High-dose sequential chemotherapy (HDS) versus PEB chemotherapy as first-line treatment of patients with poor prognosis germ-cell tumors: mature results of an Italian randomized phase II study.

BACKGROUND: In the late 1990s, the use of high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) and stem-cell rescue held promise for patients with advanced and poor prognosis germ-cell tumors (GCT). We started a randomized phase II trial to assess the efficacy of sequential HDCT compared with cisplatin, etoposide, and bleomycin (PEB). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients were randomly assigned to receive four cycles of PEB every 3 weeks or two cycles of PEB followed by a high-dose sequence (HDS) comprising HD-cyclophosphamide (7.0 g/m(2)), 2 courses of cisplatin and HD-etoposide (2.4 g/m(2)) with stem-cell support, and a single course of HD-carboplatin [area under the curve (AUC) 27 mg/ml × min] with autologous stem-cell transplant. Postchemotherapy surgery was planned on responding residual disease in both arms. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS). The study was designed to detect a 30% improvement of 5-year PFS (from 40% to 70%), with 80% power and two-sided α at 5%. RESULTS: From December 1996 to March 2007, 85 patients were randomized: 43 in PEB and 42 in HDS arm. Median follow-up was 114.2 months [interquartile range (IQR): 87.7-165.8]. Complete or partial response with normal markers (PRm-) were obtained in 28 (65.1%) and 29 (69.1%) patients, respectively. Five-year PFS was 55.8% [95% confidence interval (CI) 42.8-72.8] and 54.8% (95% CI 41.6%-72.1%) in PEB and HDS arm, respectively (log-rank test P = 0.726). Five-year overall survival was 62.8% (95% CI 49.9-79.0) and 59.3% (95% CI 46.1-76.3). One toxic death (PEB arm) was recorded. CONCLUSIONS: The study failed to meet the primary end point. Furthermore, survival estimates of conventional-dose chemotherapy higher than expected should be accounted for and will likely limit further improvements in the first-line setting. CLINICALTRIALS.GOV: NCT02161692.

T-cell therapy for EBV-associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma: preparative lymphodepleting chemotherapy does not improve clinical results.

BACKGROUND: We and others have demonstrated that adoptive cell therapy with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific autologous cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) may control disease progression in patients with EBV-associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). With the aim of favoring in vivo T-cell expansion, we optimized our cell therapy approach by administering higher doses of EBV-specific CTLs, following lymphodepleting chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eleven patients with EBV-related NPC in whom conventional treatment failed have been enrolled. Patients received nonmyeloablative lymphodepleting chemotherapy consisting of cyclophosphamide and fludarabine. Two doses of autologous EBV-specific CTLs were subsequently infused, 2 weeks apart. Study end points were feasibility and clinical outcome. RESULTS: All patients enrolled completed the treatment and were assessable for analysis. The median dose of CTLs per infusion was 3.7 × 10(8). Therapy was well tolerated, with no severe adverse events ascribable to either chemotherapy or cell therapy. Disease control (defined as either tumor regression or disease stabilization lasting >4 months) was obtained in 6 of 11 patients, in keeping with previously published results. CONCLUSIONS: Our data confirm that EBV-specific CTL therapy is safe and associated with antitumor activity in patients with advanced NPC. The use of lymphodepleting chemotherapy before high-dose CTL infusion did not enhance the clinical benefit observed in our previous series.

Dose-dense temozolomide regimen for the treatment of brain metastases from melanoma, breast cancer, or lung cancer not amenable to surgery or radiosurgery: a multicenter phase II study.

BACKGROUND: Brain metastases reduce survival because therapeutic options are limited. This phase II study evaluated the efficacy of single-agent therapy with alternating weekly, dose-dense temozolomide in pretreated patients with brain metastases prospectively stratified by primary tumor type. METHODS: Eligible patients had bidimensionally measurable brain metastases from histologically/cytologically confirmed melanoma, breast cancer (BC), or non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Prior chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) were allowed. Patients received temozolomide 150 mg/m(2)/day (days 1-7 and 15-21 every 28- or 35-day cycle). RESULTS: In the intent-to-treat population (N = 157; 53 melanoma, 51 BC, and 53 NSCLC), one patient had complete response, nine (6%) had partial responses, and 31 (20%) had stable disease in the brain. Median progression-free survival was 56, 58, and 66 days for melanoma, BC, and NSCLC, respectively. Median overall survival was 100 days for melanoma, 172 days for NSCLC, and not evaluable in the BC group. Thrombocytopenia was the most common adverse event causing dose modification or treatment discontinuation. Grade 4 toxic effects were rare. CONCLUSIONS: This alternating weekly, dose-dense temozolomide regimen was well tolerated and clinically active in heavily pretreated patients with brain metastases, particularly in patients with melanoma. Combining temozolomide with WBRT or other agents may improve clinical outcomes.

Cetuximab for treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.

In the past decade the median overall survival of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer has increased from 12 to more than 20 months, mostly due to the new chemotherapeutic agents, irinotecan and oxaliplatin. Most recently, targeted therapies, that inhibit specific cancer pathways and molecules, have shown promising results in the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer and other solid tumors. One of the most studied targets for anticancer therapy is the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which is overexpressed in a variety of malignancies. Cetuximab, an anti-EGFR chimeric monoclonal antibody, has shown clinically meaningful antitumor activity in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer in several clinical trials. Efforts of physicians and researchers are currently directed towards the identification of predictive factors (clinical or molecular) of clinical outcome, with the aim of both optimizing the therapeutic index and dealing with increasing costs of these new compounds.