An open-label phase I/II study of tamibarotene in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

Aim

Tamibarotene is a synthetic retinoid expected to inhibit tumor-cell proliferation and to induce apoptosis by selective interaction with retinoic acid receptor α/β. We conducted an open-label phase I/II study to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and recommended dose (RD), and to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, efficacy, and safety profiles for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods

Patients with histologically confirmed, measurable, unresectable HCC of Child-Pugh classification A or B and with no effective systemic or local therapies were eligible. In phase I, patients were assigned based on the 3 + 3 dose escalation criteria to receive tamibarotene at 8, 12, and 16 mg/day. The RD determined in phase I was employed for phase II. The planned sample size in phase II was 25, including the RD-treated patients in phase I.

Results

Thirty-six patients were enrolled. No patients experienced dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) at 8 mg/day. However, two out of six patients experienced the DLTs at 12 mg/day: one experienced thrombosis in a limb vein and pulmonary artery, and the other experienced an increase of γ-GTP. The MTD and RD were determined as 12 and 8 mg/day, respectively. In phase II, one patient achieved partial response, and seven achieved stable disease. The disease control rate was 32 % (95 % CI: 15.0–53.5). The following drug-related serious adverse events were reported: thrombosis in a limb vein, pulmonary artery, and portal vein; interstitial lung disease; and vomiting.

Conclusions

Tamibarotene demonstrated the inhibition of tumor cell growth in advanced HCC with acceptable tolerance.     

A phase I/II trial of TAC-101, an oral synthetic retinoid, in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

Purpose  Preclinical models showed TAC-101 (4-[3,5-bis(trimethylsilyl) benzamide] benzoic acid), an oral synthetic retinoid, has anti-tumor activity in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A phase I/II study was performed in advanced HCC patients (pts). Patients and methods  Thirty-three patients were enrolled. During Phase I, pts received 40 mg daily for 14 days q3 weeks; 2 of 5 patients developed DLT so dose was reduced to 20 mg/day. Twenty-eight patients received 20 mg/day. Results  No pt had a CR or PR, but 12 of 21 (57%) had SD. Two pts (9.5%) had late PR after discontinuing TAC-101. Median survival (MS) for all 28 pts treated with 20 mg/day was 12.7 months (95% CI 8.8–22.7); MS for 21 evaluable pts was 19.2 months (95% CI 10.4–27.6). Conclusions  20 mg of TAC- was well tolerated. Significant disease stabilization (12/21 pts, 57%), 2 late PRs, and prolonged MS (19.2 months) suggest that TAC-101 provides meaningful patient benefit.     

抗血管生成药物在晚期肝癌中的应用进展

肿瘤新生血管形成在肝细胞癌进展中扮演着非常关键的角色.它不仅为肿瘤的生长提供养分,还为肿瘤的浸润、转移提供通道.随着抗血管药物在许多过去难治疗的肿瘤中成功应用后,人们的兴趣更多地转向这种新型治疗模式.此文综述了近期抗血管生成治疗在晚期肝癌中的临床应用进展.     

A phase II study of sunitinib in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

BackgroundIn 2007, sorafenib was the first drug able to improve overall survival in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.AimIn 2005 we designed a phase II study to assess safety and efficacy of sunitinib.MethodsThis is a single arm, open-label, single-centre phase II trial. Eligibility criteria were advanced hepatocellular carcinoma; no prior chemotherapy, performance status 0–1; and Child ≤ B8. The treatment schedule was 50 mg each day orally, 4 weeks on, 2 weeks off.ResultsBetween 10/2007 and 10/2010, 34 patients were enrolled. A significant worsening of liver functional reserve after sunitinib was observed. Grade 3/4 adverse effects occurred in 80% of patients and included fatigue (47%), nausea (15%), liver failure (15%), encephalopathy (12%) and upper gastrointestinal bleeding (12%). Six patients (18%) died within 60 days of enrolment. A partial response was observed in 4 patients (12%). Median time to tumour progression was 2.8 months and median overall survival was 5.8 months.ConclusionA dose of 50 mg/d induces a high rate of severe adverse events. Toxicity remains a key concern also at the dose of 37.5 mg/d. However, sunitinib is able to induce a prolonged response in some patients. Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography scans may select good responders.     

Cisplatin in the treatment of advanced gastric carcinoma: a phase II study

Twenty-one patients with advanced local or metastatic gastric carcinoma were treated with 75 mg/m2 of cisplatin every 3 weeks. Six patients had received no prior chemotherapy. One patient achieved complete tumor regression lasting 5 months, while three patients had partial responses of 2, 4, and 11 months' duration, respectively, resulting in an overall response rate of 18% (95% confidence limits: 5%-40%). All four responding patients had improvement in performance status. Two of six patients who had had no prior chemotherapy responded, while only two of 16 patients previously treated with 5-FU and doxorubicin responded.     

Randomized controlled trial of interferon treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to assess the efficacy of interferon alfa-2b (IFN) for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Fifty-eight patients with HCC who were not suitable for resection, transplantation, ethanol injection, or arterial embolization were stratified according to their Okuda stage and randomized to receive IFN (3 x 10(6), 3 times a week, for 1 year) (n = 30) or symptomatic treatment (n = 28). Both groups were identical in terms of age, sex, performance status, presence of constitutional syndrome, Child-Pugh class, Okuda stage, multinodularity, portal thrombosis, and extrahepatic spread. Adhesion to IFN treatment was adequate in 27 patients, with a mean duration of treatment of 8 +/- 3 months. However, IFN treatment was associated with side effects in 23 patients, leading to treatment discontinuation in 13 patients. Two of the 30 patients (6.6%) presented a partial response with greater than 50% size reduction and normalization of alpha-fetoprotein levels. The survival at 1 and 2 years according to intention to treat was not different between the 2 groups (58% and 38% vs. 36% and 12%, respectively, Breslow P =. 19, log rank P =.14) and the absence of difference was maintained when dividing patients according to their Okuda stage. The probability of presenting tumor progression (P =.17), or deterioration of Child-Pugh class (P =.37), performance status (P =. 07), or Okuda stage (P =.44) was not modified by IFN treatment. These results indicate that IFN is not properly tolerated in patients with cirrhosis and advanced HCC and that its administration prompts no benefit in terms of tumor progression rate and survival.     

Evaluation of antiangiogenic efficacy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: Biomarkers and functional imaging

Many years after therapeutic wilderness, sorafenib finally showed a clinical benefit in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. After the primary general enthusiasm worldwide, some disappointments emerged particularly since no new treatment could exceed or at least match sorafenib in this setting. Without these new drugs, research focused on optimizing care of patients treated with sorafenib. One challenging research approach deals with identifying prognostic and predictive biomarkers of sorafenib in this population. The task still seems difficult; however appropriate investigations could resolve this dilemma, as observed for some malignancies where other drugs were used.     

B cell depletion as a novel treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus: a phase I/II dose-escalation trial of rituximab

OBJECTIVE: Safer and more effective therapies are needed for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). B lymphocytes have been shown to play fundamental pathogenic roles in SLE, and therefore, elimination of B cells with the use of rituximab may represent a new therapy for SLE. METHODS: A phase I/II dose-escalation trial of rituximab added to ongoing therapy in SLE was conducted. Rituximab was administered as a single infusion of 100 mg/m2 (low dose), a single infusion of 375 mg/m2 (intermediate dose), or as 4 infusions (1 week apart) of 375 mg/m2 (high dose). CD19+ lymphocytes were measured to determine the effectiveness of B cell depletion. The Systemic Lupus Activity Measure (SLAM) score was used as the primary outcome for clinical efficacy. RESULTS: Rituximab was well tolerated in this patient population, with most experiencing no significant adverse effects. Only 3 serious adverse events, which were thought to be unrelated to rituximab administration, were noted. A majority of patients (11 of 17) had profound B cell depletion (to <5 CD19+ B cells/microl). In these patients, the SLAM score was significantly improved at 2 and 3 months compared with baseline (P = 0.0016 and P = 0.0022, respectively, by paired t-test). This improvement persisted for 12 months, despite the absence of a significant change in anti-double-stranded DNA antibody and complement levels. Six patients developed human antichimeric antibodies (HACAs) at a level > or =100 ng/ml. These HACA titers were associated with African American ancestry, higher baseline SLAM scores, reduced B cell depletion, and lower levels of rituximab at 2 months after initial infusion. CONCLUSION: Rituximab therapy appears to be safe for the treatment of SLE and holds significant therapeutic promise, at least for the majority of patients experiencing profound B cell depletion. Based on these results, controlled trials of rituximab appear to be warranted.     

Cabozantinib in Japanese patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: Final results of a multicenter phase II study

Aim

Cabozantinib showed a favorable benefit–risk profile in Japanese patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in an open-label, phase II study (NCT03586973). This analysis presents cumulative data to final database lock.

Methods

Patients with previously treated, advanced HCC received cabozantinib 60 mg/day. Progression-free survival (PFS) and tumor response rates in prior-sorafenib and sorafenib-naïve cohorts were assessed by independent radiology committee (IRC) and an investigator. Liver function was evaluated by albumin–bilirubin (ALBI) score.

Results

Median cabozantinib exposure was 5.6 months. In the prior-sorafenib cohort (n = 20), median PFS was 7.4 months per IRC assessment and 5.6 months per investigator assessment. In the sorafenib-naïve cohort (n = 14), median PFS was 3.6 and 4.4 months per IRC and investigator assessment, respectively. Six-month PFS rate per IRC and investigator assessment in the prior-sorafenib cohort was 59.8% and 49.5%, respectively, and in the sorafenib-naïve cohort was 16.7% and 35.7%, respectively. Disease control rate by both IRC and investigator assessment was 85.0% in the prior-sorafenib cohort and 64.3% in the sorafenib-naïve cohort. Median overall survival (Kaplan–Meier estimate) was 19.3 and 9.9 months in the prior-sorafenib and sorafenib-naïve cohort, respectively. Mean ALBI score remained relatively constant in patients able to continue treatment. The most frequent adverse events were palmar–plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome, diarrhea, hypertension, and decreased appetite. No new safety concerns were identified.

Conclusions

Cabozantinib showed efficacy and a manageable safety profile in Japanese patients with advanced HCC.     

Phase I/II trial of helical IMRT-based stereotactic body radiotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma

Background

To report the results of a phase I/II study of helical IMRT-based stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Etoposide, doxorubicin and cisplatin plus mitotane in the treatment of advanced adrenocortical carcinoma: a large prospective phase II trial

To investigate the activity of etoposide, doxorubicin, and cisplatin plus mitotane in the management of advanced adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) patients, 72 patients with measurable disease not amenable to radical surgery were enrolled in a prospective, multicenter phase II trial. EDP schedule (etoposide 100 mg/m(2) on days 5-7, doxorubicin 20 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8, and cisplatin 40 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 9) was administered intravenously every 4 weeks. Concomitantly, patients were given up to 4 g/day of oral mitotane. Five patients achieved a complete response and 30 a partial response, for an overall response rate of 48.6% (95% CI: 37.1-60.3). Median time to progression in responding patients was 18 months. The EDP regimen was well tolerated, leukopenia being the dose limiting toxicity. One toxic related death due to septic shock, however, was registered. Radical surgical resection of residual disease after chemotherapy was performed in 10 patients. The overall survival of patients attaining a disease free status (clinical complete responders+radically resected) was significantly higher than that of patients with partial response or no response (P<0.002). Androgen secretion was associated with long survival, while glucocorticoid secretion was associated with poor prognosis both in univariate and multivariate analysis. In conclusion, EDP plus mitotane is an active and manageable combination scheme for ACC patients. Surgical resection of residual disease subsequent to chemotherapy leads to a more favourable outcome. The natural history of the disease is significantly influenced by the secretory status of the tumor.     

Mitoxantrone: modest activity in a phase II trial in advanced prostate cancer

Thirty-seven patients with metastatic prostate cancer refractory to endocrine therapy were treated in a phase II trial of mitoxantrone. Starting doses were 12 and 10 mg/m2 iv every 21 days for good-risk and poor-risk patients, respectively. Of the 35 evaluable patients, two had objective partial regression and five had stable disease. Response duration ranged from 7 to 17+ months. The drug was very well tolerated by these elderly patients; myelosuppression was the major toxic effect. We conclude that mitoxantrone has modest activity and acceptable toxicity in patients with advanced prostate cancer.     

Mitomycin C and menadione for the treatment of advanced gastrointestinal cancers: a phase II trial

A phase II trial of menadione (2.5 g/m² as a continuous intravenous infusion over 48 h) followed by mitomycin C (10–20 mg/m² i.v. bolus) administered every 4–6 weeks was performed in 43 patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer. Menadione, a vitamin K analog that lowers intracellular pools of reduced glutathione, was combined with mitomycin C in an attempt to overcome thiol-mediated resistance to alkylating-agent chemotherapy. The median age of patients entered on this trial was 58 years; performance status ranged from 60%–100%. None of the 43 evaluable patients obtained an objective response to this combination regimen. Median survival was 6.6 months. Treatment with menadione and mitomycin C was reasonably well tolerated except for hematological toxicity. A total of 27% of treatment courses were complicated by grade 3 or 4 hematological toxicity including one episode of hemolytic anemia and one episode of hemolytic uremic syndrome. One patient developed irreversible interstitial pneumonitis, and 1 patient had an asymptomatic decrease in the left0ventricular ejection fraction. Despite preclinical evidence indicating that menadione pretreatment enhances the cytotoxicity of mitomycin C, our study documents the resistance of advanced gastrointestinal cancers, particularly colorectal cancer, to mitomycin C modulated by menadione.This work was supported in part by grant CA 33572     

Modified anti-CD3 therapy in psoriatic arthritis: a phase I/II clinical trial

OBJECTIVE: Treatment of autoimmune diseases with therapies that tolerize pathogenic lymphocytes may obviate the need for longterm global immunosuppression. In vitro, non-Fc receptor binding derivatives of anti-murine CD3 monoclonal antibodies tolerize type 1 T cells and stimulate type 2 T cells. Recently, a humanized non-FcR binding derivative of the anti-human CD3 Mab OKT3, huOKT3gamma1(ala-ala), has been described. We hypothesized that this Mab may be safe and efficacious in the treatment of type 1 T lymphocyte mediated chronic autoimmune diseases such as psoriatic arthritis (PsA). METHODS: In a Phase I/II trial, 7 patients with PsA were treated with escalating daily doses of huOKT3gamma1(ala-ala) for 12 to 14 days. Number of tender and swollen joints and a visual analog pain scale were used to rate disease activity at entry and Day 30 and Day 90 after treatment. RESULTS: At Day 30, 6 of 7 patients had > or = 75% improvement in the number of inflamed joints and an average 63% improvement on the patient pain scale. Two of 6 responders had sustained improvement at Day 90. No patient treated with an initial dose < or = 1 mg had significant side effects, nor did they have detectable increases in serum cytokines. One patient treated with 4 mg without escalation developed mild cytokine release symptoms associated with elevation of interleukin 10. Transient T cell depletion occurred following treatment with the maximum dose of 4 mg, which resolved by Day 30. Antiidiotypic antibodies developed in 2 patients; however, there was no concurrent decrease in efficacy. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that huOKT3gamma1(ala-ala) may be useful in treating PsA.