Pharmacokinetics of ecteinascidin 743 administered as a 24-h continuous intravenous infusion to adult patients with soft tissue sarcomas: associations with clinical characteristics, pathophysiological variables and toxicity

PURPOSE: Ecteinascidin 743 (ET-743) is a potent cytotoxic alkaloid of marine origin that has shown promising evidence of antitumor activity during phase I clinical trials. In the study reported here, the influence of clinical characteristics and pretreatment pathophysiological variables on the pharmacokinetics of ET-743 and their associations with drug-related toxicity was examined in sarcoma patients treated in three phase II clinical trials. METHODS: Adult patients with various histological subtypes of soft tissue sarcoma received 1.5 mg/m(2) of ET-743 by 24-h continuous i.v. infusion once every 3 weeks. Eligibility criteria were similar for each study, except for the histological subtype of the tumor or the extent of prior treatment with other anticancer agents, and all patients had normal or near-normal liver and renal function. The maximum plasma concentration (C(max)) and area under the plasma profile from time zero to infinity (AUC) of the drug were determined during the first cycle of therapy. Patients were evaluated for toxicity every week. RESULTS: Geometric mean +/- SD values of the pharmacokinetic parameters in 69 patients were: C(max) 1.14 +/- 0.52 ng/ml, AUC 39.9 +/- 16.6 ng.h/ml, and total body clearance (CL) 36.7 +/- 16.4 l/h per m(2). The only significant correlation involving physical characteristics of the patients or pretreatment pathophysiological variables was a very weak relationship between alkaline phosphatase and AUC (r=0.39, P