PHASE-II STUDY OF FLUTAMIDE AS 2ND LINE CHEMOTHERAPY IN PATIENTS WITHADVANCED PANCREATIC-CANCER

Androgen receptors are present in both pancreatic cancer tissue and ce ll lines. Flutamide is a potent antiandrogen widely used in clinical p ractice for patients with metastatic prostate cancer. This Phase II tr ial was undertaken to evaluate the impact of flutamide in patients wit h advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma who had developed progressive dis ease following therapy with one 5-FU-based regimen. Fourteen patients were treated with flutamide, 250 mg orally three times per day. Therap y was generally well tolerated. No patient achieved objective tumor re sponse. No patient had improvement in tumor-related symptoms as measur ed by improvement in pain intensity, analgesic requirement, performanc e status, or nutritional status. Median survival was 4.7 months. We co nclude that flutamide is ineffective second line therapy for patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma.