A multicenter phase II study of biweekly capecitabine in combination with oxaliplatin as first-line chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer

PURPOSE: We evaluated the safety and efficacy of biweekly capecitabine in combination with oxaliplatin in previously untreated patients with locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer. METHODS: Patients received oral capecitabine 1,000 mg/m(2) twice daily on days 1–10 plus oxaliplatin 85 mg/m(2) as a 2-h intravenous infusion on day 1, every 2 weeks (XELOX). The primary endpoint was overall response rate. Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival, overall survival, and toxicity. RESULTS: From March 2007 to October 2010, 46 patients were enrolled in this phase II study. The median age was 64 years (range 32–85). A total of 391 (median 7.5, range 1–29) cycles were delivered. Among the 41 patients evaluable for tumor response, 9 showed partial response and 25 had stable disease. The overall response rates of the evaluable and intent-to-treat (ITT) populations were 22 % (95 % CI 10–42 %) and 20 % (95 % CI 9–34 %), respectively. In the ITT analysis, the progression-free survival and overall survival were 5.6 months (95 % CI 4.1–6.3 months) and 8.0 months (95 % CI 6.3–10.1 months), respectively. The most common hematological toxicities were thrombocytopenia (35 %) and leucopenia (34 %), whereas the most common non-hematological toxicities were neuropathy (35 %), fatigue (33 %), diarrhea (27 %), vomiting (26 %), and hand-foot syndrome (25 %). Major grade 3–4 toxicities were anemia (11 %), diarrhea (9 %), and hand-foot syndrome (7 %). No patient died of treatment-related toxicities. CONCLUSIONS: Although the biweekly XELOX regimen failed its primary response rate endpoint, it showed modest efficacy and an acceptable safety profile in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer.