PURPOSE Both gefitinib and pemetrexed maintenance were effective therapies for advanced lung adenocarcinoma, but which is better is unclear. For patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma, we have no idea whether we should choose gefitinib or pemetrexed maintenance in clinical practice. Here, we assessed the efficacy and tolerability of gefitinib versus pemetrexed maintenance in these patients....

BACKGROUND The INTEREST (IRESSA NSCLC Trial Evaluating Response and Survival against Taxotere) trial compared gefitinib with docetaxel (Taxotere) in pretreated advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Noninferiority for overall survival was concluded. Gefitinib had a better toxicity profile and greater improvements in quality of life (QoL). We undertook a cost-consequence analysis to estima...

Gefitinib has come to be the most widely used epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Asian patients. Common side effects include mild to moderate skin rash and diarrhea, however, drug-induced liver injury of varying severity is overlooked in long-term gefitinib administration and rarely reported. The current ...

Gefitinib-induced interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a rare but lethal drug adverse event, which usually leads to the withdrawal of gefitinib and causes complications with anticancer treatment. In this study, gefitinib administration combined with prednisolone in a female with stage IIIb non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) produced a good outcome without inducing ILD. The results suggested that ...

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is known to play a critical role in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC). Several EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors(TKIs), such as gefitinib, have been used as effective clinical therapies for patients with NSCLC. Unfortunately, acquired resistance to gefitinib commonly occurs after 6-12 months of treatment. The resistance is associated with the appearance...

Gefitinib is a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Since 2004, it was clear that a substantial proportion of non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC) obtaining objective response when treated with gefitinib harbour activating mutations in the EGFR gene. Consequently, EGFR mutation has been widely studied, together with other molecular characteristics,...

AIM OF THE STUDY Many studies have shown that interferon-α (IFN-α) enhances the antiproliferative effect of gefitinib in some solid tumours. We aimed to determine the effect of combining IFN-α with gefitinib in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines (A549, H1299, HCC827) with different EGFR and K-Ras gene statuses. MATERIAL AND METHODS An MTT assay was used to assess cell prolife...

Multiple molecular resistance mechanisms reduce the efficiency of receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as gefitinib in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We previously demonstrated that amphiregulin (Areg) inhibits gefitinib-induced apoptosis in NSCLC cells by inactivating the proapoptotic protein BAX. In this part of the investigation, we studied the molecular mechanisms leading to BAX in...

Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that harbors epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations initially respond to EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) but eventually experience relapse. Acquired resistance to EGFR-TKIs is strongly associated with patient mortality. Thus, elucidation of the mechanism of acquired resistance to EGFR-TKIs is of great importance. In this study, g...

OBJECTIVE Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a severe adverse event of gefitinib therapy. However, the mechanism still remains unclear. The objective of this study was to examine whether or not oxidative stress, one of the common factors in drug-associated ILD, is involved in the pathogenesis of gefitinib-induced ILD. PATIENTS AND METHODS Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), we...