Effect of thymosin α1 combined with pemetrexed in the treatment of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of thymosin α1 combined with pemetrexed in the treatment of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NCLC). Methods A retrospective study was performed on 63 cases of patients with locally advanced NCLC who were admitted from March 2012 to March 2017.Patients were randomly divided into the monotherapy group (n=31)and the combined treatment group (n=32). The monotherapy group of patients were treated with thymosin α1, while the combined treatment group of patients were treated with thymosin α1 combined with pemetrexed.The short-term therapeutic effect, the incidence of acute adverse reactions, the level of peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets, the number of platelets, hemoglobin and white blood cells after treatment were compared between the two groups. Results The effective rate of patients in the combined treatment group (93.7%)was higher than that in the monotherapy group (74.2%), and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The incidence of acute adverse reactions (9.3%)in the combined treatment group was significantly lower than that in the monotherapy group (38.7%, P<0.05). Combined treatment group of patients with CD4+ [(50.5±1.7)%], CD8+ [(18.4±0.8)%], CD4+ /CD8+ [(2.5±0.7)%] were higher than those in the monotherapy group [(44.5±1.8)%, (16.2±1.2)%, (2.3±0.5)%], and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The changes in platelet count [(159.5±51.4)×109/L], hemoglobin level [(107.6±12.8)g/L] and leukocyte count [(3.6±2.2)×109/L] in the combined treatment group were all higher than those in the monotherapy group [(148.7±46.6)×109/L, (99.3±12.5)g/L, (3.1 ±1.6)×109/L], (P<0.05). Conclusion Thymosin α1 combined with pemetrexed is more effective in the treatment of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer, which can reduce the incidence of adverse reactions, improve the quality of life and prognosis of patients, and is worthy of further clinical application. Key words: Thymosin α1; Pemetrexed; Locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer; Lung cancer