A PHASE-II STUDY OF VM-26 PLUS LONIDAMINE IN PRETREATED SMALL-CELL LUNG-CANCER

Background. SCLC relapsing or refractory after induction chemotherapy is a chemoresistant tumor. The outcome of salvage chemotherapy is poor , with low response rates (< 30%) and short survival times (3-4 months ). The development of drug resistance is considered the major cause of failure of treatment. VM-26 is one of the most active drugs in SCLC. Lonidamine has shown to enhance in both vivo and vitro antitumor activ ity of several cytotoxic drugs acting on drug resistance mechanisms. M aterials and methods: VM-26 and lonidamine were employed as salvage ch emotherapy in 30 small cell hmg cancer patients. The doses of chemothe rapy used were: VM-26 100 mg/m(2), i.v., days I to 3; lonidamine 600 m g, p.o., days I to 5, recycled every 3 weeks. Results: We observed 13. 3% of objective response and a median survival of 4 months. All the re sponses were obtained inpatients relapsing after a response to inducti on chemotherapy. Toxicity was moderate with no toxic death. Conclusion s: our study shows that Lonidamine failed to increase the VM-26 activi ty in pretreated small cell lung cancer patients.