Comparison between trabectedin and doxorubicin in soft-tissue sarcomas-reply letter
We thank for the comments from Wu et al. (1) on our research (2), comparison between trabectedin and doxorubicin in soft-tissue sarcomas. Reviewer Wu et al. said that in Table 1, we reported that 80 patients were included, which was inconsistent with the original study (3). In addition, Figure 6 showed the wrong data that the disease control rate of 54 of 75 patients in the experimental group and 41 of 39 patients in the control group lead to the inability to estimate the odds ratio (OR). We appreciate the suggestions. In Table 1, we listed the Hartmann’s study (3) and we corrected the samples in Table 1 from (2). We now correct the Figure 6 of our research (2) since the mistake in typing the number (Figure 1).
Table 1
| Study | Year | Type of study | Country | Intervention | n | Mean age (years) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cesne | 2021 | RCT | France | Trabectedin | 52 | 66.5 |
| Best supportive care | 51 | 63.7 | ||||
| Chawla | 2015 | RCT | USA | Trabectedin | 83 | 54 |
| Doxorubicin | 40 | 54 | ||||
| Demetri | 2016 | RCT | USA | Trabectedin | 345 | 57 |
| Dacarbazine | 173 | 56 | ||||
| Hartmann | 2020 | RCT | Germany | Trofosfamide | 75 | 70 |
| Doxorubicin | 39 | 70.5 | ||||
| Hensley | 2015 | RCT | UK | Gemcitabine-docetaxel + trabectedin | 53 | 54.8 |
| Gemcitabine-docetaxel + placebo | 54 | 56.2 | ||||
| Jones | 2019 | RCT | UK | Trabectedin + G/D | 139 | 55 |
| Placebo + G/D | 70 | 54 | ||||
| Martin-Broto | 2016 | RCT | Spain | Trabectedin + doxorubicin | 54 | 53 |
| Doxorubicin | 59 | 52 | ||||
| Schöffski | 2021 | RCT | Belgium | Trabectedin | 40 | 59.5 |
| Dacarbazine | 40 | 56 | ||||
| Seddon | 2017 | RCT | UK | Trabectedin | 129 | 56 |
| Dacarbazine | 128 | 55 | ||||
| Tian | 2020 | RCT | China | Trabectedin | 24 | 38.58±14.01 |
| Doxorubicin standard-dose | 146 | 43.30±12.10 |
They also said that the authors conducted the sensitivity analysis only by omitting Schöffski et al.’s study (4) and did not further exclude the other included studies. Since the sensitivity was conducted by removing each study in term and selecting the most obvious change one, we only reported the result omitting Schöffski et al.’s study, which is the most obvious change article. Other included researches had smaller influence on the I2 value than Schöffski et al.’s study.
Acknowledgments
Funding: None.
Footnote
Provenance and Peer Review: This article was commissioned by the editorial office, Annals of Translational Medicine. The article did not undergo external peer review.
Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://atm.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/atm-2022-1/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
References
- Wu J, Zhang M, Chen C, et al. Do patients with soft-tissue sarcomas treated with trabectedin have better clinical effects and a longer survival time than those treated with doxorubicin? Ann Transl Med 2022; [Crossref]
- Dang J, Fu J, Zhang Z, et al. Comparison between trabectedin and doxorubicin in soft-tissue sarcomas: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Transl Med 2021;9:1764. [Crossref] [PubMed]
- Hartmann JT, Kopp HG, Gruenwald V, et al. Randomised phase II trial of trofosfamide vs. doxorubicin in elderly patients with untreated metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma. Eur J Cancer 2020;124:152-60. [Crossref] [PubMed]
- Schöffski P, Toulmonde M, Estival A, et al. Randomised phase 2 study comparing the efficacy and safety of the oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor nintedanib with single agent ifosfamide in patients with advanced, inoperable, metastatic soft tissue sarcoma after failure of first-line chemotherapy: EORTC-1506-STBSG "ANITA". Eur J Cancer 2021;152:26-40. [Crossref] [PubMed]
