S0356: A Phase II Clinical and Prospective Molecular Trial With Oxaliplatin, Fluorouracil, and External-Beam Radiation Therapy Before Surgery for Patients With Esophageal Adenocarcinoma

Purpose Pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant therapy for locally advanced esophageal adenocarcinoma is associated with improved survival. The Southwest Oncology Group designed a trimodality, phase II, single-arm trial with objectives of achieving a pCR rate of 40% with prospective exploratory analyses of intratumoral molecular markers postulated to affect response and survival. Patients and Methods Patients with clinically staged II or III esophageal adenocarcinoma received oxaliplatin 85 mg/m2 on days 1, 15, and 29; protracted-infusion fluorouracil (PI-FU) 180 mg/m2/d on days 8 through 43; and external-beam radiation therapy (EBRT) 5 days a week at 1.8 Gy/d for 25 fractions; surgery was performed 28 to 42 days after neoadjuvant therapy. Chemotherapy was planned after surgery. Tumors were analyzed for mRNA expression and polymorphisms in genes involved in drug metabolism and DNA repair. Results Ninety-three patients were evaluable. Two deaths (2.2%) were attributable to preoperative therap...