Vogel, Charles L.

PURPOSE: We evaluated the safety and efficacy of weekly paclitaxel therapy in women with metastatic breast cancer in a phase II multicenter trial. Entry criteria were relatively liberal to reflect the heterogeneity of metastatic breast cancer in clinical practice. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients had histologically confirmed and measurable metastatic breast cancer. Up to two prior chemotherapy regimens for metastatic disease, including prior therapy with anthracyclines and taxanes and prior high-dose therapy, were allowed. Paclitaxel 80 mg/m2 was administered weekly for 4 weeks per 4-week cycle. RESULTS: We enrolled 212 patients; 211 were assessable for toxicity and 177 were assessable for response. Ninety percent of patients had received prior chemotherapy (adjuvant, metastatic, or both), 46% of patients had three or more involved metastatic sites, and 60% of patients had visceral-dominant disease. Responses were documented on two occasions and were independently reviewed. The overall response rate (complete plus partial response) was 21.5% (95% confidence interval, 15.4% to 27.5%), with 41.8% of patients having disease stabilization. Median time to progression was 4.7 months, and overall survival in all 212 patients enrolled was 12.8 months. Therapy was well tolerated, with a 15% incidence of grade 3/4 hematologic toxicity and a 9% incidence of grade 3 neurotoxicity; other serious toxicities were rare. The response rate and toxicity profile in the 34% of patients ≥ 65 years of age were similar to that of younger patients. CONCLUSION: Weekly paclitaxel therapy was well tolerated and demonstrated reasonable activity in this relatively heavily pretreated population with advanced disease. Further study of weekly paclitaxel in combination therapy is warranted.

Abstract Abstract #6140 Background:
 Ixabepilone (ixa), the first in a new class of antineoplastic agents, showed clinical benefit in combination with capecitabine (C) in 2 large clinical trials in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) pts whose tumors were resistant to (study 046, JCO, 2007) or pretreated with anthracycline (A) and taxanes (T) (study 048). In 048, ixa + C, compared to C alone, demonstrated significant increases in PFS (HR 0.79 [0.69-0.90]) and ORR (43% vs 29%). A trend toward increased OS was seen both in 048 (HR 0.90 [0.78-1.03]) and in 046 (HR 0.90 [0.77-1.05]), which did not reach statistical significance. Similar to taxanes, dose-limiting peripheral neuropathy (PN) is a side effect associated with ixa treatment. Here we present the incidence rates, management of ixa-induced PN from 3 registrational studies in pts with MBC and an analysis of resolution time. Also, data on potential risk factors for PN are presented.
 Methods:
 Incidence of PN is summarized from a 2000 pt program from 3 multi-center clinical trials. In this program, almost 1100 pts with MBC received ixa either as a monotherapy (40 mg/m2 IV over 3h Q3w, N=126) in a phase II study, or in combination with C (1000 mg/m2 PO BID x14d Q3w) in 2 large phase III studies (N = 369 and N = 595). PN was evaluated every 4 weeks after completion of treatment until toxicity was resolved. Resolution of PN was defined as the time from onset of worst grade to baseline or grade 1. A Cox regression analysis was also performed on a dataset of 945 pts with different tumor types across multiple studies, receiving ixa as a monotherapy or in combination with C, to identify the potential risk factors for grade 3/4 PN.
 Results:
 Incidence rates of grade 3/4 PN and resolution time observed in 1 phase III study (046) and the phase II (081) have been published before (081: JCO, 25; 3407). Here we present the data from the final confirmatory phase III study (048).
 
 PN was effectively managed with dose reduction. After dose reduction, symptoms improved or did not worsen in the majority of pts, and a median of 2-3 additional treatment cycles were delivered. Pts with diabetes were at a higher risk of grade 3/4 PN (HR: 1.67 [1.00-2.78], p-value = 0.049).
 Conclusions:
 Incidence of ixa-associated PN was similar to that observed in trials of other T based regiments. Ixa-induced PN has a predictable median time to resolution of 5-6 weeks over 3 large studies. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 6140.