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Subcutaneous Interleukin-2 and Interferon Alfa Administration in Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma: Final Results of SCAPP III, a Large, Multicenter, Phase II, Nonrandomized Study With Sequential Analysis Design—The Subcutaneous Administration Propeukin Program Cooperative Group

Jean-Marc Tourani, Christian Pfister, Nicole Tubiana, Mahmoud Ouldkaci, Gilles Prevot, Virginie Lucas, Stéphane Oudard, Maxime Malet, Paul Cottu, Jean-Marc Ferrero, Didier Mayeur, Olivier Rixe, Xu-Shan Sun, Olivier Bernard, Thierry Andre, Christophe Tournigand, Xavier Muracciole, Joelle Guilhot

From the Service d’Oncologie Médicale and Unité de Biostatistique, Fédération de Cancérologie et d’Hématologie, Hôpital J. Bernard, Poitiers; Service d’Urologie, Hôpital Charles Nicolle, Rouen; Service d’Oncologie et de Radiothérapie, Hôpital Dupuytren, Limoges; Service d’Urologie, Hôpital Bicêtre, Le Kremlin Bicêtre; Unité d’Oncologie et de Radiothérapie, Hôpital du Hasenrain, Mulhouse; Unité d’Oncologie Médicale, Hôpital la Source, Orléans; Service d’Oncologie Médicale, Hôpital Georges Pompidou; Service d’Oncologie Médicale, Hôpital Saint Louis; Service d’Oncologie et de Radiothérapie, Hôpital d’Instruction des Armees Val de Grâce; Service d’Oncologie Médicale, Hôpital Tenon; and Service de Médecine Interne, Hôpital Saint Antoine, Paris; Service d’Oncologie Médicale, Hôpital de Pau, Pau; Service d’Oncologie Médicale, Centre A. Lacassagne, Nice; Service de Médecine Interne B; Hôpital A. Mignot, Le Chesnay; Service d’Oncologie et de Radiothérapie, Hôpital Claude Bernard, Metz; Unité d’Oncologie et de Radiothérapie, Hôpital A. Boulloche, Montbéliard; and Service de Radiothérapie, Hôpital La Timone, Marseille, France.

Address reprint requests to Jean-Marc Tourani, MD, Oncology Unit, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Poitiers, BP 577, 86021 Poitiers Cedex, France; e-mail: jm.tourani{at}chu-poitiers.fr.

Purpose: This outpatient multicenter trial tested the hypothesis that subcutaneous administration of an interleukin-2 (IL-2)/interferon alfa (IFN) combination produces a response rate greater than 20% in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Patients and Methods: Patients with metastatic RCC received a 12-week induction treatment with subcutaneous IL-2 (5 days/wk, 9 and 18 million U/d)/IFN (3 days/wk, 6 million U/d). After evaluation, patients with objective response or stable disease were randomly assigned to maintenance treatment or short consolidation treatment.

Results: Lack of benefit was shown at the 12th sequential analysis, and the trial was closed. At the end of the induction period, 26 (21%) of 122 patients had objective responses (including six complete responses). Thirty-three patients (27%) developed severe toxicity requiring dose reductions, delayed treatment, or treatment termination. Survival rates at one, two, and four years were 63%, 38%, and 17%, respectively. Three-year survival was 20% in patients with two poor prognosis factors and 37% in patients with one or no poor prognosis factors (P = .016). Three-year survival was significantly better (P < 10^-3) in patients with erythrocyte sedimentation rate less than 35 mm (43%) compared with those with 1-hour sedimentation rate greater than 35 mm (19%).

Conclusion: This study confirms the importance of prognostic factors when initiating cytokine immunotherapy in patients with metastatic RCC and underlines the prognostic value of erythrocyte sedimentation rate before treatment initiation. Nonetheless, this subcutaneous IL-2/IFN combination does not improve response rate or survival compared with subcutaneous IL-2 alone, although a definitive conclusion cannot be drawn in the absence of a randomized study comparing the two treatments.

Supported by a grant from Association pour le Développement et la Recherche Appliquée en Cancérologie, Mignaloux-Beauvoir, France.

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