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Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 23, No 13 (May 1), 2005: pp. 3069-3073 © 2005 American Society of Clinical Oncology. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2005.00.372 Evaluation of Epothilone B Analog in Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcoma: A Phase II Study of the Phase II ConsortiumFrom the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN; Mayo Clinic, Division of Oncology, Jacksonville, FL; Mayo Clinic, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Scottsdale, AZ; University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, Madison, WI; Howard University, Washington, DC; Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO; Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI; and The Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, Baltimore, MD Address reprint requests to Scott H. Okuno, MD, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, 200 First St, Southwest, Medical Oncology, Rochester, MN 55905; e-mail: okuno.scott{at}mayo.edu
PURPOSE: Epothilones are a new class of nontaxane tubulin polymerization agents that have activity in taxane-resistant tumors. Epothilone B (BMS-247550) is a semisynthetic analog of the natural product epothilone B. This study was performed to determine the activity of BMS-247550 in patients with soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) who had not received prior chemotherapy for metastatic disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with measurable, advanced, or metastatic STS with no prior chemotherapy for metastatic disease were treated with BMS-2457550 50 mg/m2 intravenously during 1 hour every 21 days. All responses were confirmed 4 weeks later. RESULTS: Thirty-one patients (median age, 54 years; range, 19 to 78 years; 48% female) were entered onto the trial and were assessable for response. All but one patient had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance score of 0% or 1%, and 39% had received prior adjuvant chemotherapy. Mean follow-up was 22 months, with a confirmed response rate of 6% (95% CI, 0% to 17%). Median time to progression was 4.5 months (95% CI, 1.9 to 8.3 months), and 1 year progression-free survival was 17% (95% CI, 8% to 38%). Median survival was 16.4 months, with a 1-year survival of 61% (95% CI, 46% to 81%). Toxicity was mainly hematologic, with eight of 31 (26%) patients experiencing grade 3 to 4 leukopenia; 15 of 31 patients (48%) experienced grade 3 to 4 neutropenia. The grade 3 to 4 nonhematologic toxicities included neuropathies (26%), myalgia (13%), and fatigue (10%). CONCLUSION: BMS-247550 has limited activity against STSs when given in this dose and schedule. The clinical toxicity is similar to that of taxanes.
Soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) are composed of cancers with various biologic activities. It is estimated that there will be 8,680 new cases of STS diagnosed in 2004 with an estimated mortality of 40%.1 Despite adequate primary treatment, STSs can recur locally as well as metastasize to distant sites. Once the STS has metastasized, the only chance of long-term survival is with metastasectomy. Unfortunately, only a few patients are candidates for metastasectomy. The most active chemotherapy agents against STSs include doxorubicin and ifosfamide, with response rates of 23% and 24% respectively.2 Although targeted therapy with imatinib mesylate for the subset of STSs, GI stromal tumors, is active, chemotherapy for patients with metastatic STSs is largely palliative. New active agents are needed. Epothilones are a new class of nontaxane tubulin polymerization agents obtained from the myxobacteria, Sorangium cellulosm.3,4 BMS-2475540 is a semisynthetic analog of the natural product, epothilone B, which is more stable than the natural product. BMS-2475540 is active in preclinical human tumor models that are naturally insensitive to paclitaxel.5 In general, STSs are unresponsive to taxanes and thus are a reasonable a group of tumors to evaluate whether epothilones are active in a heretofore taxane-resistant tumor group.
Patient Selection Patients with histologic or cytologic evidence of metastatic or unresectable STS were eligible for entry into this trial. Prior chemotherapy, including neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy at least 4 weeks before study entry, was permitted. Patients had Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance scores (PS) of 2 and life expectancies of 12 weeks. The inclusion criteria were absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of 1,500/µL, platelet count (PLT) of 100,000/µL, total bilirubin 1.5 x the institutional upper limit of normal (ULN), AST 2.5 x the institutional ULN, creatinine 1.5 x the institutional ULN (or creatinine clearance 60 mL/min for patients with creatinine levels > 1.5 x the institutional ULN), age at least 18 years, and negative pregnancy test for women of childbearing potential. All patients were required to have at least one lesion that could be accurately measured with the longest diameter 2.0 cm.
Exclusion criteria were chemotherapy for metastatic disease; irradiation to only a solitary lesion (unless a > 25% increase had been documented since completion of radiation); pregnancy or lactation; uncontrolled infections; chronic debilitating diseases; concurrent investigational treatments, unconventional therapies, or food supplements; CNS metastases; history of allergic reactions attributed to compounds similar to epothilone B analog (BMS-47550) or polyoxyethylated castor oil (Cremaphor EL; Bristol-Myers Squibb, Candiac, Quebec, Canada); neuropathies
Drug Administration
Pretreatment Evaluation and Follow-Up Studies
Disease Assessment Patients were re-evaluated for disease status within 4 to 6 weeks of achieving a complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) to confirm the assessment. Similarly, stable disease was reassessed within 6 to 8 weeks. Patients who died (or who were lost to follow-up) without progression were considered to have experienced disease progression at the date of death (or last contact) unless documentation proved otherwise, in which case they would be considered as having no progression at the date of last tumor evaluation. Duration of response is calculated from the date of the patient's first best objective status of CR or PR to the date of progression. Time to progression was calculated from study entry to disease progression. Time to death (ie, survival) was calculated from the date of study entry to the date of death, as a result of any cause, or date of last contact. Patients were to be observed until death or a maximum of 5 years after registration.
Statistical Considerations Secondary end points included toxicity, duration of response, time to disease progression, and survival. Nonhematologic toxicity was summarized in a tabular manner as a maximum grade for a given type of event. Hematologic nadirs were reported as a minimum value per patient and course of treatment. Hematologic toxicities are summarized in Table 1. Kaplan-Meier methodology9 was used to describe the distribution of duration of response, time to disease progression, and survival. Cox proportional hazards10 modeling was used to identify factors (ie, age, sex, PS) significantly associated with duration of response, time to disease progression, and survival. P values of at least .05 were considered statistically significant in these analyses. All analyses were performed using SAS software (SAS Institute, Cary, NC).
Patient Characteristics A total of 31 patients were enrolled between June and December 2001. Table 2 summarizes the characteristics for these patients. All patients were eligible, white, and 48% (15 of 31) were female. At study entry, patients ranged in age from 19 to 78 years (median, 54 years) and 52% (16 of 31) had a PS of 0 (v 1 or 2). Thirty-nine percent of patients (12 of 31) had received prior adjuvant radiation therapy. Sixteen (52%) had lung metastases, 10 (32%) had nodal metastases, and six (19%) had liver metastasis and intra-abdominal metastasis. The histologic type (Table 1) included eight leiomyosarcomas, eight sarcomas not otherwise specified, three malignant fibrous histiocytomas, two fibrosarcomas, two synovial sarcomas, one desmoid, one myxosarcoma, one stromal sarcoma, one hemangiopericytoma, and one chondrosarcoma.
BMS-247550 Administration and Toxicity Overall, patients received a total of 96 cycles of treatment (mean, three; range, one to eight). Patients were able to receive a median of 100% (49% to 101%), 100% (59% to 111%), and 100% (99% to 110%) of the targeted dose of BMS-247550 on cycles 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Nine patients had at most two dose reductions. The reasons for dose reductions were neuropathies (four patients), neutropenia (two patients), GI intolerance (two patients), desquamation of hands (one patient), and myalgia (one patient). Treatment delays were seen in 14 of 96 total administered cycles, and occurred most frequently for cycles 2 through 4. The most common reasons for treatment delays were neutropenia (six patients), and myalgia and/or arthralgia (two patients). Reasons for discontinuation of treatment were progressive disease (18 patients), toxicities (10 patients), alternate therapy (one patient), and death considered probably related to BMS-247550 (one patient). All patients were premedicated with either oral or intravenous (IV) H1 and H2 blockers. Eleven patients received a total of 35 cycles of oral premedication. One patient received one oral and three IV premedication cycles. The remaining 19 patients (61%) received 59 cycles of IV premedication. To control hypersensitivity reactions, five patients (16%) had one cycle interruption, and 10 patients (32%) received dexamethasone for a total of 24 of 34 cycles. One patient (3%) received granulocyte colony-stimulating factor on three of eight cycles for neutropenia.
All 31 patients were assessable for toxicity. More than 80% of the patients experienced grade 3 or 4 adverse events related to BMS-247550 (Table 1). The most common toxicities were hematologic (mainly neutropenia). Sixteen patients (52%) experienced
Patient Outcome
Metastatic sarcomas are a difficult group of cancers to treat. They are frequently refractory to treatment. Despite modest activity with the standard chemotherapy agents, doxorubicin and ifosfamide, combination therapy has not demonstrated an improvement in overall survival compared with single-agent treatment.11 Although there is success with targeted therapy with imatinib mesylate for the one subset of STSs, GI stromal tumors, its role in the management of the other more than 30 subtypes of STS is unknown, and new agents are needed for STS.12,13 Taxanes have been inactive against STSs except for vascular sarcomas.14-16 The epothilones are nontaxane tubulin inhibitors that are active in low nanomolar concentrations. They have a unique property of being active in cell lines resistant to taxanes. The agent used in our study, BMS-247550, is a semisynthetic manufactured epothilone B analog. This is the first study of BMS-247550 against STSs, which are generally resistant to taxanes. This study demonstrated limited activity of BMS-247550 against a variety of STSs. The confirmed response rate of 6% was seen in our study, and responses occurred in patients with grade 3 leiomyosarcoma and synovial sarcoma. The median survival was 16.4 months and 1-year survival was 61%, which is similar to other studies with nondoxorubin/ifosfamide regimens with gemcitabine.17-19 Direct comparison to doxorubicin/ifosfamide regiments is not valid because of patient selection and second-line therapy in other studies. BMS-247550 has modest but manageable toxicities. Hematologic toxicity was mainly neutropenia, with nonhematologic toxicities of myalgia and neuropathy similar to those of taxanes. Although this study failed to demonstrate activity of BMS-247550 against STSs, the potential role of BMS-247550 in STSs may be worth evaluating. The use of docetaxel combined with gemcitabine infused during 90 minutes has demonstrated activity in up to 40% of leiomyosarcomas and other STSs.20,21 An ongoing confirmatory study comparing gemcitabine versus gemcitabine/docetaxel regimen will help to clarify the role of taxanes in STSs. If gemcitabine plus docetaxel demonstrates activity when docetaxel alone is inactive, then additional testing of BMS-247550 in combination with gemcitabine may be warranted. The mixture of histologic types of STS is a challenge in evaluating any novel agents. The ideal treatment studies for STSs would be histology-specific trials. This would reduce the chance that a potentially active agent is not pursued because of insufficient numbers. Because of the rarity of STSs, histology-specific studies have been difficult to complete in single-center studies. This phase II consortium study was able to accrue at a rate that could lead to future targeted studies specific to a given histology.
The authors indicated no potential conflicts of interest.
Authors' disclosures of potential conflicts of interest are found at the end of this article.
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Copyright © 2005 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Online ISSN: 1527-7755. Print ISSN: 0732-183X
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