Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer may benefit from a new dosing schedule for the chemotherapy drug TAS-102, according to recent research published in The Oncologist. The study, co-authored by a physician from Fox Chase Cancer Center, suggests that a biweekly dose of TAS-102 offers similar effectiveness while reducing toxicity compared to standard dosing schedules.
TAS-102, also known as Lonsurf, is typically administered twice daily on days 1 through 5 and again on days 8 through 12 of a 28-day cycle. This standard regimen often leads to significant bone marrow suppression, necessitating dose reductions or treatment delays. Some patients require G-CSF medication to boost white blood cell counts, which can cause side effects like bone pain.
“We’ve seen that this typical dosing schedule frequently causes significant bone marrow suppression,” said the lead author and Assistant Professor at Fox Chase. “Use of this medication [G-CSF], however, can also cause side effects such as bone pain and other more serious complications.”
The retrospective study involved 61 patients treated with the alternative biweekly dosing of TAS-102. This new schedule began on days 1 through 5 and continued on days 15 through 19 within the same cycle. Results showed that this approach was effective in treating colorectal cancer while resulting in less bone marrow suppression and fewer dose delays than the standard method. Notably, none of the patients required G-CSF or developed neutropenic fever.
“These findings provide us an alternative way to dose chemotherapy that maintains efficacy but reduces the toxicity of the treatment,” Cann stated. “This dosing schedule may be most useful for older patients or patients who have developed chemotherapy-related toxicities.”
Cann emphasized that further prospective, multicenter studies are needed to validate these findings and expand the use of biweekly dosing schedules for TAS-102.
The study was published under the title “,” in The Oncologist.
