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PURPOSE Patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, a rapidly progressing malignancy with a median survival time of 6 to 9 months, have previously responded poorly to chemotherapy. We conducted a phase III trial to determine whether treatment with pemetrexed and cisplatin results in survival time superior to that achieved with cisplatin alone. PATIENTS AND METHODS Chemotherapy-naive patients who were not eligible for curative surgery were randomly assigned to receive pemetrexed 500 mg/m2 and cisplatin 75 mg/m2 on day 1, or cisplatin 75 mg/m2 on day 1. Both regimens were given intravenously every 21 days. RESULTS A total of 456 patients were assigned: 226 received pemetrexed and cisplatin, 222 received cisplatin alone, and eight never received therapy. Median survival time in the pemetrexed/cisplatin arm was 12.1 months versus 9.3 months in the control arm ( P = .020, two-sided log-rank test). The hazard ratio for death of patients in the pemetrexed/cisplatin arm versus those in the control arm was 0.77. Median time to progression was significantly longer in the pemetrexed/cisplatin arm: 5.7 months versus 3.9 months ( P = .001). Response rates were 41.3% in the pemetrexed/cisplatin arm versus 16.7% in the control arm ( P < .0001). After 117 patients had enrolled, folic acid and vitamin B12 were added to reduce toxicity, resulting in a significant reduction in toxicities in the pemetrexed/cisplatin arm. CONCLUSION Treatment with pemetrexed plus cisplatin and vitamin supplementation resulted in superior survival time, time to progression, and response rates compared with treatment with cisplatin alone in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. Addition of folic acid and vitamin B12 significantly reduced toxicity without adversely affecting survival time.

Purpose Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a disease of increasing incidence for which treatment options are limited. This study reports the clinical efficacy data for vinflunine, a novel microtubule inhibitor, in MPM. Patients and Methods Patients with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of MPM were eligible for enrollment onto this multicenter phase II trial if they had not received prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy and had measurable lesions by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) criteria. Vinflunine 320 mg/m2 by 10-minute intravenous infusion was administered on day 1 of 21-day cycles. Modifications of dose and schedule were made according to National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria version 2.0. Efficacy was assessed by an external, independent radiologist. The one-sample multiple testing procedure of Fleming was applied at the predetermined recruitment stages of 20 and 40 assessable patients. Results Sixty-seven patients were enrolled. Five patients were not assessable for tumor response. The response rate was 13.8% (95% CI, 6.5% to 24.7%). The median survival was 10.8 months (95% CI, 7.8 to 12.0 months). The most common adverse events were anemia, neutropenia, fatigue, constipation, and nausea. Of grade 3 and 4 toxicities, neutropenia and constipation were the most common (45% and 9% of patients, respectively). Conclusion Vinflunine can be delivered with high-dose intensity in patients with MPM. The response rate and median survival are encouraging for a single agent. These data suggest that vinflunine should be further evaluated in the management of MPM.

Purpose: The aim of this open-label phase II study was to evaluate the activity of raltitrexed (Tomudex; AstraZeneca, Cergy, France) and oxaliplatin combination therapy in patients with diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma. Patients and Methods: Fifteen pretreated and 55 chemotherapy-naive patients (median age, 60 years; World Health Organization performance status of ≤ 2) were enrolled. Most patients (66%) had advanced disease. Patients received raltitrexed 3 mg/m2 followed by oxaliplatin 130 mg/m2 every 3 weeks. Results: Twenty-four patients (34%) were classified as having a poor prognosis. In the overall study population, 14 patients (20%) had a partial response, and 32 patients (46%) had stable disease. The symptomatic response rates were as follows: shortness of breath, 36%; pain, 30%; activity, 23%; appetite, 21%; and asthenia, 20%. Median time to disease progression was 18 weeks (95% confidence interval [CI], 13 to 22 weeks). In chemotherapy-naive patients, median survival was 31 weeks (95% CI, 23 to 40 weeks) from the start of treatment and 49 weeks (95% CI, 40 to 52 weeks) from diagnosis of mesothelioma. In pretreated patients, median survival was 44 weeks (95% CI, 24 to 40 weeks) from the start of treatment and 226 weeks (95% CI, 63 to 292 weeks) from the diagnosis of mesothelioma. Overall 1-year survival was 26% (95% CI, 15.5% to 36.4%), survival was 22% (95% CI, 10.9% to 33.2%) in chemotherapy-naive patients and 40% (95% CI, 15.2% to 64.8%) in pretreated patients. Hematologic toxicity was mild, and there was no alopecia. The most common adverse events were asthenia, nausea/vomiting, and paraesthesia, and no treatment-related deaths were reported. Conclusion: The raltitrexed and oxaliplatin combination is an active outpatient regimen in malignant mesothelioma and has an acceptable tolerability profile.

PURPOSE: We conducted a phase I and pharmacokinetic study of docetaxel in combination with irinotecan to determine the dose-limiting toxicity (DLT), the maximum-tolerated dose (MTD), and the dose at which at least 50% of the patients experienced a DLT during the first cycle, and to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetic profiles in patients with advanced solid tumors. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with only one prior chemotherapy treatment (without taxanes or topoisomerase I inhibitors) for advanced disease were included in the study. Docetaxel was administered as a 1-hour IV infusion after premedication with corticosteroids followed immediately by irinotecan as a 90-minute IV infusion, every 3 weeks. No hematologic growth factors were allowed. RESULTS: Forty patients were entered through the following seven dose levels (docetaxel/irinotecan): 40/140 mg/m2, 50/175 mg/m2, 60/210 mg/m2, 60/250 mg/m2, 60/275 mg/m2, 60/300 mg/m2, and 70/250 mg/m2. Two hundred cycles were administered. Two MTDs were determined, 70/250 mg/m2 and 60/300 mg/m2; the DLTs were febrile neutropenia and diarrhea. Neutropenia was the main hematologic toxicity, with 85% of patients experiencing grade 4 neutropenia. Grade 3/4 nonhematologic toxicities in patients included late diarrhea (7.5%), asthenia (15.0%), febrile neutropenia (22.5%), infection (7.5%), and nausea (5.0%). Pharmacokinetics of both docetaxel and irinotecan were not modified with the administration schedule of this study. CONCLUSION: The recommended dose of docetaxel in combination with irinotecan is 60/275 mg/m2, respectively. At this dose level, the safety profile is manageable. The activity of this combination should be evaluated in phase II studies in different tumor types.

7196 Background: CXCR4 is a chemokine receptor which takes part in diverse events like the migration of lymphocytes to sites of inflammation, internalization of the HIV particle by lymphocytes, and homing of metastasizing tumor cells. Recent studies suggest that nuclear -rather than membranous or cytoplasmic- expression of CXCR4 may signify a different function. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic significance of nuclear CXCR4 expression in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Methods: The records of 66 MPM patients were reviewed and CXCR4 expression of their tumors were assessed by immunohistochemistry. Prognostic significance of this marker was evaluated using Log rank test and a Cox proportional hazards model. Results: The mean age of patients was 61±10 years (min: 41, max: 85). Fifty-one patients were males (77%), and 15 were females (23%). The median percentage of cells expressing nuclear CXCR4 was 5.1% (min-max: 0–95), and this was used as the cut-off to define CXCR4-po...

7215 Background: Patients with limited SCLC have a 5-year overall survival of 25% despite aggressive initial treatment. In order to reserve toxic therapeutics to patients who may benefit from it we searched for prognostic factors in large series of localized SCLC treated at a single institution. Methods: Between 1981/10/12 and 2000/11/27, 186 patients with limited SCLC were included in six consecutive prospective trials in our institution. They received polychemotherapy by cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, adriamycin and etoposide with alternated radiotherapy. The median follow-up was 11.26 yrs (reverse Kaplan-Meier). Log-rank test and Cox's proportional-hazards models were used to evaluate the value of prognostic factors and the corresponding hazard ratio (HR) computed. Results: Variables tested in the univariate analysis were : gender (male), age (> 60 yrs), initial Karnofsky ( 40 PY), initial haemoglobin count (