Biweekly triple combination chemotherapy with gemcitabine, oxaliplatin, levofolinic acid and 5-fluorouracil (GOLF) is a safe and active treatment for patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer

GOLF is a triple translational combination chemotherapy regimen with gemcitabine, oxaliplatin, and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) (plus levofolinic acid), cytotoxic drugs currently used in the treatment of pancreatic carcinoma. Considering its promising anti-tumor effects in patients with gastroenteric malignancies, we carried out the present study to investigate its toxicity and anti-tumor activity in patients with advanced pancreatic carcinoma. Twenty-seven patients were enrolled in the study, 15 males and 12 females with an average age of 61 years and a performance status (ECOG) ≤3. Eight of them had already received first-line chemotherapy, 16 had liver involvement and 11 had inoperable locally (nodes, soft tissue infiltration, peritoneum etc) advanced disease. All patients received biweekly gemcitabine (1000 mg/m² on day 1), oxaliplatin (85 mg/m² on day 2); levofolinic acid (100 mg/m²) and 5-FU (400 mg/m² as bolus, and 800 mg/m ² in 24-h infusion) on days 1 and 2. We report one fatal event occurring just after the first cycle due to lung embolism; grade II-III-diarrhea and mucosytis (44.4%); alopecia (37%); thrombocytopenia (18.5%); grade I-II asthenia, fatigue, non-neutropenic-fever (37%) and oxaliplatin-related neurotoxicity (18.5%). We also registered fast pain control in most patients, an objective response and disease control rate of 33.3% and 63% (1 complete and 8 partial responses and 8 disease stabilizations) respectively, with clinical benefit in 60% of patients and median time to progression and overall survival of 5.5 and 8 months, respectively. In conclusion, the GOLF regimen appears to be a feasible treatment for patients with advanced pancreatic carcinoma that deserves to be evaluated in phase III trials.