Methyl-CCNU and methotrexate therapy in patients with advanced colorectal cancer after failure of 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy

Mitomycin-C and capecitabine as third-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced colorectal cancer: a phase II study

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to investigate the therapeutic value and safety of third-line treatment with mitomycin-C (MMC) and capecitabine (Xeloda) in patients with advanced colorectal cancer pretreated with combination regimens including 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), folinic acid (FA) and irinotecan (CPT-11) or 5-FU, FA and oxaliplatin (L-OHP).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A total of 21 patients (M/F 16/5, median age 60.0 years) with advanced colorectal cancer, all of whom had developed progressive disease while receiving or within 6 months of discontinuing two sequential chemotherapy lines with 5-FU, FA and CPT-11 or 5-FU, FA and L-OHP, were accrued to this study. At the time of their relapse or progression, cytotoxic chemotherapy, consisting of intravenous MMC 7 mg/m(2) on therapeutic day 1 plus oral capecitabine 1000 mg/m(2) twice daily on days 1-14, was initiated. After rest for 7 days, capecitabine 1000 mg/m(2) twice daily was administered on days 22-35 followed by 7 days rest. Treatment courses were repeated every 6 weeks unless there was evidence of progressive disease, unacceptable toxicity or patient refusal of treatment.

RESULTS

All the patients were assessable for toxicity and 19 for response. The median number cycles of chemotherapy was two (range one to four). Only 1 patient (4.8%) had a partial response, 4 patients (19.0%) had stable disease, and 14 patients (66.7%) progressed. The median follow-up period was 7.3 months and median time to progression was 2.6 months. The median overall survival was 6.8 months. No toxic deaths occurred. Toxicities of third-line treatment were mild and manageable. As NCI/NIH common toxicity criteria, grade 3/4 anemia, neutropenia and thrombocytopenia occurred in two, one and one patients, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that the combination of MMC and capecitabine in patients with advanced colorectal cancer pretreated with combination regimens including 5-FU, FA and CPT-11 or 5-FU, FA and L-OHP is safe. However, this regimen had a poor response rate and no definitive contribution to increasing patients' overall survival time. Further evaluation of other salvage regimens seems to be warranted.

Salvage chemotherapy in colorectal cancer patients with good performance status and young age after failure of 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin combination

Forty-one patients with metastatic colorectal cancer were treated every four weeks with methotrexate 25 mg/m2 i.v. days 1, 8, 15; vincristine 1 mg/m2 i.v. day 1; lomustine 100 mg/m2 p.o. day 1. Inclusion criteria were: failure of previous 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin treatment; performance status (ECOG) 0-2; age less than 60 years; presence of symptoms; absence of concomitant diseases. Metastatic sites were: liver 30, lung 4, abdominal/pelvic mass 7. Three patients achieved partial responses (2 liver, 1 lung metastases); 4 showed stable disease and 34 progressed on therapy. The median survival of patients with partial response, stable disease and progression was comparable (24, 21, 22 weeks respectively). The most common toxicity was hematologic (thrombocytopenia and leukopenia). Other side effects included nausea and vomiting, stomatitis and diarrhea. Symptoms were not affected by treatment. We conclude that salvage chemotherapy is not recommended in colorectal cancer after 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin treatment even in patients with generally considered favorable characteristics for response to chemotherapy.

Role of chemotherapy in the treatment of colorectal carcinoma

Large bowel cancer afflicts more patients in the United States than any other malignancy excluding skin cancer. Fifty percent of patients who undergo resection of colorectal carcinoma have positive lymph nodes, and approximately 18% have liver metastases at initial presentation. To improve survival, more effective treatment than surgical resection of the primary must be developed. The most active single agent in the treatment of colorectal carcinoma is 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). To increase the response rate obtained with this agent, work has been done on the modulation of 5-FU by other agents, using drugs that are synergistic with 5-FU and manipulating the method of 5-FU administration. Combination chemotherapy has improved response rates in some situations, though generally it has not been shown to improve survival. Studies using direct hepatic infusion clearly demonstrate an increase in response rates, but again, it is too early to say whether this type of treatment increases survival. Early adjuvant chemotherapy trials used inadequate doses of chemotherapy for short periods of time and demonstrated no added efficacy to surgery alone. Later studies with more aggressive therapy suggested some benefit to treating patients with rectal carcinoma; however, there is still little evidence that adjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in patients with colon carcinoma. To compare and understand the various chemotherapy trials, more stringent reporting of baseline laboratory values, performance status, and estimation of tumor involvement are needed.