Efficacy observation of cetuximab combined with chemotherapy for patients with K-RAS wild-type advanced colorectal cancer

Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of cetuximab with FOLFIRI or FOLFOX/XELOX as first-line chemotherapy for patients with K-RAS wild-type advanced colorectal cancer. Methods Clinical data about 98 histopathology confirmed patients with KRAS wild-type advanced colorectal cancer admitted to our hospital from February 2008 to July 2014 were collected and analyzed. Forty-four patients received cetuximab plus FOLFOX/XELOX, 54 patients received cetuximab plus FOLFIRI. Each patient received at least two cycles of chemotherapy, every 6 weeks for evaluation. The efficacy was evaluated according to RECIST 1.1. Results Ninety-eight patients were available for evaluation. In cetuximab plus FOLFOX/XELOX group, the complete response (CR) was 2.27%, partial response (PR) was 63.64%, stable disease (SD) was 25%, and progressive disease (PD) was 9.09%. In cetuximab plus FOLFIRI group, CR was 0%, PR was 40.74%, SD was 44.45%, PD was 14.81%. The objective response rate (ORR) of these two groups were 65.91% and 40.74%, respectively, which was of statistically significant difference (P=0.013). The disease control rate (DCR) were 90.91% and 85.19% respectively, which showed statistically significant difference (P=0.390). The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 8.4 months and 7.7 months respectively, with no statistically significant differences (P=0.580). Conclusion The efficacy of addition of cetuximab to oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy in first-line treatment for K-RAS wild-type advanced colorectal cancer is not inferior to cetuximab combined with FOLFIRI regimen. Adverse reactions show no significant difference between the two groups, which suggests that it is worthy of promotion.