. Fifty-eight NSCLC patients (stage IIIB or IV) were randomly assigned to receive either 10 i.v. 30-h ATP infusions every 2-4 weeks over a 24-week period (n = 28) or no ATP (control patients, n = 30). ATP was given for a median of 6.5 infusions. Differences in time to progression and survival between patients in both groups were tested by means of the log-rank test and Cox regression analysis. Forty-nine patients were evaluable for tumor response. None of the evaluable patients showed a complete or partial response. Median time to progression was 3.9 months [95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.3-5.5] in the ATP group compared to 3.0 months (95% CI = 2.4-3.7) in the control group (p = 0.71). Median survival was 5.6 months (95% CI = 1.1-10.1) for the ATP group and 4.7 months (95% CI = 2.6-6.8) for the control group (p = 0.68). ATP treatment was associated with a significant increase in survival in the subgroup of weight-losing patients with stage IIIB NSCLC: in this subgroup, median survival was 9.3 months (95% CI = 2.1-16.5) for ATP-treated patients versus 3.5 months (95% CI = 2.3-4.7) for control patients (between-group difference: p = 0.009). No significant effect of ATP was observed for weight-losing patients with stage IV NSCLC or for weight-stable NSCLC patients. Although ATP as a single therapy does not lead to tumor regression or increased survival in patients with advanced lung cancer, it may prolong survival in weight-losing patients with stage IIIB lung cancer. The latter finding is intriguing, but requires confirmation in larger clinical trials
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)639-644
Number of pages5
JournalAnti-Cancer Drugs
Volume14
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2003

Cite this