gms | German Medical Science

27th German Cancer Congress Berlin 2006

German Cancer Society (Frankfurt/M.)

22. - 26.03.2006, Berlin

Liposomal anthracyclines in combination with ifosfamide in the treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcomas – mature phase 2 trial results

Meeting Abstract

  • corresponding author presenting/speaker Jan Michael Siehl - Medizinische Klinik III, Charité Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Deutschland
  • Eckhard Thiel - Medizinische Klinik III, Charité Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin
  • Alexander Schmittel - Medizinische Klinik III, Charité Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin
  • Gero Hütter - Medizinische Klinik III, Charité Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin
  • Ulrich Keilholz - Medizinische Klinik III, Charité Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin

27. Deutscher Krebskongress. Berlin, 22.-26.03.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. DocOP619

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dkk2006/06dkk727.shtml

Published: March 20, 2006

© 2006 Siehl et al.
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Outline

Text

The current standard chemotherapy for advanced soft-tissue sarcomas is a combination of doxorubicin and ifosfamide. For both drugs there is a dose-response relationship. One main problem, however, is the high toxicity of this combination. Liposomal encapsulation of anti-cancer drugs is a strategy pursued to reduce toxicity and improve tumour uptake. Liposomal anthracyclines are less cardiotoxic compared to conventional formulations and also accumulation in tumour tissue may be improved. There are no systematic data regarding the efficacy of liposomal anthracyclines in advanced soft-tissue sarcomas. We have previously reported on a phase II study with liposomal daunorubicine (L-Dauno; DaunoXome®) with ifosfamide [1]. Here we report on an extension of the initial phase II study using liposomal doxorubicine (L-Doxo; Myocet ®).

40 patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcoma had received a maximum of 6 cycles (median 2 cycles) of ifosphamide (5000 mg/m2) in combination with L-Dauno (100 mg/m2) and 15 patients with L-Doxo (75 mg/m2). Cycles were repeated every 4 weeks in absence of disease progression.

For both combinations toxicity was tolerable with short episodes of hematotoxicity (leucocyte nadir on day 9, platelet nadir on day 11), 11 febrile episodes, no grade 3 or 4 mucositis, no cardiac toxicity and 5 episodes of grade 2 acute ifosphamide-related CNS-toxicity. The overall response rate was 31 % with a median overall survival of 14 months in the L-Dauno group. Among the 15 patients receiving L-Doxo, 3 achieved an objective response and 4 had stable disease. Interestingly, all evaluable liposarcoma patients (n = 3) responded, whereas liposarcoma usually carries a poor response rate.

The combination of liposomal anthracyclines and ifosfamide is a safe and effective regimen in the treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcoma. Evaluation in randomized trials should be performed, and the unexpected high responsiveness of liposarcoma warrants further phase II investigation.


References

1.
Siehl JM, et al. Cancer. 2005.