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© 2000 American Society for Clinical Oncology Pharmacokinetics of Nelarabine and 9-Beta-D-Arabinofuranosyl Guanine in Pediatric and Adult Patients During a Phase I Study of Nelarabine for the Treatment of Refractory Hematologic MalignanciesFrom the Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH; M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; Duke University, Durham, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Glaxo Wellcome Inc, Research Triangle Park, NC; and Boston University Medical Center, Boston, MA. Address reprint requests to David F. Kisor, Ohio Northern University, College of Pharmacy, Ada, OH 45810; email d-kisor{at}onu.edu
PURPOSE: To characterize the pharmacokinetics of nelarabine (506U78), the water-soluble prodrug of 9-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl guanine (ara-G), and ara-G in pediatric and adult patients with refractory hematologic malignancies. Ara-G is phosphorylated within leukemic cells to form ara-G triphosphate (ara-GTP), which acts to terminate DNA chain elongation, resulting in cell death. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The pharmacokinetics of nelarabine and/or ara-G were evaluated in 71 patients (25 pediatric and 46 adult patients) on the first day of therapy. Blood was collected at specified times for the determination of plasma nelarabine and ara-G concentrations. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in the pharmacokinetics of nelarabine between any of the groups of patients. The harmonic mean half-life (t1/2) of nelarabine in pediatric and adult patients was 14.1 minutes and 16.5 minutes, respectively. The maximum concentrations (Cmax) of ara-G occurred at or near the end of the nelarabine infusion. The Cmax of ara-G ranged from 11.6 µmol/L to 308.7 µmol/L at nelarabine doses of 5 to 75 mg/kg and was linearly related to the nelarabine dose. No statistically significant differences were noted for the pharmacokinetic parameter estimates of ara-G between adult male and female patients. In children versus adults, the dose-normalized Cmax, time of the Cmax, and the steady-state volume of distribution of ara-G were similar. However, the clearance of ara-G was higher in pediatric patients (0.312 L·h-1·kg-1) as compared with adult patients (0.213 L·h-1·kg-1) (P < .001). The t1/2 of ara-G was shorter in pediatric patients as compared with adult patients (2.1 hours v 3.0 hours; P < .01). CONCLUSION: Nelarabine is an effective prodrug of ara-G, allowing systemic concentrations of ara-G that result in clinical activity.
NELARABINE (506U78) IS a prodrug of the deoxyguanosine (dGuo) analog 9-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl guanine (ara-G).1 dGuo is readily catabolized by purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP). Clinically, PNP deficiency has been associated with T-cell lymphopenia.2 Metabolically, patients with T-cell lymphopenia are unable to catabolize dGuo, which results in an increase in the plasma concentration of dGuo. There is a greater accumulation of the triphosphate of dGuo in T cells because of the inherently higher phosphorylation of dGuo in T cells as compared with B cells.3 This accumulation of dGuo triphosphate leads to cell death via inhibition of DNA synthesis.4,5 Although T-cell specificity was observed with dGuo, the efficient catabolism of dGuo by PNP limited its use clinically. Ara-G, like dGuo, has been shown to be toxic to T cells,6,7 with greater accumulation and retention of ara-G triphosphate (ara-GTP) in T cells as compared with B cells.8 Ara-G has been used successfully to purge malignant T cells from murine and human bone marrow ex vivo.9,10 However, ara-G, which was synthesized in 1964,11 has not been used clinically because of its poor solubility properties and difficult synthesis. The application of an enzymatic method of purine arabinonucleoside synthesis led to the development of compound nelarabine,12 the 6-methoxy derivative of ara-G, which is 10 times more soluble than ara-G.1 In vitro, in the presence of adenosine deaminase, nelarabine is demethoxylated to generate ara-G (Fig 1). As a consequence of the high specific activity of adenosine deaminase in the RBCs and other large body organs of cynomolgus monkeys, intravenous (IV) administration of nelarabine resulted in rapid demethoxylation to generate ara-G.1 Conversion of nelarabine to ara-G is required to induce cytotoxicity, as adenosine deaminase inhibition blocks the formation of the active nucleoside analog (ara-G).1
The potential of nelarabine as a prodrug of ara-G for the treatment of refractory hematologic malignancies led to the initiation of a multicenter, dose escalation, phase I study. A total of 93 patients entered the study. Safety and efficacy results demonstrated clinical responses in patients with refractory leukemia or lymphoma; neurologic toxicity was the dose-limiting factor.13-15 Cellular pharmacokinetic investigations demonstrated a strong relationship between the peak ara-GTP concentration in the circulating leukemia cells and response to nelarabine. To complement the cellular pharmacology, preliminary plasma pharmacology (peak concentration values and the elimination half-life [t1/2] of nelarabine and ara-G) in 24 patients was presented.14 The purpose of this report is to describe the pharmacokinetics of nelarabine and ara-G in patients with refractory hematologic malignancies who were receiving nelarabine as a 1-hour infusion daily for 5 consecutive days. The pharmacokinetics of the prodrug and/or ara-G, including the clearance (CL) and steady-state volume of distribution (Vss), were characterized in 78 of the 93 patients from this study. The mean and median maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) and t1/2 of nelarabine and ara-G for 24 patients have previously been reported.14 In the present report, specific attention was given to potential differences in the pharmacokinetics of these compounds based on age, sex, and diagnoses.
Ninety-three patients with refractory hematologic malignancies were enrolled from April 1994 through February 1997 in this phase I, multicenter, open-label, dose escalation study of nelarabine. This study was approved by the institutional review boards at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, the University of North Carolina Medical Center, Chapel Hill, NC, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. All patients received information and gave written informed consent to participate in the study. Seventy-eight of these patients participated in the pharmacokinetics portion of this study (Table 1). Patients at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center signed a separate consent form to participate in the clinical pharmacology studies.
Patients were eligible for entrance onto the study if they were 75 years of age or younger and had a histologic or cytogenetic documented diagnosis of a refractory hematologic malignancy in relapse, a serum creatinine level of 2 mg/dL, hepatic transaminase levels of two times the upper limit of normal, normal cardiac, pulmonary, and neurologic function, a life expectancy of at least 2 months, and a Karnofsky performance status of at least 30.
Drug
Treatment Protocol
Chemicals
Biologic Fluid Sample Collection
Detection and Quantification of nelarabine and Ara-G
Pharmacokinetic Analysis and Calculations
The Vss for nelarabine and ara-G was calculated using noncompartmental methods, as described by Gibaldi and Perrier.16
Statistical Analysis of Pharmacokinetic Parameter Values
Systemic Pharmacokinetics of Nelarabine During the infusion, nelarabine accumulated, with the Cmax of nelarabine generally occurring at the end of the infusion. The end-of-infusion concentration was typically slightly higher than the concentration at 45 minutes, indicating that nelarabine was reaching its steady-state concentration (Fig 2A). The Cmax increased linearly with the nelarabine dose (Fig 3A). The slopes of the plots of dose-normalized Cmax and AUC0 ![]() of nelarabine versus the nelarabine dose were not statistically significantly different from zero (P = .1 and P = .38, respectively), which suggests that nelarabine was dose proportional. After the end of the nelarabine infusion, the concentrations of nelarabine declined with time in a monoexponential fashion. Nelarabine pharmacokinetic parameter estimates were made in only 64 of the 78 patients. Incomplete concentration-versus-time data prevented pharmacokinetic parameter estimation in the remaining 14 patients. The pharmacokinetic parameter estimates for nelarabine after the first infusion (day 1) of nelarabine in pediatric and adult patients are presented in Table 2A. Very large SDs were observed for the CL, Vss, and t1/2 of nelarabine in both pediatric and adult patients. The coefficients of variation (%) for CL, Vss, and t1/2 in pediatric and adult patients were 138.2% and 143.6%, 135.3% and 138.2%, and 131.7% and 34.8%, respectively. The harmonic mean t1/2 of nelarabine in pediatric and adult patients was 14.1 minutes and 16.5 minutes, respectively. With respect to the pharmacokinetics of nelarabine, no statistically significant differences were seen between adult male and female patients (Table 2B), nor were there apparent differences in nelarabine pharmacokinetic parameter estimates between patients with different diagnoses (data not shown).
Systemic Pharmacokinetics of Ara-G During the infusion of nelarabine, ara-G concentrations increased, with the end-of-infusion concentration typically being considerably higher than the concentration at 45 minutes, indicating that a steady state of ara-G had not been reached (Fig 2B). The Cmax of ara-G typically occurred at the end of the nelarabine infusion and was proportional to the nelarabine dose (Fig 3B). The ara-G Cmax values ranged from 11.6 µmol/L to 308.7 µmol/L. The slopes of the plots of dose-normalized Cmax and AUC0 ![]() of ara-G versus the nelarabine dose were not statistically significantly different from zero (P = .39 and P = .11, respectively), which suggests that ara-G is dose proportional. The concentrations of ara-G declined monoexponentially after the Cmax was reached (Fig 4).
Ara-G pharmacokinetic parameter estimates were compared in pediatric and adult patients (Table 3A). No difference was noted in the dose-normalized Cmax or the Vss between pediatric and adult patients; however, the mean CL of ara-G was 46% higher in pediatric patients as compared with adult patients (P < .0001). This resulted in a 30% shorter t1/2 of ara-G in pediatric patients. The harmonic mean t1/2 in pediatric and adult patients was 2.1 hours and 3 hours, respectively. The decreased CL of ara-G in adult patients compared with pediatric patients was responsible for a 47% higher plasma ara-G AUC0 ![]() .
Pharmacokinetic parameter estimates were available in enough adult male and female patients to compare the groups directly. In contrast to pediatric versus adult patients, no differences were noted between male and female adult patients with respect to the pharmacokinetics of ara-G (Table 3B). Finally, pharmacokinetic data were compared in patients with different diagnoses to determine whether leukemia/lymphoma pathophysiology affected the disposition of ara-G. Pharmacokinetic estimates of ara-G between patients with different diagnoses were similar (Table 4). Although the number of patients for each diagnosis is small, comparison of the pharmacokinetic data indicates that leukemia type did not clearly distinguish ara-G disposition. Similarly, patients with lymphoma had similar plasma ara-G dispositions.
Because nucleoside analogs or their metabolic byproducts are excreted through the kidneys, and a difference in mean CL of ara-G between adult and pediatric patients was noted, plasma CL of ara-G was evaluated with respect to renal function as determined by estimated creatinine CL. The plasma CL of ara-G was positively correlated with the estimated creatinine CL. Although correlated, estimated creatinine CL explained only 25% of the variability of the total CL of ara-G (Fig 5).
The pharmacokinetic parameter values for nelarabine and ara-G from patients with blood sample collection only on days 2 through 5 were similar to the day-1 estimates in other patients. For nelarabine, the CL values ranged from 0.481 to 11.104 L·h-1·kg-1. The Vss distribution ranged from 0.329 to 7.133 L·kg-1, and the t1/2 ranged from 15 minutes to 28.2 minutes. For ara-G, the CL values ranged from 0.062 L·h-1·kg-1 to 0.306 L·h-1·kg-1. The Vss ranged from 0.587 L·kg-1 to 0.986 L·kg-1, and the t1/2 ranged from 1.79 hours to 6.65 hours.
Intrapatient Variability
Nelarabine is an effective prodrug of ara-G, providing systemic concentrations of ara-G that result in clinical responses in patients with refractory hematologic malignancies.13,14 No urine was collected from patients in this study; therefore, the renal CL of nelarabine could not be calculated. Assuming the major elimination route of nelarabine is the metabolic conversion, via adenosine deaminase, to ara-G, approximately 94% of the nelarabine dose administered over 1 hour would be converted to ara-G. This is supported by the fact that, in most patients, the observed Cmax of ara-G occurred at the end of the 1-hour infusion of nelarabine. The blood sampling schedule used in this study was inadequate for confident estimation of the pharmacokinetic parameters of nelarabine. Although the lack of early, frequent blood sampling prevented full characterization of the concentration-versus-time profile of nelarabine, the concentrations of nelarabine seemed to decline with time in a monoexponential fashion. The Cmax and AUC0 ![]() of nelarabine increased in proportion to the administered dose. The linearity observed with respect to the Cmax and AUC0![]() of nelarabine was expected because the highest nelarabine doses (60 mg/kg and 75 mg/kg) studied here produced an average Cmax of 61 µmol/L, well below the Michaelis constant (Km) of nelarabine for adenosine deaminase (170 µmol/L).1
As with nelarabine, the concentrations of ara-G declined with time in a monoexponential fashion after the end of the infusion. The Cmax and AUC0 Determination of the relationship between the Cmax of ara-G and the nelarabine dose suggests that the ara-G Cmax depended on the nelarabine dose (Fig 3, r2 = .75, P < .00001). Also, as shown previously, there is a relationship between ara-G Cmax, at different doses of nelarabine, and cellular accumulation of ara-GTP.14 These data suggest that the cellular nucleoside kinases are not saturated at the concentrations of ara-G achieved at the dose levels used in this study. This is consistent with the observation that the ara-G Cmax range observed in this study (11.6 µmol/L to 308.7 µmol/L) was well below the Km of ara-G for deoxycytidine kinase (900 µmol/L).1,21 Also, in addition to deoxycytidine kinase, dGuo kinase has been shown to phosphorylate ara-G with greater affinity (Km 7 µmol/L).22-24 Therefore, while phosphorylation of ara-G by dGuo kinase may be saturated, deoxycytidine kinase may have the capacity to efficiently phosphorylate higher plasma concentrations of ara-G.
In most patients, blood sampling to determine plasma ara-G concentrations ended at 7 hours. This resulted in approximately 18% of the AUC0 The CL of ara-G was higher in pediatric patients as compared with adult patients. Although the reason for this is not entirely clear, it may be attributed to age-related differences in renal function. Plotting the CL of ara-G against the estimated creatinine CL identified a positive relationship between these variables, which suggests that ara-G CL is related to renal function (Fig 5). A similar finding was seen with fludarabine when the CL of fludarabine was compared with the serum creatinine value.25 With a creatinine CL estimate of zero, as in a functionally anephric patient, the CL of ara-G is estimated to be 1.31 mL·min-1·kg-1. A comparison of this value with the total CL estimates for ara-G in pediatric and adult patients suggests that the nonrenal CL of ara-G is 25% to 36% of the total CL and that the renal CL represents 64% to 75% of the total CL. However, the r2 value revealed that creatinine CL explained only 25% of the variability in the ara-G CL. Currently, urine samples from patients in subsequent phase I studies are being analyzed to more clearly define the relationship between ara-G CL and renal function. The higher CL of ara-G in pediatric patients was responsible for the shorter t1/2 of ara-G in this group, as the volume of distribution of ara-G was similar in pediatric and adult patients. The plasma t1/2 of ara-G is relatively long, ie, 2.1 hours and 3 hours in pediatric and adult patients, respectively. Thus, at the maximum-tolerated dose in pediatric and adult patients, 39 mg/kg and 31 mg/kg, respectively (a common 1.2-g/m2 dose), concentrations of ara-G remained above 10 µmol/L for more than 8 hours. Earlier, in vitro studies showed that a concentration of 10 µmol/L would support linear accumulation of ara-GTP by primary leukemic cells.24 In fact, clinical responses have been reported with the lowest dose used in this study, ie, 5 mg/kg, indicating that plasma ara-G concentrations in the range of 15 to 30 µmol/L will support accumulation of ara-GTP in leukemic blasts.13 These pharmacokinetic characteristics are favorable compared with other purine analogs and may lean toward the use of nelarabine in the treatment of indolent leukemias, where other nucleoside analogs have been used successfully. However, clinical investigation is needed to examine this potential. In conclusion, nelarabine is an effective prodrug of ara-G, with approximately 94% of an administered dose being converted to ara-G by the end of a 1-hour infusion. The pharmacokinetics of nelarabine vary in pediatric and adult patients but seem to be linear over the dose range of 5 mg/kg to 75mg/kg. The pharmacokinetics of ara-G are also linear over the nelarabine dose range of 5 mg/kg to 75 mg/kg. The CL of ara-G is higher in pediatric patients as compared with adult patients and may to be related to renal function; however, more data are needed to better explain the relationship between ara-G CL and renal function. The pharmacokinetics of nelarabine and ara-G were similar in male and female adult patients. Diagnosis of a particular hematologic malignancy does not distinguish the pharmacokinetics of nelarabine or ara-G from estimates obtained in patients with other diagnoses.
Supported in part by grants no. CA32839 and CA57629 from the National Cancer Institute, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD. The investigators thank Claudia Breuckner, Billie Nowak, Mary Ayres, and Min Du for their expert technical assistance and Stephen Weller and Gertrude Elion for critically reviewing the manuscript.
This work is dedicated to the memory of Gertrude B. Elion, mentor, colleague, and friend.
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Copyright © 2000 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Online ISSN: 1527-7755. Print ISSN: 0732-183X
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