Multicenter randomized phase II study of two schedules of docetaxel, estramustine, and prednisone versus mitoxantrone plus prednisone in patients with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer

A B S T R A C T Purpose Mitoxantrone-corticosteroid is currently the standard palliative treatment in hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) patients. Recent clinical trials documented the high activity of the docetaxel-estramustine combination. We conducted a randomized phase II study to evaluate prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response (primary end point) and safety of two docetaxelestramustine-prednisone (DEP) regimens and mitoxantrone-prednisone (MP). Patients and Methods One hundred thirty metastatic HRPC patients were randomly assigned to receive docetaxel (70 mg/m 2 on day 2 or 35 mg/m 2 on days 2 and 9 of each 21-day cycle) and estramustine (280 mg PO tid on days 1 through 5 and 8 through 12) or mitoxantrone 12 mg/m 2 every 3 weeks; all patients received prednisone (10 mg daily). Results One hundred twenty-seven patients were assessable for PSA response and safety. A Ն 50% PSA decline was found in a greater percentage of patients in the docetaxel arms (67% and 63%) compared with MP (18%; P ϭ .0001). Median time to PSA progression was five times longer with DEP than with MP (8.8 and 9.3 v 1.7 months, respectively; P ϭ .000001). Overall survival was better in the docetaxel arms (18.6 and 18.4 months) compared with the MP arm (13.4 months), but not significantly so (P ϭ .3). Crossover rates differed significantly among treatment arms (16%, 10%, and 48% in arms A, B, and C, respectively; P ϭ .00001). Treatment-related toxicities were mild and mainly hematologic. Conclusion The results of this randomized phase II study showed significantly higher PSA decline Յ 50% and longer times to progression in HRPC patients receiving DEP-based chemotherapy than MP, and that DEP could be proposed in this setting

Niraparib maintenance treatment improves time without symptoms or toxicity (TWiST) versus routine surveillance in recurrent ovarian cancer: a TWiST analysis of the ENGOT-OV16/NOVA trial

Purpose: this study estimated time without symptoms or toxicity (TWiST) with niraparib compared with routine surveillance (RS) in the maintenance treatment of patients with recurrent ovarian cancer. Patients and methods: mean progression-free survival (PFS) was estimated for niraparib and RS by fitting parametric survival distributions to Kaplan-Meier data for 553 patients with recurrent ovarian cancer who were enrolled in the phase III ENGOT-OV16/NOVA trial. Patients were categorized according to the presence or absence of a germline BRCA mutation-gBRCAmut and non-gBRCAmut cohorts. Mean time with toxicity was estimated based on the area under the Kaplan-Meier curve for symptomatic grade 2 or greater fatigue, nausea, and vomiting adverse events (AEs). Time with toxicity was the number of days a patient experienced an AE post-random assignment and before disease progression. TWiST was estimated as the difference between mean PFS and time with toxicity. Uncertainty was explored using alternative PFS estimates and considering all symptomatic grade 2 or greater AEs. Results: in the gBRCAmut and non-gBRCAmut cohorts, niraparib treatment resulted in a mean PFS benefit of 3.23 years and 1.44 years, respectively, and a mean time with toxicity of 0.28 years and 0.10 years, respectively, compared with RS. Hence, niraparib treatment resulted in a mean TWiST benefit of 2.95 years and 1.34 years, respectively, compared with RS, which is equivalent to more than four-fold and two-fold increases in mean TWiST between niraparib and RS in the gBRCAmut and non-gBRCAmut cohorts, respectively. This TWiST benefit was consistent across all sensitivity analyses, including modeling PFS over 5-, 10-, and 15-year time horizons. Conclusion: patients who were treated with niraparib compared with RS experienced increased mean TWiST. Thus, patients who were treated with niraparib in the ENGOT-OV16/NOVA trial experienced more time without symptoms or symptomatic toxicities compared with control

Randomised, open-label, multicentric phase III trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of palbociclib in combination with endocrine therapy, guided by ESR1 mutation monitoring in oestrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer patients: study design of PADA-1

International audienceINTRODUCTION: The combination of a CDK4/6 inhibitor with an aromatase inhibitor (AI) has recently become the gold standard for AI-sensitive first line treatment of oestrogen receptor-positive (ER+) HER2-negative (HER2-) advanced breast cancer. However, most patients receiving this combination will ultimately progress and require further therapies.Several studies have demonstrated that the onset of a ESR1 gene mutation lead to AIs resistance in the advanced setting. ESR1 mutations can be detected in circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) using a digital PCR assay. Our study aims to prove the clinical efficacy of periodic monitoring for emerging or rise of ESR1 mutations in ctDNA to trigger an early change from AI plus palbociclib to fulvestrant plus palbociclib treatment while assessing global safety. METHODS: PADA-1 is a randomised, open-label, multicentric, phase III trial conducted in patients receiving AI and palbociclib as first line therapy for metastatic ER +HER2- breast cancer. 1000 patients will be included and treated with palbociclib in combination with an AI. Patients will be screened for circulating blood ESR1 mutation detection at regular intervals. Patients for whom a rising circulating ESR1 mutation is detected without tumour progression (up to N=200) will be randomised (1:1) between (1) Arm A: no modification of therapy; and (2) Arm B: palbociclib in combination with fulvestrant, a selective ER down-regulator. At tumour progression, an optional crossover will be offered to patients randomised in arm A. The coprimary endpoints are (1) Grade ≥3 haematological toxicities and their associations with baseline characteristics and (2) progression-free survival in randomised patients. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has been approved by the French medicines agency (ANSM) and by an ethics committee (ref 01/17_1 CPP Ouest-IV Nantes) in January 2017. The trial results will be published in academic conference presentations and international peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS: EudraCT: 2016-004360-18; NCT03079011

Efficacy of maintenance olaparib plus bevacizumab according to clinical risk in patients with newly diagnosed, advanced ovarian cancer in the phase III PAOLA-1/ENGOT-ov25 trial

International audienc

Phase III trial of carboplatin plus paclitaxel with or without gemcitabine in first-line treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer

Purpose One attempt to improve long-term survival in patients with advanced ovarian cancer was thought to be the addition of more non-cross-resistant drugs to platinum-paclitaxel combination regimens. Gemcitabine was among the candidates for a third drug. Patients and Methods We performed a prospective, randomized, phase III, intergroup trial to compare carboplatin plus paclitaxel (TC; area under the curve [AUC] 5 and 175 mg/m(2), respectively) with the same combination and additional gemcitabine 800 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8 (TCG) in previously untreated patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. TC was administered intravenously (IV) on day 1 every 21 days for a planned minimum of six courses. Gemcitabine was administered by IV on days 1 and 8 of each cycle in the TCG arm. Results Between 2002 and 2004, 1,742 patients were randomly assigned; 882 and 860 patients received TC and TCG, respectively. Grades 3 to 4 hematologic toxicity and fatigue occurred more frequently in the TCG arm. Accordingly, quality-of-life analysis during chemotherapy showed a disadvantage in the TCG arm. Although objective response was slightly higher in the TCG arm, this did not translate into improved progression-free survival (PFS) or overall survival (OS). Median PFS was 17.8 months for the TCG arm and 19.3 months for the TC arm (hazard ratio [HR], 1.18; 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.32; P = .0044). Median OS was 49.5 for the TCG arm and 51.5 months for the TC arm (HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.91 to 1.20; P = .5106). Conclusion The addition of gemcitabine to carboplatin plus paclitaxel increased treatment burden, reduced PFS time, and did not improve OS in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. Therefore, we recommend no additional clinical use of TCG in this population

Trastuzumab for patients with axillary-node-positive breast cancer : results of the FNCLCC-PACS 04 trial

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of trastuzumab in patients with node-positive breast cancer treated with surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy if applicable. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Three thousand ten patients with operable node-positive breast cancer were randomly assigned to receive adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy with or without docetaxel. Patients who presented human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -overexpressing tumors were secondary randomly assigned to either a sequential regimen of trastuzumab (6 mg/kg every 3 weeks) for 1 year or observation. The primary end point was disease-free survival (DFS). RESULTS: Overall 528 patients were randomly assigned between trastuzumab (n = 260) and observation (n = 268) arm. Of the 234 patients (90%) who received at least one administration of trastuzumab, 196 (84%) received at least 6 months of treatment, and 41 (18%) discontinued treatment due to cardiac events (any grade). At the date of analysis (October 2007), 129 DFS events were recorded. Random assignment to the trastuzumab arm was associated with a nonsignificant 14% reduction in the risk of relapse (hazard ratio, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.61 to 1.22; P = .41, log-rank stratified on pathologic node involvement). Three-year DFS rates were 78% (95% CI, 72.3 to 82.5) and 81% (95% CI, 75.3 to 85.4) in the observation and trastuzumab arms, respectively. CONCLUSION: After a 47-month median follow-up, 1 year of trastuzumab given sequentially after adjuvant chemotherapy was not associated with a statistically significant decrease in the risk of relapse