Abstract:

Objective To investigate the efficacy of β-elemene combined with gefitinib in the treatment of advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients with slow progression after first-line gefitinib treatment and its effects on quality of life and immune function. Methods A prospective cohort study design was used to enroll patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma who met the inclusion criteria from June 2017 to December 2018 in our hospital. They were divided into experimental group and control group by random number table method. The experimental group was given elemene combined with gefitinib, and the control group was only given gefitinib. The clinical efficacy, quality of life and immune function of the two groups were compared after 2 cycles of treatment. The PFS2 (time from slow progression of disease to rapid progression of disease) was followed up. Results A total of 61 patients were included. There were 30 cases in the experimental group and 31 cases in the control group. The disease control rates of the experimental group and the control group were 83.3% (25/30) and 58.1% (18/31) respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (χ ²=4.680, P=0.031). The short-term efficacy of the experimental group was better than that of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (Z=-2.623, P=0.009). The median PFS2 of the experimental group was 4.20 months (95%CI: 3.94-4.46), and the median PFS2 of the control group was 4.00 months (95%CI: 2.94-5.07), with a statistically significant difference (χ ²=4.948, P=0.026). Quality of life was compared between the two groups: in terms of physical function, emotional function and overall quality of life, score differences before and after treatment of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group, with statistically significant differences [6.67(-6.66, 20.00) vs. 0(-6.66, 6.66), Z=-2.429, P=0.015; 29.17(2.08, 56.26) vs. 12.49(-14.59, 39.57), Z=-2.263, P=0.024; 16.67(-33.33, 56.67) vs. 8.34(-18.74, 35.42), Z=-2.249, P=0.025]. In terms of immune function, CD4 ⁺T cells level in the experimental group increased after treatment compared with that before treatment (44.27%±6.78% vs. 41.17%±3.73%, t=-2.426, P=0.022), and CD8 ⁺T cells level decreased compared with that before treatment (21.47%±3.18% vs. 23.50%±2.37%, t=2.532, P=0.017). After treatment, the level of CD4 ⁺T cells in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group (44.27%±6.78% vs. 39.63%±5.80%, t=2.725, P=0.011). Conclusion β-elemene combined with gefitinib has a certain effect in the treatment of advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients with slow progression after first-line gefitinib treatment, and the quality of life and immune function are improved. It is worthy of further clinical research.

Key words: Carcinoma,non-small-cell lung, Drug resistance,neoplasm, Elemene, Gefitinib