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Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology logoLink to Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology
. 2010 May;2(3):161–174. doi: 10.1177/1758834010365061

Safety and efficacy of weekly 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid/oxaliplatin/irinotecan in the first-line treatment of gastrointestinal cancer

Stefan Peinert 1, Wilfried Grothe 2, Alexander Stein 3, Lutz P Müller 3, Joern Ruessel 3, Wieland Voigt 3, Hans-Joachim Schmoll 3, Dirk Arnold 4,✉
PMCID: PMC3126013  PMID: 21789132

Abstract

Background: Standard chemotherapy for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) or gastric cancer (GC) consists of two-drug, usually fluoropyrimidine-based, combinations, with or without the addition of biological agents. Studies of triple-drug regimens combining 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)/folinic acid (FA) with both oxaliplatin and irinotecan have shown promising efficacy in studies of patients with mCRC or GC. However, improved efficacy has often been achieved at the expense of high rates of grade 3 or 4 toxicities such as neutropenia and diarrhoea, occasionally even resulting in toxic deaths.

Objective/Methods: We performed a phase II study of previously untreated patients with mCRC or GC to assess the safety and efficacy of our 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid/oxaliplatin/irinotecan (FUFOXIRI) regimen with weekly administration of irinotecan 70 mg/m2, oxaliplatin 50 mg/m2, FA 500 mg/m2 and 5-FU 2000 mg/m2 on days 1, 8, 15 and 22, repeated from day 36.

Results: A total of 22 patients were enrolled, 11 each with mCRC and GC receiving a median of four cycles per patient. The FUFOXIRI regimen was generally well tolerated with no toxic deaths, neutropenic fever or grade 4 toxicities. Most common grade 3 side effects were diarrhoea and neutropenia each affecting 24% of patients. Dose reductions due to toxicity were performed in 48% of all and 60% of patients having received at least two cycles of FUFOXIRI. The overall response rate was 46% (all partial responses), 55% and 36% for patients with mCRC and GC, respectively. Median progression-free survival for all patients, mCRC and GC patients was 9.5, 10.0 and 8.0 months, respectively. The median overall survival for all patients was 16.5, 18.0 and 15.0 months for patients with mCRC and GC, respectively.

Conclusion: These data show excellent tolerance and efficacy of the FUFOXIRI regimen in both mCRC and GC. Therefore, FUFOXIRI is a promising backbone for future studies incorporating biologic ‘targeted’ agents for the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers.

Keywords: chemotherapy, clinical trial, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, 5-fluorouracil, irinotecan, oxaliplatin

Introduction

In both, metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) and locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer (GC), combination chemotherapy regimens of two active treatment compounds, based on infusional 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), have been the standard of care for many years now.

In mCRC, 5-FU is commonly administered with folinic acid (FA) and with either irinotecan or oxaliplatin resulting from six phase III trials showing superior efficacy for these combinations compared with 5-FU/FA monotherapy. With the addition of either drug, reported response rates (RR) have been increased from 15–25% to 40–50% and overall survival (OS) of 10–14 months with 5-FU/FA alone was prolonged to more than 20 months if all drugs were subsequently administered [Kohne et al. 2005; Grothey et al. 2002; De Gramont et al. 2000; Douillard et al. 2000; Giacchetti et al. 2000; Saltz et al. 2000].

To further increase efficacy, novel molecularly targeted agents have been examined in randomized phase III trials, mostly in addition to chemotherapy doublets. In mCRC, the addition of bevacizumab has yielded improvement of progression-free survival (PFS) [Saltz et al. 2008; Hurwitz et al. 2004], RR and OS [Hurwitz et al. 2004]. The addition of cetuximab resulted in improved RR [Bokemeyer et al. 2009; Van Cutsem et al. 2009a] and PFS [Van Cutsem et al. 2009a], but not OS [Bokemeyer et al. 2009; Van Cutsem et al. 2009a].

Analogous to the management of mCRC, the standard treatment of GC in the Western World consists of 5-FU-based regimens, most commonly combined with cisplatin [Lutz et al. 2007]. Numerous studies have shown that oxaliplatin has the potential to replace cisplatin as a further standard, suggesting a favourable toxicity profile with lower rates of neutropenia, alopecia and less renal toxicity and at least equal efficacy [Al-Batran et al. 2008, 2004; Cunningham et al. 2008; De Vita et al. 2005; Lordick et al. 2005; Chao et al. 2004; Louvet et al. 2002].

Although irinotecan is less extensively evaluated in GC, phase II data have shown considerable activity when combined with 5-FU/FA [Moehler et al. 2005; Bouche et al. 2004; Pozzo et al. 2004; Blanke et al. 2001]. Furthermore, a phase III trial comparing 5-FU/cisplatin to 5-FU/irinotecan resulted in a trend for improved time to tumour progression (TTP) in favour of the irinotecan-containing schedule. Again, the experimental arm showed a better toxicity profile than 5-FU/cisplatin [Dank et al. 2008].

In GC, the addition of the anti-HER/2 antibody, trastuzumab, was the first targeted agent that resulted in an increased RR as well as a survival benefit when added to 5-FU or capecitabine and cisplatin [Van Cutsem et al. 2009a].

Another option is to combine the three most active drugs in one regimen: as 5-FU, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin show only partly overlapping toxicity profiles, a triple combination might be feasible. Moreover, these agents have different mechanisms of cytotoxicity leading to (also different) synergistic effects of combined application, as preclinically shown on colon and GC cell lines in vitro [Tanaka et al. 2005; Patel et al. 2004; Yeh et al. 2004; Fischel et al. 2001]. Clinically, the combination of irinotecan with oxaliplatin, without 5FU/FA, has been shown to be significantly inferior to 5-FU/FA and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) regarding RR, TTP and OS [Sanoff et al. 2008; Goldberg et al. 2004].

Thus, a triple combination is expected to be more effective, mainly regarding overall RR, and extent of tumour shrinkage, which offers significant clinical benefits: a greater proportion of patients with initially inoperable metastases, mainly in mCRC with disease limited to the liver, could be converted to a resectable state and thereby potentially cured [Folprecht et al. 2005; Bismuth et al. 1996]. The rates of secondary metastatic resection in mCRC after treatment with triple-drug combinations of 5-FU/FA, irinotecan and oxaliplatin have been reported to be 15–82.4%; however, some of these results may be biased by small patient numbers and patient selection [Ychou et al. 2008; Ferrari et al. 2005; Seium et al. 2005; Cals et al. 2004; De La Cámara et al. 2004; Calvo et al. 2002; Falcone et al. 2002].

So far, there are two phase III studies with a direct, randomized comparison of the two-drug combination 5-FU/FA and irinotecan (FOLFIRI) with the triple-drug regimen FOLFOXIRI additionally including oxaliplatin for patients with mCRC. In both studies, the rate of secondary metastatic surgery was very similar in the FOLFIRI arms (4% and 6%, respectively) and was markedly higher with the FOLFOXIRI regimen (10% and 15%, respectively) [Falcone et al. 2007a,Falcone et al. 2007b; Souglakos et al. 2006].

In nonresectable but symptomatic patients, tumour shrinkage might offer a better relief of symptoms and/or the prevention of symptomatic disease progression: in mCRC, a recent meta-analysis has demonstrated that patients with poor performance status (ECOG PS 2) yield at least the same benefit from intensified (doublet) treatment when compared with single-agent strategies, compared with patients in good PS (0-1), with no or only few tumour symptoms [Sargent et al. 2009].

Moreover, trials with first-line therapy of 5-FU plus irinotecan or with oxaliplatin in mCRC have shown that up to 40% of the patients did not receive second-line treatment, mostly because they were not considered fit enough for further chemotherapy. With a triple combination, however, all patients will be exposed to all of the three most active agents which is, according to the findings of a meta-analysis, a strong prognostic factor for improved OS [Grothey et al. 2004].

During recent years, a few phase I and II studies, mostly in patients with mCRC, have been conducted, evaluating different schedules of 5-FU/FA in combination with parallel, sequential or alternating application of irinotecan and oxaliplatin. The results regarding efficacy were quite promising with RR up to 72% [Masi et al. 2004], progression free survival (PFS) of 9–14 months and OS mostly well above 20 months [Falcone et al. 2007b, Falcone et al. 2002; Souglakos et al. 2006, 2002; Abad et al. 2004; Cals et al. 2004; Masi et al. 2004; Calvo et al. 2002]; in the study of Masi et al. even 28.4 months [Vasile et al. 2009; Masi et al. 2004]. In cross-trial comparisons, outcome data of triple combinations in mCRC compare superior to the results obtained with dual combinations of 5-FU and either irinotecan or oxaliplatin [Kohne et al. 2005; Grothey et al. 2001; De Gramont et al. 2000; Douillard et al. 2000; Giacchetti et al. 2000; Saltz et al. 2000].

The favourable efficacy was also confirmed in a multicenter phase III trial directly comparing a three-drug combination of 5-FU/FA, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan (FOLFOXIRI) with the standard combination of FOLFIRI [[Falcone et al. 2007a, [Falcone et al. 2007b] while a previously reported, similar phase III trial only found a trend for improved efficacy of the triple-drug combination [Souglakos et al. 2006].

In GC, a triple combination of 5-FU, cisplatin and docetaxel resulted in an improved median OS when compared to the standard two-drug regimen [Ajani et al. 2005]. Interestingly, quality of life was maintained for a significant longer period, although high rates of grade 3/4 toxicities limit the use of this regimen in daily routine. However, the favourable efficacies observed underline the need for identification of other active triple-drug regimens.

Despite proven activity of each of the single agents 5-FU/FA, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin and several positive trials with dual combinations in GC [Al-Batran et al. 2008, 2004; Cunningham et al. 2008; Dank et al. 2008; De Vita et al. 2005; Lordick et al. 2005; Moehler et al. 2005; Bouche et al. 2004; Chao et al. 2004; Pozzo et al. 2004; Louvet et al. 2002; Blanke et al. 2001] data regarding triple combinations of all three drugs are still relatively scarce, but results from recent phase II studies were encouraging with RR of up to 67%, median TTP and OS of up to 9.6 and 14.8 months, respectively [Cao et al. 2009; Comella et al. 2009; Chiesa et al. 2007; Lee et al. 2007].

Toxicity, however, remains a major concern of these triple combinations with high rates particularly of grade 3 or 4 neutropenia, nausea/vomiting, diarrhoea, and considerable rates of febrile neutropenia that make routine use of these schedules difficult [Cao et al. 2009; Comella et al. 2009; Chiesa et al. 2007; Falcone et al. 2007b, 2002; Lee et al. 2007; Abad et al. 2004; Cals et al. 2004; Masi et al. 2004; Calvo et al. 2002; Souglakos et al. 2002].

Attempts have been made to attenuate toxicity by dose reduction of the individual drugs or alternating application of irinotecan and oxaliplatin, both leading to reduced dose intensity of each drug. Both strategies were able to improve tolerability, but in some trials lowered efficacy to a level also achievable with two-drug combinations [Souglakos et al. 2006; Aparicio et al. 2005; Ferrari et al. 2005].

The aim of this phase II study was to maintain the good tolerability and improve the efficacy of our previously reported FUFOX regimen with weekly administration of oxaliplatin (50 mg/m2), 24-hour infusion of 5-FU/FA (2000 and 500 mg/m2, respectively) [Lordick et al. 2005; Wong et al. 2003; Moehler et al. 2002; Grothey et al. 2001] by adding weekly administration of irinotecan. In a preceding phase I study, the maximum tolerated dose of irinotecan in conjunction with FUFOX was determined to be 70 mg/m2 [Arnold and Grothey, unpublished data].

Patients and methods

Patient eligibility

Histologically proven mCRC or locally advanced or metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma (GC) without option for curatively intended resection; measurable disease; age of at least 18 years, no upper age limit; Karnofsky Performance Score ≥80%; life expectancy of at least 3 months; no prior radiotherapy or chemotherapy except for adjuvant therapy with fluoropyrimidines alone, completed at least 6 months before study entry; no further malignancy except for nonmelanoma skin cancer or in situ cervical carcinoma; adequate bone marrow, hepatic, and renal function (defined as white blood cell count (WBC) ≥ 3/nl, haemoglobin ≥ 6.2 mmol/l, platelets ≥ 100/nl; bilirubin ≤ 1.25 × upper limit of normal (ULN), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) ≤ 2.5 × ULN; or bilirubin ≤ 1.5 × ULN, ALT and AST ≤ 5 × ULN in patients with liver metastases; serum creatinine ≤ 1.25 × ULN).

Patients were excluded from the study for the following reasons: inflammatory bowel disease or chronic diarrhoea requiring treatment; total colectomy or ileostomy; bowel obstruction or subobstruction; uncontrolled metabolic disorders or active infections; uncontrolled cardiac arrhythmias; uncontrolled congestive heart failure or severe ischaemic heart disease; acute myocardial infarction within the last 6 months; history of significant neurologic or psychiatric disorders that could interfere with study treatment; pregnancy, breast feeding or lack of adequate contraception in women of childbearing potential (WOCBP) or men having unprotected sexual intercourse with WOCBP; symptomatic brain metastases; sensory neuropathy > grade 1; participation in another clinical trial within 4 weeks before initiation of treatment.

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki 1996 and Good Clinical Practice Guidelines. Patients were informed about the investigational nature of the study and provided their written informed consent before registration onto the study.

Aims of the trial and study endpoints

This was an exploratory phase II to assess the feasibility and efficacy of the FUFOXIRI regimen in patients with mCRC and GC. The aim was to accrue a total of 20 evaluable patients, 10 patients with mCRC and 10 patients with GC.

The primary endpoint of the study was PFS. Secondary endpoints were OS, safety and tolerability.

The study was offered to eligible patients reviewed in the outpatient clinics of the University Hospital Halle between March 2002 and October 2005.

Pretreatment evaluation

Patients were required to perform baseline imaging workup by CT scan of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis within 4 weeks before initiation of treatment.

A screening visit had to take place within 1 week prior to start of chemotherapy including a complete medical history, physical examination and a blood sample for differential blood cell count and routine blood biochemistry.

Treatment

Chemotherapy started with 1 hour intravenous (iv) infusion of irinotecan 70 mg/m2/60 min, followed by oxaliplatin 50 mg/m2 and FA 500 mg/m2 iv over 2 hours via two different iv lines. 5-FU at a dose of 2000 mg/m2 was administered as continuous infusion over 24 hours. All agents were given on days 1, 8, 15, 22 and were repeated from day 36.

To prevent cholinergic syndrome, 0.25 mg of atropine was injected subcutaneously prior to irinotecan administration. Antiemetic prophylaxis was performed by iv administration of 5-HT3 antagonists and 8 mg of dexamethasone.

In case of diarrhoea, patients were advised to increase oral fluid intake and start oral medication with 4 mg of loperamide followed by 2 mg every 2 hours until normalization of the stool. If diarrhoea persisted >24 hours or was accompanied by nausea and vomiting or fever >38°C, the patient was hospitalized if indicated.

Toxicity was evaluated after each course according to NCI Common Toxicity Criteria (CTC) version 3.0. Chemotherapy was postponed in the case of persisting nonhaematologic toxicity > grade 1, except for alopecia and asthenia, or in the case of haematologic toxicity > grade 2. Treatment was applied until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity or patient consent withdrawal.

Dose modifications

In the case of grade 3 or 4 diarrhoea, doses of irinotecan and 5-FU/FA were reduced by 25%. At the presence of grade 3 or 4 mucositis or hand–foot syndrome, 5-FU/FA was reduced by 25%. If patients developed sensory neuropathy ≥ grade 2, oxaliplatin was paused until resolution to grade 0 or 1.

If treatment was delayed due to leukopenia or thrombocytopenia for >1 week, doses of all, irinotecan, oxalipaltin and 5-FU/FA, were reduced by 25% each.

Patient evaluation

During treatment a complete blood cell count and white cell differential were performed every week prior to chemotherapy administration and blood biochemistry and urine analysis were done as clinically indicated, but at least every 2 weeks.

Tumour response was assessed every two cycles (10 weeks) by CT or MR imaging and evaluation according to RECIST version 1.0 [Therasse et al. 2000] by an independent radiologist. If a complete or partial response (CR or PR, respectively) was detected, it had to be confirmed in a subsequent scan at least 28 days later.

If there was no evidence of pulmonary or abdominal metastases, a chest X-ray or abdominal ultrasound, respectively, was performed every 6 months to test for potential new tumour manifestations.

PFS and OS were calculated as the interval between initiation of treatment and detection of progressive disease (PD) or death, respectively. Duration of response was determined as the time from first assessment of response until observation of PD.

Results

Patient characteristics

Twenty-two patients were included in this single-centre study, 11 each with mCRC and GC. Demographic data were similar in both groups (see Table 1).

Table 1.

Patient characteristics.

All CRC GC
Number of patients (n) 22 11 11
Gender (M/F) [%] 64/36 82/18 46/54
Age 56 [26–68] 52 (44–64) 58 (26–68)
KPS [%] 90 [70–100] 90 (80–100) 90 (70–100)
Metastatic disease 20/22 (91) 11/11 (100) 9/11 (82)
Locally advanced disease 2/22 (9) 0 2/11 (18)
Median number of metastatic sites (range) 1 (0–3) 1 (1–3) 1 (0–2)
Liver metastases [%] 19/22 (86) 11/11 (100) 8/11 (73)
Pulmonary metastases [%] 2/22 (9) 2/11 (18) 0
Previous adjuvant chemotherapy [%] 19 (18) 4 (36) 0
Median number of cycles per patient (range) 4 (1–8) 5 (3–8) 3 (1–6)
Total cycles administered 82 45 37
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CRC, colorectal cancer; GC, gastric cancer; KPS, Karnofsky performance score.

The majority of the mCRC patients had metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis (7/11, 64%), two patients each with metachronous CRC metastases were initially diagnosed with stage IIB and stage III disease, all had previously been treated with adjuvant 5-FU/FA, and had relapsed with liver metastases 8, 14, 20 and 22 months after their initial diagnosis, respectively. One mCRC patient also had lung metastases at the time of relapse.

The predominant site of metastatic disease was the liver in both mCRC and GC patients (11/11 = 100% and 8/11 = 73% of patients, respectively), followed by lung metastases for mCRC patients (2/11 = 18%) and peritoneal metastases for GC patients (3/11 = 27%).

One mCRC patient had synchronous metastases at the liver, lung and bone.

Altogether, 82 cycles of FUFOXIRI were administered in this study with a median of 4 cycles per patient (range: 1–8 cycles).

Treatment toxicity

There were 21 patients evaluable for toxicity: for one patient safety data were incomplete due to loss of followup. There was no toxic death, serious adverse event (SAE), neutropenic fever or grade 4 toxicity. All patients were treated in an outpatient setting, no hospitalizations were required.

Main grade 3 toxicities were diarrhoea and neutropenia which each occurred in 5/22 = 23% of patients. An overview of the toxicity profile is shown in Table 2.

Table 2.

Toxicity profile of 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid/oxaliplatin/irinotecan (FUFOXIRI).

Toxicities Grade 1/2 (%) Grade 3 (%)
Diarrhoea 10/22 (48) 5/22 (23)
Neutropenia 9/22 (43) 5/22 (23)
Nausea 12/22 (57) 3/22 (14)
Neurotoxicity 14/22 (67) 2/22 (10)
Anaemia 16/22 (73) 0
Fatigue 15/22 (68) 0
Hepatic 13/22 (59) 0
Alopecia 10/22  (46, all G1) 0
Thrombocytopenia 6/22 (27) 0
Stomatitis 3/22 (14) 0
Renal 5/22 (23) 0
VTE 0 0
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VTE, venous thromboembolism.

Dose delays due to toxicity were performed in 12/22 = 55% of cases; dose reductions due to treatment side effects were required in 10/22 = 46% of all and in 12/20 = 60% of patients having received at least two cycles of FUFOXIRI.

Treatment efficacy

Efficacy assessment was performed in an intent-to-treat analysis. Tumour response was evaluable in 18 of the 22 patients, in 3 patients with GC and 1 patient with mCRC valid response data could not be ascertained.

The overall RR was 10/22 (46%, all PR), accounting for 6/11 (55%) and 4/11 (36%) of patients with mCRC and GC, respectively.

In each group, a further 4 patients (36%) achieved stable disease (SD) as their best response. Remarkably, no disease progression occurred during the first 10 weeks of treatment with FUFOXIRI.

Median response duration (RD) was 7.5 months in all patients with 8.0 months and 6.5 months for patients with mCRC and GC, respectively.

Median PFS was 9.5 months for all, 10.0 and 8.0 months for patients with mCRC or GC, respectively. The median OS for all patients was 16.5 months, 18.0 months and 15.0 months for patients with mCRC and GC, respectively (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

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Overall survival (black line) and progression-free survival (red line) of all patients after 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid/oxaliplatin/irinotecan (FUFOXIRI).

Efficacy data are summarized in Table 3.

Table 3.

Efficacy of 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid/oxaliplatin/irinotecan (FUFOXIRI) in an intention-to-treat analysis.

All (n = 22) CRC (n = 11) GC (n = 11)
PR [%] 46 55 36
SD [%] 36 36 36
PFS (months) 9.5 10.0 8.0
RD (months) 7.5 8.0 6.5
OS (months) 16.5 18.0 15.0
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CRC, colorectal cancer; GC, gastric cancer; mo, months; OS, overall survival; PFS, progression-free survival; PR, partial response; RD, response duration; SD, stable disease.

Subsequent treatment

None of the patients enrolled on this trial underwent secondary resection of tumour metastases.

All patients underwent subsequent systemic treatment as outlined in Table 4.

Table 4.

Characterisation of subsequent treatments of patients following study treatment with oxaliplatin/5-fluorouracil/folinic acid/irinotecan (FUFOXIRI).

All (n = 22) CRC (n = 11) GC (n = 11)
Median no. further treatments (range) 2 (1–3) 2 (1–3) 2 (1–2)
Bevacizumab-containing [%] 14/22 (64) 9/11(82) 5/11 (45)
Cetuximab-containing 13/22 (59) 10/11 (91) 3/11 (27)
Fluoropyrimidine-containing 21/22 (95) 10/11 (91) 11/11 (100)
Docetaxel-containing 3/22 (14) 0 3/11 (27)
Mitomycin C-containing 5/22 (23) 0 5/11 (45)
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CRC, colorectal cancer; GC, gastric cancer.

The large majority of mCRC patients received the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody cetuximab as well as the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antibody bevacizumab with subsequent treatment lines.

Five patients with GC were subsequently treated on an in-house phase II trial with bevacizumab, capecitabine and mitomycin-C (BECAM) [Peinert et al. 2006].

Discussion

The aim of this trial utilizing weekly 5-FU/FA, irinotecan and oxaliplatin in the FUFOXIRI regimen was to maintain good tolerability while obtaining comparably high efficacy in the treatment of mCRC and GC, as had been shown for other administration schedules of this triplet combination. However, most of the previous studies achieving high RRs and durations were complicated by significant toxicity, particularly high rates of grade 3 or 4 neutropenia, diarrhoea and nausea/vomiting jeopardizing the palliative effect of efficient antitumour activity [Cao et al. 2009; Comella et al. 2009; Chiesa et al. 2007; Lee et al. 2007; Souglakos et al. 2006, 2002; Abad et al. 2004; Cals et al. 2004; Masi et al. 2004; Calvo et al. 2002; Falcone et al. 2002].

The weekly doses of the FUFOXIRI regimen administered in this study were 70 mg/m2 of irinotecan, 50 mg/m2 of oxaliplatin, 2000 mg/m2 of 5-FU and 500 mg/m2 of FA. This combination was given weekly for 4 weeks, followed by 1 week of pause.

The efficacy achieved in our small cohorts of patients was comparable to the results of previous studies with triplet combinations: the response rate for patients with mCRC was 55%, which is within the range of the previously reported RR of 23–78% with different schedules of 5-FU/FA, irinotecan and oxaliplatin [Masi et al. 2008, Masi et al. 2004; Falcone et al. 2007a, Falcone et al. 2007b, 2002; McWilliams et al. 2007; Souglakos et al. 2006, Souglakos et al. 2002; Aparicio et al. 2005; Ferrari et al. 2005; Seium et al. 2005; Abad et al. 2004; Cals et al. 2004; Reina et al. 2004; Calvo et al. 2002].

In terms of survival, the FUFOXIRI regimen resulted in a PFS of 10 months for the mCRC patients, which compares favourably with the results from previous studies reported in the literature (range 6.2–14 months). The OS of mCRC patients in our study was 18 months which is in line with most previous trials using triplet combinations. However, in some phase II studies, the OS was considerably longer, ranging between 24.5 and 28.5 months [Seium et al. 2005; Cals et al. 2004; Masi et al. 2004; Falcone et al. 2002]. In the two randomized phase III trials published so far, both comparing FOLFIRI with FOLFOXIRI, the OS in the triplet combination arms were 21.5 and 22.6 months, respectively, and therefore appears superior to the results of our small cohort of mCRC patients, even though at the price of increased haematologic toxicity [Falcone et al. 2007b; Souglakos et al. 2006].

For GC patients, four phase II studies have been published in recent years that report remarkable activity of triple-drug combinations of 5-FU, irinotecan and oxaliplatin with RR of 33–67%, PFS and OS of 7.3–9.6 months and 10.2–14.8 months, respectively [Cao et al. 2009; Comella et al. 2009; Chiesa et al. 2007; Lee et al. 2007]. In the treatment of GC, with the limitation of small patient numbers, our results with the FUFOXIRI regimen are in line with the reported data, revealing a RR of 36%, and PFS and OS of 8.0 and 15.0 months, respectively.

In the above-mentioned studies reporting high efficacy with triplet combination regimens that seem to be superior to FUFOXIRI at least in mCRC, irinotecan and oxaliplatin were either both administered on the same day and repeated after 2 weeks [Cao et al. 2009; Chiesa et al. 2007; Falcone et al. 2007a,Falcone et al. 2007b, Falcone et al. 2002; Lee et al. 2007; Masi et al. 2004; Calvo et al. 2002] or there was a weekly schedule with alternating application of irinotecan and oxaliplatin [Aparicio et al. 2005; Ferrari et al. 2005; Seium et al. 2005; Cals et al. 2004]. In both types of regimens, the doses of the individual drugs were higher than those applied in weekly administration. This seems to be an important factor for efficacy as dose density in the weekly schedule of FUFOXIRI is comparable or even higher.

Particularly in the earlier trials with triple combinations of 5-FU/FA, irinotecan and oxaliplatin, improvement of efficacy was at the expense of higher toxicity. Excessive rates of grade 3 or 4 neutropenia and diarrhoea in up to 86% and 45% of patients, respectively [Calvo et al. 2002; Falcone et al. 2002] and considerable rates of febrile neutropenia of up to 15% of patients have been reported [Abad et al. 2004; Cals et al. 2004; Masi et al. 2004; Calvo et al. 2002; Falcone et al. 2002; Souglakos et al. 2002]. However, the rate of severe diarrhoea in the two randomized studies comparing FOLFIRI with FOLFOXIRI (20% and 27.7%, respectively) appear comparable to that reported in the present trial (24%) [Falcone et al. 2007b; Souglakos et al. 2006].

Of note, in several of the above-mentioned trials, cases of toxic deaths were recorded [McWilliams et al. 2007; Reina et al. 2004; Calvo et al. 2002], and in one of these studies led to early suspension of the trial [McWilliams et al. 2007]. This is not acceptable in a setting where the treatment remains palliative for the majority of patients.

With weekly administration of lower doses of each drug in the FUFOXIRI regimen, we were able to completely abrogate any life-threatening toxic events: In this study, no treatment-related death, serious adverse event or grade 4 toxicity occurred.

Diarrhoea and neutropenia, two of the most common side effects of triple-drug combinations, each occurred at a rate of 24% grade 3 and none of the patients had febrile neutropenia.

The improved toxicity profile of the FUFOXIRI regimen may in part be due to the lower daily doses of each drug. In addition, 60% of all patients who received two or more cycles of FUFOXIRI experienced dose reductions during the course of their therapy.

Moreover, our patient population with a median age of 56 years was relatively young. Elderly patients >65 years of age have been shown to respond less well to FOLFOXIRI and experienced more toxicity which seems to make triple-drug combinations less suitable for this patient cohort [Vamvakas et al. 2009].

The strategy of weekly administration of chemotherapy in order to reduce toxicity has also been applied with the dual-drug combination of 5-FU/FA and oxaliplatin, i.e. the FUFOX regimen. As yet, there is no direct comparison of FUFOX with the standard of 2-weekly regimens, e.g. FOLFOX-4. Cross-trial comparisons, however, of grade 3 or 4 toxicities suggest that there are lower rates of neutropenia with weekly administration of 5-FU/FA and oxaliplatin without 5-FU bolus [Tournigand et al. 2006; Grothey et al. 2001; De Gramont et al. 2000; Buechele et al. 1998]. This also applies when FOLFOX or FUFOX are combined with cetuximab, a monoclonal EGFR antibody [Arnold et al. 2008; Tabernero et al. 2007].

Another way of trying to reduce the toxicity of triple-drug combinations is the alternating administration of irinotecan and oxaliplatin. As yet, there are no results from phase III studies in the treatment of mCRC available applying this strategy. There are four phase I/II studies published providing toxicity as well as survival data [Aparicio et al. 2005; Ferrari et al. 2005; Seium et al. 2005; Cals et al. 2004]. These have shown promising efficacy results that seem to be superior to those of dual-drug combinations with RR up to 78% [Seium et al. 2005] and median PFS and OS of 9.5–13 and 18–26.1 months, respectively. In the trial of Ferrari and colleagues, the occurrence of severe toxicities was remarkably low (8% of neutropenia being the most common), probably due to relatively low cumulative drug doses in the schedule used [Ferrari et al. 2005]. In the study by Cals and colleagues, however, grade 3 or 4 neutropenia occurred at a frequency of 41% of which almost 6% were complicated by fever [Cals et al. 2004]. An explanation for this enhanced toxicity may be the relatively high doses of weekly 5-FU used in this trial.

Not surprisingly, a similar toxicity profile was recorded when the triple-drug combination FOLFOXIRI was administered for the treatment of patients with metastatic GC. Again, (febrile) neutropenia and, in this case, nausea/vomiting and asthenia besides diarrhoea were the dose-limiting toxicities [Cao et al. 2009; Comella et al. 2009; Chiesa et al. 2007; Lee et al. 2007].

Even though for patients with GC that have distant metastases, there is no evidence for a curative treatment option [Sastre et al. 2006; Wagner et al. 2006; Wong et al. 2003], active chemotherapy does play an important role. First, in patients with metastatic disease, OS can be prolonged significantly [Sastre et al. 2006; Wagner et al. 2006; Wong et al. 2003]. Second, for patients with initially resectable GC, Cunningham and colleagues were able to show that, in addition to prolonging PFS, perioperative chemotherapy seems to improve the chances for long-term survival and cure [Cunningham et al. 2006]. The treatment for this patient population was a triple-drug combination of epirubicin, cisplatin and 5-FU, one of the current standard treatment options for GC [Cunningham et al. 2006; Wagner et al. 2006]. As indicated above, the administration of oxaliplatin tends to result in improved efficacy compared with cisplatin when combined with a fluoropyrimidine and epirubicin in the treatment of advanced oesophagogastric cancer. In a large randomized phase III trial with two-by-two randomization, triple-drug combinations of epirubicin with either oxaliplatin or cisplatin and 5-FU/FA or capecitabine were compared (EOX, ECX, EOF, ECF). The EOX regimen resulted in significantly superior OS of 11.2 months compared with the other three-drug combinations while providing a similar or better toxicity profile [Cunningham et al. 2008].

An alternative three-drug regimen for GC is the combination of docetaxel, cisplatin and 5-FU/FA (DCF). In a large prospective randomised phase III trial with 445 patients, DCF was shown to improve RR, TTP and OS compared with CF alone. However, DCF was associated with significantly more grade 3/4 toxicities than CF, particularly the rates of neutropenia and complicated neutropenia were excessively high (82% and 29% versus 57% and 12%, respectively) [Van Cutsem et al. 2006]. Despite the enhanced toxicity of the triple-drug regimen, the superior antitumour activity of the DCF treatment resulted in overall clinical benefit for GC patients as compared with patients receiving CF [Ajani et al. 2007].

In the treatment of mCRC, the improvement of treatment efficacy is no longer restricted to modifications of the chemotherapy regimen alone. Another option to improve outcome that has already become standard of care is the addition of immunologically targeted therapies. Bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody against VEGF, is active in combination with fluoropyrimidines, oxaliplatin and irinotecan and is included in standard first-line therapy regimens for mCRC [Hochster et al. 2008; Saltz et al. 2008; Hurwitz et al. 2005, 2004].

A recent report from a phase II study combining 5-FU, irinotecan, bevacizumab and oxaliplatin revealed an impressive RR of 80% translating into 6% of secondary metastatic resections, 18% amongst the patients with liver metastases only. The TTP and OS of 12 and 25 months, respectively, were similar to the results achieved with triple-drug chemotherapy alone [Santomaggio et al. 2009]. Another phase II study with 40 mCRC patients combined the previously reported FOLFOXIRI regimen [Falcone et al. 2007a, Falcone et al. 2007b] with bevacizumab 5mg/kg day 1 every 2 weeks. The profile of reported grade 3/4 toxicities was similar to that seen with FOLFOXIRI alone apart from the typical bevacizumab toxicities such as arterial hypertension and deep venous thromboses which occurred at 8% and 5%, respectively. Twelve percent of patients experienced grade 1 bleeding. The RR of 76% is quite promising: neither median PFS nor OS have been reported yet [Falcone et al. 2008].

In the neoadjuvant setting, a phase II study of capecitabine, oxaliplatin and bevacizumab for CRC patients with potentially resectable liver metastases reported a favourable RR of 73% and improved outcome for responding patients [Gruenberger et al. 2008].

The other biologic agent that has become a component of standard treatment for mCRC is the EGFR antibody, cetuximab. The efficacy data and particularly the response rates reported from phase II studies for the combination of cetuximab with 5-FU/FA and oxaliplatin are among the highest ever reported in the treatment of mCRC [Arnold et al. 2008; Tabernero et al. 2007]. In the study by Tabernero and colleagues, the RR of 79% enabled 23% (10 out of 43) of the patients with previously unresectable metastases to undergo curatively intended surgery. However, these favourable results could not be confirmed to the same extent in larger phase III studies of cetuximab in combination with 5-FU/FA and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX-4 ± cetuximab) or irinotecan (FOLFIRI ± cetuximab) which reported overall RR in the cetuximab arms of 46% and 46.9%, respectively. The smaller oxaliplatin-based study failed to show an improvement in PFS for the patients receiving cetuximab whereas the larger irinotecan-based trial revealed improvement of PFS but not OS for patients receiving FOLFIRI plus cetuximab. The benefit by the addition of cetuximab was confined to patients with wild-type k-ras oncogene in both studies [Bokemeyer et al. 2009; Van Cutsem et al. 2009a].

Taken together, the important role of effective chemotherapy in mCRC as well as GC is well established, and the FUFOXIRI regimen with weekly administration of 5-FU, oxaliplatin and irinotecan is one of the most promising combinations as it provides the high antitumour activity of a triple-drug regimen while avoiding excessive toxicity as observed with alternative three-drug regimens such as DCF for GC or FOLFOXIRI or XELOXIRI in the case of mCRC. This is particularly important for the design of future studies combining triple-drug regimens with biologic agents in order to define the most active treatment regimen for mCRC or GC currently available.

Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

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