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© 1999 American Society for Clinical Oncology Cisplatin, Etoposide, and Paclitaxel in the Treatment of Patients With Extensive Small-Cell Lung CarcinomaFrom the The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and OnCare Texas, Inc, d/b/a Texas Cancer Care, Arlington, TX, and M.D. Anderson Cancer CenterOrlando, Orlando, FL. Address reprint requests to Bonnie S. Glisson, MD, Box 80, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX 77030; email bglisson{at}mdanderson.org
PURPOSE: The combination of cisplatin, etoposide, and paclitaxel was studied in patients with extensive small-cell lung cancer in a phase I component followed by a phase II trial to determine the maximum-tolerated dose (MTD), characterize toxicity, and estimate response and median survival rates. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-one patients were treated between October 1993 and April 1997. Doses for the initial cohort were cisplatin 75 mg/m2 on day 1, etoposide 80 mg/m2/d on days 1 to 3, and paclitaxel 130 mg/m2 on day 1 over 3 hours. Cycles were repeated every 3 weeks for up to six cycles. The MTD was reached in the first six patients. In these six patients and in the next 35 patients, who were entered onto the phase II trial, response and survival were estimated. RESULTS: At the initial dose level, one of six patients developed febrile neutropenia, and five of six achieved targeted neutropenia (nadir absolute granulocyte count, 100 to 1,000/µL) without any other dose-limiting toxicity, defining this level as the MTD. Grade 4 neutropenia was observed in 88 (47%) of 188 total courses administered at or less than the MTD. Neutropenia was associated with fever in only 17 (9%) of 188 courses, but two patients experienced neutropenic sepsis that was fatal. Nonhematologic toxicity greater than grade 2 was observed in 10 (5%) of 188 total courses, with fatigue, peripheral neuropathy, and nausea/vomiting most common. The overall objective response rate was 90% of 38 assessable patients: six complete responses (16%) and 28 partial responses(74%). Median progression-free and overall survival durations were 31 and 47 weeks, respectively. CONCLUSION: The combination of cisplatin, etoposide, and paclitaxel produced response and survival rates similar to those of other combinations and was well tolerated.
SMALL-CELL LUNG cancer (SCLC) represents 20% to 25% of total lung cancer cases diagnosed in the United States, with the number of cases in 1998 estimated at 34,300.1 Sixty-five percent to 70% of patients with SCLC present with extensive disease, ie, metastasis beyond the ipsilateral lung and regional lymph nodes. Combination chemotherapy forms the cornerstone of treatment for extensive SCLC and significantly improves the quality and duration of survival. However, despite more than two decades of intense investigation with various combination regimens with or without irradiation of multiple sites, survival at 5 years and thus apparent cure remains rare (1% to 5%) in patients who have clinically evident metastatic disease at presentation.2,3 Paclitaxel has been studied intensively over the past 5 years and has shown promising activity in a diverse array of malignancies. Two phase II trials of paclitaxel in patients with previously untreated small-cell lung cancer produced response rates of 34%4 and 41%.5 In view of its unique mechanism of action, and in some cases of resistance, paclitaxel is an attractive drug to add to current combinations. The combination of etoposide and cisplatin has become a common first-line regimen in the treatment of SCLC because it offers both lowered toxicity and at least equal efficacy compared with cyclophosphamide- or doxorubicin-based combinations.6-8 One randomized trial of patients with extensive SCLC demonstrated no differences in response rate or survival in patients who received etoposide 80 mg/m2 intravenously (IV) on days 1 to 3 and cisplatin 80 mg/m2 IV on day 1 and those who received a 67% increased dose of both drugs during the first two cycles of chemotherapy. Because the former regimen was very well tolerated, we elected to add paclitaxel to etoposide and cisplatin at those doses. We performed an initial dose-finding phase to define a safe dose of paclitaxel in the regimen and then estimated response and survival in a formal phase II trial.
Patients Eligibility criteria included histologically or cytologically documented SCLC and extensive disease, defined as disease beyond the hemithorax of origin and regional lymph nodes and demonstrated by staging that included chest x-ray, computed tomography of chest, abdomen, and brain, and bone scan. Bone marrow aspiration and biopsy were performed only if all other tests were negative for metastasis. Patients with a cytologically positive pleural effusion as the only evidence of extensive disease were eligible, as were patients with clinically silent brain metastasis. Adequate organ function was required, including absolute granulocyte count 1,500/µL, platelet count 100,000/µL, bilirubin level 1.5 mg/dL, creatinine level 1.5 mg/dL, and creatinine clearance 60 mL/min. Patients with serious intercurrent medical illness and those with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (partial pressure of oxygen, 50 and/or partial pressure of carbon dioxide, 50 on room air) were excluded. A performance status of 0 to 2 (Zubrod scale), no previous chemotherapy or radiotherapy, no recent (< 5 years) history of malignancy other than nonmelanoma skin cancer, and ability to provide informed consent were also required. The protocol was approved by the institutional review boards of The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and other participating affiliated institutions. Four of the 41 patients accrued were treated at Harris Methodist Hospital (member of the Texas Community Oncology Network; Fort Worth, TX), and three of the 41 were treated at the M.D. Anderson Cancer CenterOrlando (Orlando, FL). The remaining patients were treated at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Therapy
Patients with brain metastasis who developed progressive disease at any time or who did not have a complete or partial response in the brain after three cycles were removed from the study and referred for whole-brain radiotherapy. Patients with a major response in the brain were referred for radiation after they completed six cycles of chemotherapy.
Study Design Responses were assessed by chest x-ray before each course and by reimaging all involved sites after three and six courses were completed. Designation of complete or partial response, no change, or progressive disease were based on standard World Health Organization criteria.9 Response duration was measured from the first day of documentation of response until the date of disease progression or death if recurrent disease was not evident. Because metastatic disease was not evaluated until completion of three cycles, at least three cycles of treatment were required before a patient's response was deemed assessable. After completing therapy, patients were evaluated every 3 months or more frequently as clinically indicated.
Statistical Methods
Patients Between October 1993 and April 1997, 41 patients were entered onto the study. Their characteristics are listed in Table 2. Sex distribution was essentially equal, and the median age was 59 years. Thirty-one patients (75%) had a Zubrod performance status of 0 to 1, and 13 (32%) had only one site of metastasis. Three patients were not assessable for response. One patient received two courses and refused further therapy at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. One patient was found retrospectively to have limited disease based on magnetic resonance imaging evaluation of an adrenal mass after three courses. This patient was taken off the study to receive thoracic irradiation and continued chemotherapy; he was excluded from the survival analysis. One patient was taken off study on the second day of course 1 after experiencing hypersensitive reactions to both paclitaxel and etoposide. These three patients are included in toxicity assessments but not response analysis. Two patients who died of treatment-related neutropenic sepsis during the first cycle were included in the nonresponding group.
Determination of MTD
Response The overall response rate was 90% (34 of 38 patients), with six patients (16%) achieving a complete response, and 28 (74%) achieving a partial response. The 10 patients with a performance status of 2 at presentation had an equivalent response rate of 90% (nine of 10 patients), with one (10%) of 10 achieving a complete response. Of two patients with brain metastases, one had progression in the brain after four cycles and one had treatment-related mortality in the first cycle.
Survival
Toxicity
Paclitaxel added to the base regimen of etoposide and cisplatin was feasible and reasonably well tolerated. Predictably, the major toxicity was grade 4 neutropenia, which occurred in nearly half of the courses. However, neutropenic fever was uncommon. Despite this, two patients died from neutropenic sepsis. The combination was associated with a high response rate and survival similar to other combinations for extensive SCLC. The MTD we defined in this study for paclitaxel (130 mg/m2 over 3 hours) is only 52% of the dose used in the phase II trials documenting the single-agent activity of paclitaxel in SCLC (250 mg/m2 over 24 hours).4,5 One might argue that the paclitaxel dose we used in the combination regimen was not "optimal" and that higher doses (with growth factor support) would have resulted in improved efficacy. There are no randomized trials in SCLC that directly address this question; there are only suggestive data from sequential cohorts in a phase II trial reported by Hainsworth et al11 (see below). Randomized trials with paclitaxel as a single agent in recurrent ovarian cancer and in combination with cisplatin in recurrent squamous cancer of the head and neck have not shown a dose response or survival benefit for higher doses.12,13 Furthermore, other drugs such as etoposide are frequently administered in combination regimens for SCLC at less than 50% of the single-agent MTD (eg, 80 mg/m2 IV on days 1 to 3 v 100 mg/m2 IV on days 1 to 5), and one trial has shown no response or survival benefit for a 67% dose escalation above this level in patients with extensive disease.7 Clearly, a randomized trial would be required to define a dose response for paclitaxel as a single agent or in combination for SCLC. Certainly, a dose response for paclitaxel in the combination we used will be difficult to demonstrate given the 90% overall response rate we observed with a relatively low dose. Other investigators have reported on the use of regimens similar to ours in SCLC (Table 6).11,14-16 Three of these trials have had dose finding as a major end point, have therefore involved relatively small numbers of patients, and at this time have been reported only in abstract or monograph form. Survival data from these three trials have not been reported.14-16 The article by Hainsworth et al11 reports data from a phase II trial with two sequential cohorts, as previously noted. Paclitaxel was added to carboplatin and 10-day oral etoposide and studied at two different dose levels. A total of 61 patients with extensive disease were treated, 23 with the lower dose and 38 with the higher dose. The second dose level studied included an increase in carboplatin from an area under the concentration-time curve of 5 to 6 and in paclitaxel from 135 mg/m2 to 200 mg/m2 in 1 hour. Etoposide was kept constant at 50 mg, alternating with 100 mg orally on days 1 to 10. Growth factor support was not used. Experience with the low-dose regimen was disappointing, with an overall response rate of 65% and a median survival duration of only 7 months. In the second cohort, the high-dose regimen seemed more effective, with a response rate of 84% and median survival duration of 10 months. Despite their use of a higher dose of paclitaxel, these results are nearly identical to ours. In addition, toxic effects of the two regimens were similar, especially concerning the incidence of neutropenic fever and grade 4 neutropenia.
The data of Hainsworth et al11 suggest a dose response for paclitaxel in SCLC, and they also imply that paclitaxel adds efficacy to the base regimen of carboplatin and etoposide. We obtained similar results with a lower dose of paclitaxel in an equitoxic combination regimen, albeit with a minor difference in schedule (3-hour v 1-hour infusion time). Furthermore, in terms of efficacy, we observed similar high response rates and equivalent or better median survival durations in previous phase II trials with a similar patient population at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, all with etoposide/cisplatin as a base (Table 7). 17,18 A randomized trial will be necessary to elucidate the contribution of paclitaxel to the outcome of treatment with etoposide and cisplatin or carboplatin for patients with extensive SCLC. Two such trials are under way.
Hainsworth et al are continuing to explore their regimen in a study being run through the Minnie Pearl Cancer Research Network. The standard arm, consisting of etoposide 120 mg/m2 IV on days 1 to 3 and a carboplatin area under the concentration-time curve of 6 on day 1, is being compared with the high-dose regimen from their phase II trial in patients with both extensive and limited SCLC, both regimens being administered without growth factor support. Cancer and Leukemia Group B 9732, which is being run through the intergroup mechanism, compares standard etoposide (80 mg/m2 IV on days 1 to 3) and cisplatin (80 mg/m2 IV on day 1) with the addition of paclitaxel (175 mg/ m2 IV over 3 hours on day 1) to the same doses of etoposide and cisplatin in patients with extensive disease. Routine use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor is included in the experimental arm. The results of these two trials hopefully will clarify the role of paclitaxel in the initial treatment of SCLC and may also shed light on the contribution of routine growth factor support in this setting.
Supported by a grant from Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Princeton, NJ, and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center core grant no. CA-16672 (National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD).
Part of the research described in this article was published in abstract form (Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 16:455a, 1997 [abstr 1635]) and was presented as a poster at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Denver, CO, May 17-20, 1997.
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Copyright © 1999 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Online ISSN: 1527-7755. Print ISSN: 0732-183X
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