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Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 23, No 18 (June 20), 2005: pp. 4172-4178 © 2005 American Society of Clinical Oncology. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2005.07.114 Randomized Phase II/III Trial of Interferon Alfa-2a With and Without 13-cis-Retinoic Acid in Patients With Progressive Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma: The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Genito-Urinary Tract Cancer Group (EORTC 30951)From the Department of Clinical Cancer Research, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo, Norway; Departments of Internal Medicine and Urology, University Medical Centre Nijmegen, Nijmegen; Department of Urology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (current address: Centrum Fuer Operative Urologie Bremen, Bremen, Germany); Department of Oncology, U.Z. Gasthuisberg; Department of Urology, U.Z. Gasthuisberg, Leuven; European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Data Center, Brussels, Belgium Address reprint requests to Nina Aass, MD, PhD, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, 0310 Oslo, Norway; e-mail: ninaaass{at}radium.uio.no
PURPOSE: A randomized phase II/III trial was conducted to determine whether combination treatment with 13-cis-retinoic acid (13-CRA) plus interferon alfa-2a (IFN- -2a) was superior to IFN- -2a alone in patients with progressive metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: Three hundred twenty patients were randomly assigned to treatment with IFN-
RESULTS: Median time to progression was 5.1 months for patients treated with the combination and 3.4 months for patients on IFN-
CONCLUSION: Progression-free and overall survival for patients with progressive metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with IFN-
Metastatic renal cell carcinoma is highly resistant to chemotherapy and hormone therapy.1-3 Treatment with cytokines (ie, interferon [IFN] or interleukin-2 [IL-2]) leads to responses in 10% to 20% of patients.4-7 Two phase III trials have shown prolonged survival in patients treated with IFN- compared with "placebo-equivalent" therapy.8,9 Combination of IFN and IL-2 suggested a synergism in preclinical studies.10 However, no survival benefit has been found for the combination compared with IFN- or with IL-2 alone.11 Therefore, other therapeutic options in this group of patients are being explored, among them the use of retinoids. From preclinical data there is evidence that combined treatment with IFN and retinoids can result in enhanced antiproliferative and differentiation effects compared with either single agent.12-14 Lippman et al showed the beneficial effect of the combination in patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the skin and cervix.15,16 From a clinical point of view, it is also important that the two drugs have nonoverlapping toxicity.
When the present study was planned, only one phase II trial combining IFN-
The trial was started as a randomized phase II study in March 1996. The phase II part was closed in June 1997.17 The trial was reopened as a randomized phase III study in November 1998 and was finally closed to patient entry in January 2001. In the phase II part of the study, all patients had to have bidimensionally measurable metastases, whereas in the phase III part, clinically or radiologically detectable metastases were requested, omitting the requirement of measurability. The diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma had to be histologically proven, and all patients had previously undergone radical nephrectomy. Furthermore, progression had to be demonstrated in the 2 months preceding entry. Other eligibility requirements were: age between 18 and 75 years, WHO performance status 0 to 1, WBC count greater than 3 x 109/L, granulocyte count more than 1.5 x 109/L, platelet count more than 100 x 109/L, adequate renal function (creatinine 150 µmol/L), adequate liver function (bilirubin 20 µmol/L), blood lipid values 1.5 x upper limit of normal range. Previous surgery, radiotherapy and/or hormonal therapy were allowed, but not previous chemotherapy or immunotherapy. Exclusion criteria included brain metastases, serous effusions, second tumors except basal cell carcinoma, cardiac disease, active uncontrolled infection, autoimmune disease, gastrointestinal dysfunction that might interfere with drug absorption, seizure disorder or compromised central nervous function, significant psychiatric disorder, or other serious intercurrent medical disorders. Females of childbearing potential were to use effective contraception, whereas pregnant or lactating women were excluded. All participating institutions were members of the EORTC GU Group. Their local institutional review committees and/or regional or national ethics committees had approved the protocol. The patients gave their written informed consent before study enrollment. The local investigators contacted the EORTC Data Center by telephone or the Internet to randomly assign their patients (central random assignment). Patients were stratified by institution and performance status using the minimization technique. Only after verification of all the eligibility criteria was the treatment assignment generated by computer and communicated to the investigator.
The patients were randomly assigned to treatment with IFN-
Treatment duration was to be at least 3 months unless prior progression or toxicity had occurred. Patients with objective response or no change and with stable performance status were to be treated until objective evidence of progression or development of severe toxicity. Optimally, the treatment could be continued for 12 months. If grade 3 granulocytopenia or grade 2 thrombocytopenia occurred, the IFN- Patients were monitored biweekly for the first month of therapy (hematologic and serum chemical analysis), at weeks 8 and 12, and thereafter, every second month and at treatment discontinuation (clinical examination, performance status, disease evaluation, hematologic and serum chemical analysis). All patients were followed up until death or until July 2003.
The primary end point was overall survival. Rate of progression, progression-free survival, and toxicity were secondary end points. A total of 252 deaths were required to detect a 10% difference in overall 1-year survival from 10% to 20% (hazard ratio = 0.699), at error rates All randomly assigned patients were included in the treatment efficacy comparisons (intent to treat analysis). All patients who started their treatment were included in the toxicity analyses. Time to event (duration of survival, progression-free survival) was estimated in each treatment group using the Kaplan-Meier technique, taking the random assignment date as the starting date, and compared using a two-sided log-rank test.
Based on an article by Jones et al,18 the following variables were used to retrospectively create risk groups: performance status, 0 v 1; time from diagnosis to start of cytokine treatment,
From March 1996 to January 2001, 320 patients were randomly assigned, 161 to treatment with IFN- -2a alone, and 159 to IFN- -2a combined with 13-CRA. One hundred thirteen patients were enrolled on the phase II part of the trial, and 207, on the phase III part. Twenty-three patients were found to be ineligible, 14 in the IFN- -2a arm and nine in the combination arm. The main reasons for ineligibility were: Pleural effusion was the only sign of metastatic disease, eight patients; no target lesion (phase II), five patients; no metastases, two patients; symptomatic brain metastases, two patients; treatment with prednisolone at entry, two patients; WHO performance status more than 1, two patients; increased lipid values, one patient; second malignancy, one patient. Two patients never started treatment with IFN- -2a (one ineligible patient, one patient refused), and five patients never started the combination therapy (three ineligible patients, one patient refused, one intercurrent death).
The median time from diagnosis to random assignment was 46 weeks for the whole study group (Table 1). The median age at random assignment was 60 years, and 57% of the patients had performance status 0 according to the WHO criteria. In general, patient characteristics were well balanced between the two treatment groups; however, patients treated with the combination tended to have less lymph node metastases than patients on IFN-
The median duration of therapy was 13 weeks for the combination group and 15 weeks for the IFN- -2aalone group. Treatment was stopped for disease progression in 59% of the patients, and for toxicity in 19%. For the 155 patients treated for 3 months, the main reasons for stopping protocol treatment were disease progression in 107 patients, followed by toxicity in 38 patients. The corresponding numbers for the 158 patients treated more than 3 months were 81 and 23, respectively, whereas 39 patients completed therapy according to the protocol. Of the patients stopping protocol treatment due to toxicity, 35 were treated with the combination, and 26, with IFN- -2a alone (Table 2). In more than 90% of the cases in which adverse effects caused discontinuation of therapy, nonhematologic toxicity was the main reason, irrespective of the treatment given. In both groups, the dose of IFN- -2a was modified in half of the patients, whereas the dose of 13-CRA was reduced in 88 patients (57%) receiving combination therapy. Treatment with IFN- -2a was temporarily stopped in 60 of 159 patients treated only with this drug. In the group receiving combined treatment, interruption of therapy was due to the adverse effects of IFN- -2a in only three patients, those of 13-CRA in only 17 patients, and of the combination in 65 patients. The most frequently reported adverse effects (grades 1 to 4 combined) were lethargy (malaise, fatigue; 91.1% of all patients), anorexia (72.2%), arthralgia/myalgia (58.1%), nausea/vomiting (57.2%), and fever (42.8%; Table 3). With the exception of arthralgia/myalgia, occurring more often among patients receiving combined therapy, these adverse effects were evenly distributed between the two treatment groups. Clinically relevant hematologic and biochemical toxicity was uncommon. The patients treated with the combination more often experienced stomatitis (35.7% v 10.1%), dry mouth and nose (54.5% v 17.0%), dry skin (69.4% v 17.6%), and conjunctivitis (25.3% v 3.1%) than patients on IFN- -2a alone. Most of the reported side effects were mild (grade 1-2 according to the NCIC Toxicity Scale). There were no toxic deaths.
Based on a median follow-up of 3 years and a maximum of almost 6 years, 129 patients treated with IFN- -2a plus 13-CRA relapsed as compared with 144 patients given IFN- -2a alone (Table 4). The median time to progression was 5.1 months (95% CI, 4.0 to 7.0) for the patients treated with the combination, and 3.4 months (95% CI, 2.9 to 5.0) for the patients on IFN- -2a (P = .008; Fig 1). Progression-free survival rates at 6 months were 43% for patients receiving the combination and 30% for patients on IFN- -2a, and at 12 months, 27% and 17%, respectively. After a median observation time of 36 months, 251 patients had died119 treated with the combination and 132 treated with IFN- -2a alone. The median duration of survival was 17.3 months (95% CI, 13.1 to 23.1) and 13.2 months (95% CI, 11.0 to 17.8), respectively (P = .048; Fig 2). Retrospective stratification of the survival comparison for the patients' age, performance status, and risk group classification had no impact on the main findings.
Patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma have, in general, a poor prognosis.19 Better systemic therapy is therefore needed. In the present series, the median overall survival for patients treated with IFN- -2a plus 13-CRA was 17.3 months, and for patients who received IFN- -2a alone, 13.2 months. This result is marginally significant (P = .048), in favor of the combination therapy. The improvement in efficacy was accompanied by increased, though not serious, toxicity. Twenty-three percent of the patients treated with the combination stopped therapy due to toxicity as compared with 16% on IFN- -2a alone, and the percentages of patients in whom treatment had to be interrupted temporarily were 55% and 38%, respectively.
Two other randomized phase III trials20,21 have included the combination of retinoids and cytokines in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. In the study by Motzer et al,20 the median overall survival time was 15 months, which is consistent with our results, but there was no difference between the patients treated with IFN-
Atzpodien et al21 conducted a three-arm study comparing patients receiving a triple combination of IL-2, IFN-
The present study has shown that the therapy was toxic for patients treated with IFN-
In conclusion, the present trial has shown a small, but statistically significant improvement in both progression free and overall survival for patients with progressive metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with IFN-
The following authors or their immediate family members have indicated a financial interest. No conflict exists for drugs or devices used in a study if they are not being evaluated as part of the investigation. Consultant/Advisory Role: Allan T. van Oosterom, Aventis, Novartis, Pfizer, Pharmamar, Roche; Sophie D. Fossa, Bayer. Research Funding: Allan T. van Oosterom, Amgen, Aventis, Novartis, Pfizer, Pharmamar, Roche, Schering-Plough; Sophie D. Fossa, Aventis. For a detailed description of these categories, or for more information about ASCO's conflict of interest policy, please refer to the Author Disclosure Declaration and Disclosures of Potential Conflicts of Interest found in Information for Contributors in the front of each issue.
Supported by an Educational Grant from Hoffman-La Roche and grant Nos. 2U10 CA11488-25 through 5U10 CA11488-34 from the National Cancer Institute (Bethesda, MD). This articles contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute. 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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