Effect of Mirtazapine Versus Placebo in Patients With Non-small Cell Lung Cancer and Anorexia

Summary

The realization of this project will generate an important advance in knowledge regarding one of the most important comorbidities in cancer patients: malnutrition. Currently, comprehensive treatments of cancer patients recognize the importance of the assessment of nutritional status, and the impact it has on the prognosis, quality of life and toxicity generated by cancer treatment. Due to this, it is imperative to offer diagnostic tools that identify patients in a timely manner and, in addition to this, offer therapeutic strategies for the improvement of nutritional status, in an adjuvant manner to their oncological treatment. It is widely recognized that the cachexia-anorexia syndrome (CACS) is present in 30 to 80% of cases in cancer patients and this proportion increases as the disease progresses, with weight loss being a powerful predictor of shorter survival. Unfortunately, current therapies available to treat anorexia and / or cancer-associated cachexia offer only partial results, mainly because the intervention is late and the development of an earlier and more effective intervention is still sought. Mirtazapine has recently gained attention not only because of its antidepressant effect, but also because of its potential benefit in patients with anorexia and weight loss, recently reported in a phase II study. Therefore, it is important to continue its evaluation through a randomized, double-blind clinical trial in which the effect of mirtazapine is compared and it is determined if it is superior compared to placebo to increase appetite in patients with NSCLC who present with anorexia. This type of strategy is a relevant therapeutic option in those patients in whom nutritional counseling by itself is not sufficient to counteract the damage caused by anorexia and to cope with or prevent the development of cachexia.

Timeline

Start

2018-08-29

Primary completion

2022-07-29

Completion

2022-10-29

Publications

• Background Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Dikshit R, Eser S, Mathers C, Rebelo M, Parkin DM, Forman D, Bray F. Cancer incidence and mortality worldwide: sources, methods and major patterns in GLOBOCAN 2012. Int J Cancer. 2015 Mar 1;136(5):E359-86. doi: 10.1002/ijc.29210. Epub 2014 Oct 9.
• Background Watanabe H, Yamamoto N, Tamura T, Shimoyama T, Hotta K, Inoue A, Sawada M, Akiyama Y, Kusaba H, Nokihara H, Sekine I, Kunitoh H, Ohe Y, Kodama T, Saijo N. Study of paclitaxel and dose escalation of cisplatin in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Jpn J Clin Oncol. 2003 Dec;33(12):626-30. doi: 10.1093/jjco/hyg116.
• Background Sarhill N, Mahmoud FA, Christie R, Tahir A. Assessment of nutritional status and fluid deficits in advanced cancer. Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2003 Nov-Dec;20(6):465-73. doi: 10.1177/104990910302000610.
• Background Arrieta O, Michel Ortega RM, Villanueva-Rodriguez G, Serna-Thome MG, Flores-Estrada D, Diaz-Romero C, Rodriguez CM, Martinez L, Sanchez-Lara K. Association of nutritional status and serum albumin levels with development of toxicity in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with paclitaxel-cisplatin chemotherapy: a prospective study. BMC Cancer. 2010 Feb 21;10:50. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-10-50.
• Background Sanchez-Lara K, Turcott JG, Juarez E, Guevara P, Nunez-Valencia C, Onate-Ocana LF, Flores D, Arrieta O. Association of nutrition parameters including bioelectrical impedance and systemic inflammatory response with quality of life and prognosis in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a prospective study. Nutr Cancer. 2012;64(4):526-34. doi: 10.1080/01635581.2012.668744. Epub 2012 Apr 10.
• Background Wie GA, Cho YA, Kim SY, Kim SM, Bae JM, Joung H. Prevalence and risk factors of malnutrition among cancer patients according to tumor location and stage in the National Cancer Center in Korea. Nutrition. 2010 Mar;26(3):263-8. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2009.04.013. Epub 2009 Aug 8.
• Background Ross PJ, Ashley S, Norton A, Priest K, Waters JS, Eisen T, Smith IE, O'Brien ME. Do patients with weight loss have a worse outcome when undergoing chemotherapy for lung cancers? Br J Cancer. 2004 May 17;90(10):1905-11. doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6601781.
• Background Slaviero KA, Read JA, Clarke SJ, Rivory LP. Baseline nutritional assessment in advanced cancer patients receiving palliative chemotherapy. Nutr Cancer. 2003;46(2):148-57. doi: 10.1207/S15327914NC4602_07.
• Background Muscaritoli M, Anker SD, Argiles J, Aversa Z, Bauer JM, Biolo G, Boirie Y, Bosaeus I, Cederholm T, Costelli P, Fearon KC, Laviano A, Maggio M, Rossi Fanelli F, Schneider SM, Schols A, Sieber CC. Consensus definition of sarcopenia, cachexia and pre-cachexia: joint document elaborated by Special Interest Groups (SIG) "cachexia-anorexia in chronic wasting diseases" and "nutrition in geriatrics". Clin Nutr. 2010 Apr;29(2):154-9. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2009.12.004. Epub 2010 Jan 8.
• Background Marin Caro MM, Laviano A, Pichard C. Impact of nutrition on quality of life during cancer. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2007 Jul;10(4):480-7. doi: 10.1097/MCO.0b013e3281e2c983.
• Background Kosacka M, Werynska B, Golecki M, Jankowska R, Passowicz-Muszynska E. [The incidence and pathogenesis of cancer anorexia-cachexia syndrome in lung cancer]. Pneumonol Alergol Pol. 2008;76(5):360-5. Polish.
• Background Laviano A, Meguid MM, Inui A, Muscaritoli M, Rossi-Fanelli F. Therapy insight: Cancer anorexia-cachexia syndrome--when all you can eat is yourself. Nat Clin Pract Oncol. 2005 Mar;2(3):158-65. doi: 10.1038/ncponc0112.
• Background Dewys WD, Begg C, Lavin PT, Band PR, Bennett JM, Bertino JR, Cohen MH, Douglass HO Jr, Engstrom PF, Ezdinli EZ, Horton J, Johnson GJ, Moertel CG, Oken MM, Perlia C, Rosenbaum C, Silverstein MN, Skeel RT, Sponzo RW, Tormey DC. Prognostic effect of weight loss prior to chemotherapy in cancer patients. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. Am J Med. 1980 Oct;69(4):491-7. doi: 10.1016/s0149-2918(05)80001-3.
• Background Martin L, Senesse P, Gioulbasanis I, Antoun S, Bozzetti F, Deans C, Strasser F, Thoresen L, Jagoe RT, Chasen M, Lundholm K, Bosaeus I, Fearon KH, Baracos VE. Diagnostic criteria for the classification of cancer-associated weight loss. J Clin Oncol. 2015 Jan 1;33(1):90-9. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2014.56.1894. Epub 2014 Nov 24.
• Background LeBlanc TW, Samsa GP, Wolf SP, Locke SC, Cella DF, Abernethy AP. Validation and real-world assessment of the Functional Assessment of Anorexia-Cachexia Therapy (FAACT) scale in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer and the cancer anorexia-cachexia syndrome (CACS). Support Care Cancer. 2015 Aug;23(8):2341-7. doi: 10.1007/s00520-015-2606-z. Epub 2015 Jan 14.
• Background Gupta D, Lammersfeld CA, Vashi PG, King J, Dahlk SL, Grutsch JF, Lis CG. Bioelectrical impedance phase angle in clinical practice: implications for prognosis in stage IIIB and IV non-small cell lung cancer. BMC Cancer. 2009 Jan 28;9:37. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-9-37.
• Results Bossola M, Pacelli F, Doglietto GB. Novel treatments for cancer cachexia. Expert Opin Investig Drugs. 2007 Aug;16(8):1241-53. doi: 10.1517/13543784.16.8.1241.
• Results Munzer A, Sack U, Mergl R, Schonherr J, Petersein C, Bartsch S, Kirkby KC, Bauer K, Himmerich H. Impact of antidepressants on cytokine production of depressed patients in vitro. Toxins (Basel). 2013 Nov 19;5(11):2227-40. doi: 10.3390/toxins5112227.
• Results Langer CJ, Hoffman JP, Ottery FD. Clinical significance of weight loss in cancer patients: rationale for the use of anabolic agents in the treatment of cancer-related cachexia. Nutrition. 2001 Jan;17(1 Suppl):S1-20. doi: 10.1016/s0899-9007(01)80001-0. No abstract available.
• Results Capra S, Ferguson M, Ried K. Cancer: impact of nutrition intervention outcome--nutrition issues for patients. Nutrition. 2001 Sep;17(9):769-72. doi: 10.1016/s0899-9007(01)00632-3.
• Results Anttila SA, Leinonen EV. A review of the pharmacological and clinical profile of mirtazapine. CNS Drug Rev. 2001 Fall;7(3):249-64. doi: 10.1111/j.1527-3458.2001.tb00198.x.
• Results Hilas O, Avena-Woods C. Potential role of mirtazapine in underweight older adults. Consult Pharm. 2014 Feb;29(2):124-30. doi: 10.4140/TCP.n.2014.124.
• Results Kumar N, Barai S, Gambhir S, Rastogi N. Effect of Mirtazapine on Gastric Emptying in Patients with Cancer-associated Anorexia. Indian J Palliat Care. 2017 Jul-Sep;23(3):335-337. doi: 10.4103/IJPC.IJPC_17_17.
• Results Lopez-Llera M. Eclampsia and fetal sex. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 1990 Nov;33(3):211-3. doi: 10.1016/0020-7292(90)90003-4.
• Arrieta O, Cardenas-Fernandez D, Rodriguez-Mayoral O, Gutierrez-Torres S, Castanares D, Flores-Estrada D, Reyes E, Lopez D, Barragan P, Soberanis Pina P, Cardona AF, Turcott JG. Mirtazapine as Appetite Stimulant in Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Anorexia: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Oncol. 2024 Mar 1;10(3):305-314. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2023.5232.

Drugs

Indications