CLINICAL STUDY OF LONG-TERM CLARITHROMYCIN TREATMENT FOR INOPERABLE NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER

Recently, the biological response modifier activity of macrolides has attracted much attention. In the present study, I tried the long-term clarithromycin (CAM) treatment for inoperable non-small cell lung cancer. The study included 75 patients who received chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. After discharge they were allocated randomly into the CAM group and the non-CAM group on the first visit to the outpatient clinic. The CAM group consisted of 42 cases (34 males and 8 females), with an age distribution of 41 -81 years (65.9 ±8.3) and the non-CAM group included 33 cases (29 males and 4 females), with an age distribution of 49-84 years (63.4±10.5). The survival curves of inoperable non -small cell lung cancer patients were 535 days in the CAM group and 277 days in the non -CAM group, indicating significant prolongation of survival in the CAM group. In the CAM group, serum albumin, cholinesterase and hemoglobin had elevated significantly, body weight had not decreased, QOL score had not gotten worse, and induction of serum TNF -αand IL-6 had decreased significantly after CAM treatment. These results indicate that CAM treatment prolongs survival times of inoperable primary non-small cell lung cancer patients because the mechanism of BRM activity of CAM has been shown to enhance the improvement of serum albumin, cholinesterase, hemoglobin, body weight and QOL, and the inhibition of serum TNF-α and IL-6 in inoperable non-small cell lung cancer patients