Cetuximab in combination with platinum and 5-fluorouracil is the standard of care in the first-line treatment of patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). ...Cetuximab and taxane combinations have shown promising activity. This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of four cycles of docetaxel associated with cisplatin and cetuximab (TPEx), followed by maintenance with cetuximab every 2 weeks.
Patients with a histologically confirmed HNSCC with metastasis or recurrence unsuitable for locoregional curative treatment received docetaxel and cisplatin (75 mg/m2 both) at day 1 and weekly cetuximab 250 mg/m2 (loading dose of 400 mg/m2), repeated every 21 days for four cycles, followed by maintenance cetuximab 500 mg/m2 every 2 weeks until progression or unacceptable toxicity. Prophylactic administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor was done systematically after each chemotherapy cycle. Patients had a good general status (performance status ≤1) and were under 71 years. Prior total doses of cisplatin exceeding 300 mg/m2 were not allowed. The primary end point was objective response rate (ORR) after four cycles.
Fifty-four patients were enrolled. The primary end point was met with an ORR of 44.4% (95% CI 30.9–58.6). Median overall and progression-free survivals were, respectively, 14 months (95% CI 11.3–17.3) and 6.2 months (95% CI 5.4–7.2). The most common grade 3/4 adverse events were skin rash (16.6%) and non-febrile neutropenia (20.4%). There were one pulmonary embolism and two infectious events leading to death.
The TPEx regimen showed promising activity as first-line treatment in fit patients with recurrent/metastatic HNSCC. Further studies are needed to compare the TPEx versus EXTREME regimen in this population.
NCT01289522.
Prognosis of unresectable glioblastoma (GB) remains poor, despite temozolomide (TMZ)-based chemoradiation. Activity of bevacizumab (BEV) and irinotecan (IRI) has been reported in recurrent disease. ...We evaluated BEV and IRI as neo-adjuvant and adjuvant treatment combined with TMZ-based chemoradiation for unresectable GB.
Patients with unresectable GB, age 18–70, IK ≥50 were eligible. The experimental arm (BEV/IRI) consisted of neo-adjuvant intravenous BEV, 10 mg/kg, and IRI, 125 mg/m2, every 2 weeks for four cycles before radiotherapy (RT) (60Gy), concomitant oral TMZ, 75 mg/m2/day, and BEV, 10 mg/kg every 2 weeks. Adjuvant BEV and IRI were given every 2 weeks for 6 months. The control arm consisted of concomitant oral TMZ, 75 mg/m2/day during RT, and 150–200 mg/m2 for 5 days every 28 days for 6 months. The use of BEV was allowed at progression in the control arm.
Patients (120) were included from April 2009 to January 2011. The working hypothesis was that treatment would increase the progression-free survival at 6 month (PFS-6) from 50% to 66%. The primary objective was not achieved, and only 30 out of 60 patients were alive without progression at 6 months (50.0% IC95% (36.8; 63.1) in the BEV/IRI arm when 37 out of 60 patients were required according to the Fleming decision rules. PFS-6 was 7.1 months in BEV/IRI versus 5.2 months in the control arm. The median overall survival was not different between the two arms (11.1 months). Main toxicities were three fatal intracranial bleedings, three bile duct or digestive perforations/infections (1 fatal), and six thrombotic episodes in the BEV/IRI arm, whereas there was one intracranial bleeding, two bile duct or digestive perforations/infections (1 fatal), and one thrombotic episode in the control arm.
Neo-adjuvant and adjuvant BEV/IRI, combined with TMZ-radiation, is not recommended for further evaluation in the first-line treatment of unresectable GB.
Clinical trial registered under EUDRACT number 2008-002775-28 (NCT01022918).
Background: The randomized, double-blind OlympiA trial compared 1 year of the oral poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase inhibitor, olaparib, to matching placebo as adjuvant therapy for ...patients with pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in germline BRCA1 or BRCA2 (gBRCA1/2pv) and high-risk, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative, early breast cancer (EBC). The first pre-specified interim analysis (IA) previously demonstrated statistically significant improvement in invasive disease-free survival (IDFS) and distant disease-free survival (DDFS). The olaparib group had fewer deaths than the placebo group, but the difference did not reach statistical significance for overall survival (OS). We now report the pre-specified second IA of OS with updates of IDFS, DDFS, and safety. Patients and methods: One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six patients were randomly assigned to olaparib or placebo following (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy if indicated. Endocrine therapy was given concurrently with study medication for hormone receptor-positive cancers. Statistical significance for OS at this IA required P < 0.015. Results: With a median follow-up of 3.5 years, the second IA of OS demonstrated significant improvement in the olaparib group relative to the placebo group hazard ratio 0.68; 98.5% confidence interval (CI) 0.47-0.97; P = 0.009. Four-year OS was 89.8% in the olaparib group and 86.4% in the placebo group (Delta 3.4%, 95% CI -0.1% to 6.8%). Four-year IDFS for the olaparib group versus placebo group was 82.7% versus 75.4% (Delta 7.3%, 95% CI 3.0% to 11.5%) and 4-year DDFS was 86.5% versus 79.1% (Delta 7.4%, 95% CI 3.6% to 11.3%), respectively. Subset analyses for OS, IDFS, and DDFS demonstrated benefit across major subgroups. No new safety signals were identified including no new cases of acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome. Conclusion: With 35 years of median follow-up, OlympiA demonstrates statistically significant improvement in OS with adjuvant olaparib compared with placebo for gBRCA1/2pv-associated EBC and maintained improvements in the previously reported, statistically significant endpoints of IDES and DDFS with no new safety signals.
Women with germline
BRCA1
or
BRCA2
(
BRCA1
/
2
) mutations are considered as an extreme risk population for developing breast cancer. Prophylactic mastectomy provides a valid option to reduce such ...risk, impacting however, the quality of life. Medical prevention by aromatase inhibitor that has also recently shown to have preventive effect may thus be considered as an alternative. LIBER is an ongoing double-blind, randomized phase III trial to evaluate the efficacy of 5-year letrozole versus placebo to decrease breast cancer incidence in post-menopausal
BRCA1
/
2
mutation carriers (NCT00673335). We present data on the uptake of this trial. We compared characteristics of women in the LIBER trial (
n
= 113) to those of women enrolled in the prospective ongoing national GENEPSO cohort (
n
= 1,505). Uptake was evaluated through a survey sent to all active centres, with responses obtained from 17 to the 20 (85%) centres. According to the characteristics of the women enrolled in the GENEPSO cohort and the survey, approximately one-third of
BRCA1
/
2
mutation carriers were eligible for the trial. Five hundred and thirty-four women eligible from chart review have been informed by mail about the prevention trial and were invited to an oral information by participating centres. Forty-four percentage of them came to the dedicated medical visit. Uptake of drug prevention trial was 32% among women informed orally and 15% of all the eligible women. The main reasons of refusal were: potential side effects, probability to receive the placebo and lack of support from their physicians. Additionally, we noticed that prior prophylactic oophorectomy and previous unilateral breast cancer were more frequent in women enrolled in the LIBER trial than in the French cohort (93% vs. 60% and 50% vs. 39%, respectively). Based on an overall 15% uptake among all eligible subjects, greater and wider information of the trial should be offered to women with
BRCA1
/
2
mutation to improve recruitment. Women with previous unilateral breast cancer or prior prophylactic oophorectomy are more likely to enter a medical prevention trial.
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