Cetuximab and irinotecan as third-line therapy in advanced colorectal cancer patients: a single centre phase II trial

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which participates in signalling pathways that are deregulated in cancer cells, is frequently mutated in colorectal-cancer cells. Cetuximab is a monoclonal antibody that specifically blocks the EGFR. We evaluated the efficacy of cetuximab in weekly combination with irinotecan in metastatic colorectal cancer patients refractory to previous treatments based on oxaliplatin or irinotecan. We included 55 heavily pretreated patients (colon/rectum: 34/11, M/F: 16/29, median age 63 years, range: 27-79) whose disease had progressed during or within an oxaliplatin-based first-line chemotherapy and a irinotecan-based second-line regimen. Patients were followed for tumour response and were also evaluated for the time to tumour progression, and safety of treatment. Cetuximab was given at an initial dose of 400 mg m(-2), followed by weekly infusions of 250 mg m(-2). Irinotecan was administered weekly at the dose of 90 mg m(-2). All patients were assessable for treatment efficacy and safety response rate was 25.4% (95% CI: 21.7-39.6%); 38.2% (95 CI: 18.6-39.8%) of patients showed a disease stability as the best response. As a consequence, the overall tumour control rate was 63.6% (95% CI: 46.4-70.6%). The median time to progression was 4.7 months (95% CI: 2.5-7.1 months) and the median survival time was 9.8 months (95% CI: 3.9-10.1 months). The most common G3-4 noncutaneous side toxicities were: diarrhoea (16.4%), fatigue (12.7%) and stomatitis (7.3%). 89.1% of patients developed skin toxicity and 32.6% of cases was of grade 3-4. No allergic reactions were identified at any courses in any patients. Fever was documented in 27.3% of patients and was most commonly recorded after the first administration. Cetuximab has clinically significant activity even in heavily pretreated colorectal cancer patients progressed after both oxaliplatin and irinotecan-based chemotherapy regimens.