Abstract: Objective To investigate the efficacy of thalidomide combined with cisplatin-based chemotherapy,and the value of serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)of the patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).Methods Sixty-six patients with histological or cytological confirmed diagnosis of stage ⅢB or Ⅳ NSCLC were enrolled in this study.All of the patients received no prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy or surgery.Thirty-five of the patients received thalidomide combined with platin-based chemotherapy(combined group),and the rest received platin only(control group).Serum VEGF levels were assessed by ELISA.ResultsThe response rates were 45.7% and 38.7% in combined group and control group respectively,the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant(P>0.05).Higher clinical benefit rate was found in combined group(77.1% vs 58.1%;P=0.048).The median time to progression(mTTP)in the combined group was significantly longer than that in the control group(114 days vs 89 days;P=0.033).The mean VEGF serum level in both groups decreased significantly after two courses of treatment(P=0.000).The mean VEGF serum level of the patients treated with thalidomide was not significantly lower than that without thalidomide(P=0.513).ConclusionThe treatment of thalidomide combined with platin-based chemotherapy can improve the clinical benefit and mTTP of NSCLC patient.However,the evidence that thalidomide can reduce the levels of serum VEGF is not obvious.

Key words: Thalidomide