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Erschienen in:
01.01.2009 | Original Article
A phase II study of pegylated-camptothecin (pegamotecan) in the treatment of locally advanced and metastatic gastric and gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma
Erschienen in: Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology | Ausgabe 2/2009
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Purpose
Combination chemotherapy results in a significant survival advantage in patients with advanced gastric cancer compared to best supportive care. Nevertheless, the prognosis remains poor with a median survival of 8–10 months. Topoisomerase-I inhibitors such as irinotecan have activity in advanced gastric cancer. Pegamotecan may offer significant advantages over other topoisomerase-I inhibitors due to its prolonged circulating half-life, tolerability and passive tumour accumulation.
Patients and methods
This was a non-randomised, multi-centre, two-step Fleming design phase II study. Eligible patients with locally advanced (inoperable) or metastatic gastric or gastro-oesophageal adenocarcinoma, with measurable disease, ECOG performance status ≤2, with adequate haematological, renal and hepatic function, who had received ≤1 prior chemotherapy regimen for advanced disease, were treated with 7,000 mg/m2 of pegamotecan as a 1-h infusion every 21 days until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary efficacy measure was the objective response rate.
Results
Five of the 35 patients recruited into this study had a partial response (14.3%), with a median time to progression of 11.9 weeks (95% CI: 6.6, 13.1), and median overall survival of 38.1 weeks (95% CI: 29.0, 47.3). Grade 3/4 toxicities included neutropenia in 6 (17.1%) patients, thrombocytopenia in 4 (11.4%), fatigue in 8 (22.9%), nausea in 6 (17%), vomiting in 6 (17%) and anorexia in 4 (11.4%) patients. There were no episodes of febrile neutropenia and no toxic deaths.
Conclusions
Pegamotecan has activity in this patient population and was generally well-tolerated. The favourable rate of haematological toxicities and diarrhoea compared with irinotecan in similar studies suggests that pegamotecan could be combined with other active agents in further studies in this disease.