Dose escalation study of docetaxel and nedaplatin in patients with relapsed or refractory squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus pretreated using cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, and radiation

Randomized Phase II Study to Comparing Docetaxel/Nedaplatin versus Docetaxel for 5-Fluorouracil/Cisplatin Resistant Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Purpose: To compare efficacy and safety of dual docetaxel/nedaplatin treatment versus docetaxel alone as second-line chemotherapy for advanced esophageal cancer.

Methods: In all, 36 patients with metastatic and/or recurrent esophagus squamous cell carcinoma resistant to first-line chemotherapy (fluorouracil/cisplatin) were recruited from 2011 to 2018 and randomized into two groups. Treatment response and survival were compared between the docetaxel/nedaplatin (60/80 mg/m²/day) group and docetaxel (70 mg/m²/day) group. Treatment was repeated every 3 weeks until tumor progression. Patients were followed up until March 2019 or death.

Results: The frequency of Grade 3 or higher adverse events in the docetaxel/nedaplatin group (58.8%) was higher compared with the docetaxel group (26.3%) (P = 0.090). We found a treatment response rate of 52.9% and 36.8% and a median survival of 8.9 and 7.0 months in the docetaxel/nedaplatin-treated and docetaxel-treated group, respectively (P = 0.544).

Conclusion: No significant survival advantage was found for docetaxel/nedaplatin-treated patients, although there was an increased frequency of high-grade adverse events compared to docetaxel-treated patients. Because of the limited cohort size, a Phase III study based on our findings is not warranted to assess the clinical impact of docetaxel/nedaplatin treatment. This trial is registered with the University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN 000005877).

Irinotecan plus S-1 versus S-1 in patients with previously treated recurrent or metastatic esophageal cancer (ESWN 01): a prospective randomized, multicenter, open-labeled phase 3 trial

Background

The benefit of systemic treatments in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) which has progressed after chemotherapy is still uncertain and optimal regimens based on randomized trials have not yet been established. We aimed to compare the efficacy of irinotecan plus S-1 with S-1 monotherapy in recurrent or metastatic ESCC patients who had resistance to platinum- or taxane-based chemotherapy.

Methods

We conducted a prospective randomized, multicenter, open-label, phase 3 trial in 15 centers across China. Eligible patients were adults with histologically confirmed recurrent or metastatic ESCC, and were randomly assigned (ratio, 1:1) to receive either irinotecan plus S-1 (intravenous infusion of irinotecan [160 mg/m²] on day 1 and oral S-1 [80–120 mg] on days 1–10, repeated every 14 days) or oral S-1 monotherapy (80–120 mg/day on days 1–14, repeated every 21 days) using a central computerized minimization procedure. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS).

Results

Between December 23, 2014 and July 25, 2016, we screened 148 patients and randomly assigned 123 patients to receive either irinotecan plus S-1 regimen (n = 61) or S-1 monotherapy (n = 62). After a median follow-up of 29.2 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 17.5–40.9 months), the median PFS was significantly longer in the irinotecan plus S-1 group than in the S-1 monotherapy group (3.8 months [95% CI 2.9–4.3 months] vs. 1.7 months [95% CI 1.4–2.7 months], hazard ratio = 0.58, 95% CI 0.38–0.86, P = 0.006). The objective response rates were 24.6% in the irinotecan plus S-1 group and 9.7% in the S-1 monotherapy group (P = 0.002). The patients in the irinotecan plus S-1 group presented with increased rates of grade 3–4 leukopenia (16.4% vs. 0%), neutropenia (14.8% vs. 1.6%), and nausea (4.9% vs. 0%). No significant difference in grade 3–4 diarrhea and no treatment-related deaths were observed in both groups.

Conclusions

The combination of irinotecan with S-1 was similarly tolerable but significantly prolonged PFS compared to S-1 monotherapy as a second- or third-line treatment in patients with recurrent or metastatic ESCC.

Clinical Trial Registration NCT02319187. Registered on December 9, 2014

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s40880-019-0359-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Personalized and targeted therapy of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: an update

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a deadly disease that requires extensive research. In this review, we update recent progress in the research area of targeted therapy for ESCC. SOX2 and its associated proteins (e.g., ΔNP63α), which regulate lineage survival of ESCC cells, are proposed as therapeutic targets. It is believed that targeting the lineage-survival mechanism may be more effective than targeting other mechanisms. With the advent of a new era of personalized targeted therapy, there is a need to move from the tumor-centric model into an organismic model.

Nedaplatin enhanced apoptotic effects of ABT-737 in human cancer cells via Mcl-1 inhibition

Platinum compounds, such as cisplatin, carboplatin, oxaliplatin and nedaplatin, are widely used to treat a number of solid malignancies. Nedaplatin is a second-generation platinum complex, based on its pronounced anti-cancer activities against several solid tumors being equivalent to that of cisplatin, but with lower nephrotoxicity. In this context, the present study aimed to investigate the potential anti-cancer effect by combining nedaplatin with ABT-737. It was found that nedaplatin greatly increased ABT-737-mediated apoptosis in A549 and 95-D cells, accompanied by enhanced cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and caspase-3. In addition, this enhancement was also paralleled by cytochrome c release and dissipation of mitochondrial membrane potential. Additional mechanistic investigations revealed that nedaplatin plus ABT-737 exerted a synergistic effect on cancer cells through their ability to accelerate the degradation of Mcl-1. The present study has revealed nedaplatin as a pertinent sensitizer to ABT-737, which opens up new avenues for this promising BH3-mimetic molecule in the clinic.

Phase I Study of Docetaxel Plus Nedaplatin in Patients With Metastatic or Recurrent Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma After Cisplatin Plus 5-Fluorouracil Treatment

OBJECTIVES

To date, no second-line chemotherapy regimen for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) has been established. This clinical trial aimed to assess the optimum dose of docetaxel plus nedaplatin (cis-diammine-glycolate platinum) as second-line chemotherapy.

METHODS

Patients with metastatic or recurrent esophageal SCC after treatment with cisplatin plus 5-fluorouracil received docetaxel (50 or 60 mg/m) plus nedaplatin (70 mg/m²) on day 1 every 4 weeks. The recommended dose was based on dose-limiting toxicities defined during the first cycle.

RESULTS

From February 2009 to November 2011, 9 patients were enrolled in the study. Their median age was 62 years (range, 58 to 72 y). Six patients had undergone radiotherapy and 4 had undergone surgical resection of primary lesions. Dose-limiting toxicities were observed in 2 patients at dose level 1 (60 mg/m² docetaxel, 70 mg/m² nedaplatin) but not at dose level 0 (50 mg/m² docetaxel, 70 mg/m nedaplatin). Thus, the maximum tolerated dose was established at dose level 1. No severe nonhematological toxicity was observed. No patient achieved complete response, but 2 (22%; 95% confidence interval, 0%-49%) achieved partial response and 3 had stable disease. Median progression-free and overall survival times were 2.1 and 9.5 months, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Docetaxel plus nedaplatin chemotherapy seems to be a safe and feasible second-line regimen for the treatment of esophageal SCC. We recommend the administration of 50 mg/m² docetaxel (day 1) plus 70 mg/m² nedaplatin (day 1) every 4 weeks in a phase II study.

The role of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for lymph node-positive esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a propensity score matching analysis

The prognosis of patients with lymph node-positive esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) who primarily receive radical esophagectomy remains poor. In this study, we aimed to retrospectively investigate the role of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy with docetaxel- or paclitaxel-based regimens in these patients. A total of 434 consecutive patients were included in this study who underwent radical esophagectomy and were pathologically confirmed to have lymph node-positive ESCC from January 2005 to December 2010 in our institution. Among these patients, 113 patients received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy (Group SC), and 321 patients underwent surgery alone (Group S). Propensity score matching and multivariate analyses were used to compensate for differences in some baseline characteristics. After matching, Group SC had significantly longer median disease-free survival (DFS) than that in Group S (23.63 months vs. 16.70 months; p = 0.006); further subset analysis revealed that a benefit regarding DFS was only associated with patients with N1 stage and with tumor length <4.5 cm. The median overall survival (OS) was similar between the two groups (38.57 months for Group SC vs. 25.27 months for Group S; p = 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that postoperative chemotherapy, length of the tumor, T status, and N category were significantly independent predictive factors of tumor recurrence (p < 0.05). Our data suggested that adjuvant chemotherapy with docetaxel- or paclitaxel-based regimens could significantly improve DFS for patients with N1 stage and tumor length <4.5 cm ESCC and that it could potentially prolong OS for patients with lymph node-positive ESCC after surgery, compared with surgery alone. These results warrant further confirmation in prospective, randomized trials.

Nedaplatin sensitization of cisplatin-resistant human non-small cell lung cancer cells

Cisplatin (DDP) has been one of the most widely used chemotherapy drugs for advanced non-small cell lung cancer. However, the increase in the number of DDP-resistant cancer cells has become a major impediment in the clinical management of cancer. In the present study, for the first time, the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay was used to demonstrate that nedaplatin (NDP) could have a stronger inhibitory effect than DDP alone in DDP-resistant A549 (A549DDP) cells and that it could attenuate the resistance of these cells. Additionally, flow cytometry analysis showed that the apoptosis rate of these resistant cells when exposed to NDP was markedly increased and the number of cells in the G2 stage of the cell cycle was significantly increased. Furthermore, western blot analysis indicated that NDP decreased the protein expression of P-glycoprotein, tumor protein p53 and B-cell lymphoma 2, and increased the expression of Bcl-2-associated X protein, all of which could possibly improve the NDP intracellular drug concentration and promote cell apoptosis. These observations suggested that NDP could have higher efficacy in DDP-resistant lung cancer cells, and further studies applying more detailed analyses are warranted to elucidate the mechanism(s) behind this effect.

Docetaxel and its potential in the treatment of refractory esophagogastric adenocarcinoma

Adenocarcinomas of the esophagus and stomach are a major cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality worldwide. For patients with advanced disease, first-line chemotherapy with platinum-fluoropyrimidine combinations prolongs survival, but inevitably the disease progresses with a median progression-free survival of approximately 6 months. At the time of progression, approximately 40-50% of patients remain fit and eligible for second-line treatment. Docetaxel has been extensively studied in this chemorefractory setting, mostly in small single arm studies, either as a single agent or in combination with platinum agents, fluoropyrimidines or anthracyclines. However, two randomized controlled trials published since 2012 have convincingly shown that treatment with docetaxel modestly prolongs survival compared with best supportive care alone. Moreover, treatment with docetaxel is associated with relief from cancer-related constitutional and gastrointestinal symptoms with manageable, predominantly haematological, toxicity. Therefore, it represents a valuable treatment option for patients with relapsed esophagogastric cancer. Nevertheless, in view of the short survival time for the majority of these patients, further research is necessary to identify, on the one hand, combinations with targeted agents that will further improve outcomes and, on the other, biomarkers that will allow selection of those patients most likely to benefit.

Second-line docetaxel-based chemotherapy after failure of fluorouracil-based first-line treatment for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Purpose

This retrospective analysis evaluates the clinical efficacy and toxicity of second-line docetaxel-based chemotherapy after failure of fluorouracil-based first-line treatment for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed patients who had received second-line docetaxel-based chemotherapy for advanced ESCC in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital between January 2008 and December 2011. Survival curves were plotted using the Kaplan–Meier method. The Cox proportional hazard model was used for multivariate analysis.

Results

Eighty-five patients received docetaxel-based second-line chemotherapy after the failure of first-line fluorouracil-based treatment. Forty-four patients received docetaxel-platinum chemotherapy, and 41 received docetaxel single-agent treatment. The progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 3.5 and 5.5 months in all of the patients, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in PFS and OS between docetaxel-platinum and docetaxel single-agent chemotherapy groups (P-value 0.38 and 0.64, respectively). Response to first-line chemotherapy was a favorable prognostic factor for PFS in uni- and multivariate analyses (P-value 0.005 and 0.028, respectively).

Conclusion

Patients with docetaxel-based second-line treatment obtained a moderate PFS advantage in advanced ESCC. Response to first-line chemotherapy was a favorable prognostic factor for PFS of second-line chemotherapy in advanced ESCC.

Phase II trial of second-line chemotherapy with docetaxel and capecitabine in advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

We performed a phase II trial of docetaxel in combination with capecitabine to evaluate the antitumor response, toxicity, and survival in pre-treated patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who had failed first-line chemotherapy with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil were enrolled in this study. Treatment consisted of oral capecitabine (825 mg/m(2) twice daily on days 1-14) plus 1-h intravenous docetaxel (60 mg/m(2) on day 1) every 3 weeks for up to 6 cycles. Between June 2008 and August 2011, thirty eligible patients with a median age of 58 years (range 38-68 years) were enrolled. Patients received a median of three cycles of treatment (range 1-6). The median follow-up was 15.4 months (range 1.0-31.5 months). Intent-to-treat efficacy analysis demonstrated an overall response rate of 23.3% (0 complete response and 7 partial response) and stable disease of 43.4 % (n = 13). The median time to progression was 3.0 months (95% CI 1.9-4.1 months). The median survival was 8.3 months (95% CI 6.8-9.8 months). Severe adverse events (grade 3/4) reported were as follows: neutropenia (33.3%, n = 10, including febrile neutropenia 6.7%, n = 2), anemia (16.7%, n = 5), thrombocytopenia (10 %, n = 3), hand-foot syndrome (13.3%, n = 4), and fatigue (10%, n = 3). Docetaxel plus capecitabine had a manageable adverse event profile and promising activity in advance esophageal squamous cell carcinoma as a second-line treatment.

New and emerging combination therapies for esophageal cancer

Esophageal cancer comprises two different histological forms - squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AC). While the incidence of AC has increased steeply in Western countries during the last few years, the incidence of SCC is fairly stable. Both forms differ in pathogenesis and response to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Plenty of studies have evaluated new chemotherapy combination regimens in the neoadjuvant, adjuvant, and palliative setting. In addition, new radiation and chemoradiation protocols have been investigated. Finally, molecular-targeted therapy has been included in several new randomized prospective trials. Therefore, this review presents new data on this topic and critically discusses promising approaches towards a more effective treatment in a disease with a grim prognosis.

Esophageal cancer: a critical evaluation of systemic second-line therapy

The objective of this article was to review clinical trials that used antineoplastic second-line chemotherapy and/or targeted therapies in patients with esophageal cancer after first-line therapy. Computerized (MEDLINE) and manual searches were performed to identify articles published on this topic between 1996 and 2011. Twenty-five published trials and four abstracts presented at scientific meetings were identified. A total of 10 trials included only patients with squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), four focused exclusively on adenocarcinoma (AC), the remaining 15 studies included both SCC and AC. The majority of trials (17 of 29) used docetaxel in combination with platinum analogs, eight used single-agent cytotoxic chemotherapy, and six evaluated targeted therapies. The numbers of patients were relatively small, ranging from eight to 55 patients. The response rates were generally low (between 0% and 39%), with only two small studies reporting objective responses of 50% and 63%, respectively. Time to progression ranged from 1.4 to 6.2 months, and the overall survival was disappointing at 4.0 to 11.4 months. Approximately 40% of patients who experience progressive disease after first-line chemotherapy are able to undergo second-line treatment. On the basis of data published so far, no standard second-line therapy has emerged. Future research will need to focus on individual therapy strategies such as genetic receptor mutations to increase the therapeutic outcome.

Use of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography to evaluate responses to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy for primary tumor and lymph node metastasis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) targets lymph node metastasis (LN), as well as the primary tumor (PT) in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC). (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) reflects viable tumor volume and may be more useful for evaluating NACT responses than conventional radiography. Moreover, FDG-PET may elucidate the clinical significance of NACT responses for LN, which is not always identical to those for PT.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We retrospectively investigated prognostic factors in 38 node-positive ESCC patients who had undergone NACT (5-fluorouracil, adriamycin, and cisplatin) and surgical resection. The NACT response was evaluated separately by both PET and computed tomography (CT) for each PT and LN.

RESULTS

Although NACT effect for PT and LN was similar by PET evaluation (SUVmax reduction; average 70.58% vs 71.57%), they did not show significant correlation, revealing discordance for 13 (34.2%) patients when SUVmax reduction of more than 70% was classified as a PET responder. An opposite relationship existed in that the pre-NACT SUVmax of PT was significantly lower in PET responders than in PET non-responders (9.92 +/- 4.3 vs 12.96 +/- 3.8, P = .032), while that of LN tended to be higher in responders than in non-responders (5.70 +/- 3.2 vs 3.77 +/- 0.9, P = .072). Multivariate analysis identified the number of PET-positive LN (P = .018, HR = 5.464) and PET response for PT (P = .015, HR = 4.620) and for LN (P = .028, HR = 3.854) as independent prognostic predictors. The NACT response for PT or LN on CT evaluation was not a significant prognostic predictor.

CONCLUSION

PET is superior to CT for evaluating the NACT response from the viewpoint of survival analysis. The NACT response should be evaluated for both LN and PT because of their different behaviors during chemotherapy. Further studies of larger sample number should be conducted in the future.

Evaluation of combined docetaxel and nedaplatin chemotherapy for recurrent esophageal cancer compared with conventional chemotherapy using cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil: a retrospective study

This retrospective study evaluated the safety and efficacy of combination chemotherapy using docetaxel and nedaplatin in an outpatient setting compared with those of chemotherapy using cisplatin (CDDP) and 5-Fu under hospitalization. Subjects comprised 21 patients who had been diagnosed with recurrent esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), with 10 patients receiving combination chemotherapy comprising CDDP and 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) under hospitalization (FP group; n = 10), and 11 patients receiving combination chemotherapy comprising docetaxel and nedaplatin in an outpatient setting (Doc/Ned group; n = 11). In the Doc/Ned group, patients received 30 mg/m(2) of docetaxel over a 1-h infusion on day 1, followed by 40 mg/m(2) of nedaplatin over a 2-h infusion on day 1 in an outpatient setting. In the Doc/Ned group, complete response was observed in two patients (18.1%), one with liver metastasis and one with abdominal lymph node metastasis, and two (18.1%) achieved partial response. In contrast, no complete responses were obtained in the FP group, and partial response was observed in only one patient (10.0%) with local recurrence. Response rates were thus 36.3% for the Doc/Ned group and 10.0% for the FP group. With a median follow-up of 234 days in the Doc/Ned group and 279 days in the FP group, median survival time (MST) was 234 days in the Doc/Ned group and 378 days in the FP group. No significant differences in MST were identified between groups. Thus regimen based on docetaxel and nedaplatin allows administration on an outpatient basis and appears feasible for recurrent ESCC as a second-line chemotherapy.