Conditions: Esophageal Cancer Gastric Cancer
Keywords: stage I gastric cancer stage II gastric cancer stage III gastric cancer adenocarcinoma of the stomach adenocarcinoma of the esophagus stage I esophageal cancer stage II esophageal cancer stage III esophageal cancer
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 546
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Combining chemotherapy with radiation therapy after surgery may kill any remaining tumor cells following surgery. It is not yet known which chemotherapy and radiation therapy regimen is more effective in treating stomach or esophageal cancer.

PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare two different chemotherapy and radiation therapy regimens in treating patients who have undergone surgery for stomach or esophageal cancer.

Detailed description:
OBJECTIVES:

* Compare overall survival in patients with resected gastric adenocarcinoma treated with epirubicin, cisplatin, and infusional fluorouracil (5-FU) vs 5-FU bolus and leucovorin calcium before and after 5-FU plus radiotherapy.
* Compare disease-free survival and local and distant recurrence rates in these patients treated with these regimens.
* Correlate the expression of putative prognostic markers (including TS, ERCC-1, MSI, E-cadherin, EGFR, p27, COX-2, and c-erbB-2) with overall survival of patients treated with these regimens.
* Correlate specific germline polymorphisms related to chemotherapy metabolism and resistance (including UGT2B7 \[epirubicin\], GST \[cisplatin\], ERCCI \[cisplatin\], XRCC1 \[cisplatin\], TS \[5-FU\], DPD \[5-FU\], and EGFR polymorphisms) with treatment-related toxicity and overall survival of these patients.
* Correlate serum levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), IGF-2, and IGF-binding protein 3 with overall survival of patients treated with these regimens.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to depth of tumor penetration (T1 or T2 vs T3 vs T4), lymph node involvement (0 vs 1-3), and extent of lymphadenectomy (D1 or D2 vs D0 or unknown). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

* Arm I: Patients receive leucovorin calcium IV and fluorouracil (5-FU) IV on days 1-5 of courses 1, 3, and 4. Courses repeat every 28 days. During course 2, patients undergo radiotherapy 5 days a week and receive 5-FU IV continuously for 5 weeks. Patients rest for 28-35 days between course 2 and 3.
* Arm II: Patients receive epirubicin IV over 3-15 minutes and cisplatin IV over 1 hour on day 1 and 5-FU IV continuously on days 1-21 during course 1. Beginning 1 week later, patients undergo radiotherapy 5 days a week and receive 5-FU IV continuously for 5 weeks. Patients rest for 28-35 days before beginning course 2 of chemotherapy. Patients then receive epirubicin, cisplatin, and 5-FU as in course 1. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 2 courses.

Patients are followed every 3 months for 2 years, every 4 months for 2 years, and then annually for 3 years.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 824 patients will be accrued for this study.

Arms:
arm 1: Patients receive leucovorin calcium IV and fluorouracil (5-FU) IV on days 1-5 of courses 1, 3, and 4. Courses repeat every 28 days. During course 2, patients undergo radiotherapy 5 days a week and receive 5-FU IV continuously for 5 to 6 weeks. Patients rest for 28-35 days between course 2 and 3. arm 2: Patients receive epirubicin IV over 3-15 minutes and cisplatin IV over 1 hour on day 1 and 5-FU IV continuously on days 1-21 during course 1. Beginning 1 week later, patients undergo radiotherapy 5 days a week and 5-FU IV continuously for 5 weeks. Patients rest for 28-35 days before beginning course 2 of chemotherapy. Patients then receive epirubicin, cisplatin, and 5-FU as in course 1. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 2 courses.

Interventions: intervention 1: cisplatin intervention 2: epirubicin hydrochloride intervention 3: fluorouracil intervention 4: leucovorin calcium intervention 5: radiation therapy
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Given IV intervention 2: Given IV intervention 3: Given IV intervention 4: Given IV intervention 5: Given 5 days a week for 5 weeks

Protocol document: