Background/aim: Immune check-point inhibitors are often unsuitable for patients with urothelial cancer with a poor performance status (PS 2 or 3). The aim of this study was to assess the safety and usefulness of combined therapy with low-dose gemcitabine and paclitaxel every 4 weeks.
Patients and methods: Thirty patients were treated with gemcitabine (700 mg/m2 on day 1) and paclitaxel (70 mg/m2 on day 1) every 4 weeks. The predictive value of human antigen-R (HuR) and class III β-tubulin (TUBB3) were also analyzed.
Results: There was no severe adverse event nor significant decrease in quality of life. The survival period of patients treated with this regimen was significantly longer than that of those treated with best supportive care. The expression pattern of HuR negativity and TUBB3 positivity predicted significantly worse overall survival.
Conclusion: Our regimen was suitable as second-line therapy for patients with advanced platinum-resistant UC with a poor PS. However, a HuR-negative and TUBB3-positive expression pattern appears to confer poorer outcome.
Keywords: Gemcitabine; class III β-tubulin; human antigen-R; paclitaxel; urothelial cancer.
Copyright© 2019, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.