Phase II trial of capecitabine and oxaliplatin in patients with adeno- and undifferentiated carcinoma of unknown primary.
BACKGROUND
Carcinomas of unknown primary (CUP) account for approximately 2-5% of all cancer diagnoses. Except for some subsets with favorable prognosis, for most of these patients treatment options are limited, and no standard first-line regimen has been identified. We performed a phase II study with oxaliplatin (OX) and capecitabine (CAP) as first-line treatment for patients with histo-or cytologically proven adeno- or undifferentiated CUP.


METHODS
Protocol treatment in this multicenter trial consisted of CAP 1,000 mg/m(2) twice daily orally (days 1-14) and OX 130 mg/m(2) intravenously (day 1), repeated every 21 days at a maximum of 6 cycles. The primary endpoint was the response rate (RR). Secondary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and safety.


RESULTS
51 patients with CUP (71% with poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma; 41% ECOG performance status (PS) 0, 39% PS 1, 10% PS 2, 55% with elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and 39% with liver metastases) were enrolled in this study. We observed an objective RR of 11.7% and a median PFS of 2.5 months as well as an OS of 7.5 months with a good toxicity profile.


CONCLUSIONS
CAP/OX did not reach higher RR compared to a standard regimen with paclitaxel/carboplatin, which discourages further investigation of this schedule in CUP.
University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden, Germany. Katharina.Schuette@uniklinikum-dresden.de
Katharina
K
Schuette
Gunnar
G
Folprecht
Albrecht
A
Kretzschmar
Hartmut
H
Link
Claus-Henning
CH
Koehne
Viktor
V
Gruenwald
Michael
M
Stahl
Gerdt
G
Huebner
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000556:secondary*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000069287:Capecitabine; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009382:Neoplasms, Unknown Primary / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D009944:Organoplatinum Compounds / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000077150:Oxaliplatin; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D009944:Organoplatinum Compounds; D000077150:Oxaliplatin; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D000069287:Capecitabine; D005472:Fluorouracil