Efficacy of temozolomide treatment in patients with high-grade glioma.
BACKGROUND
Numerous studies have reported the clinical efficacy of temozolomide (TMZ) treatment for high-grade glioma, but information on Japanese populations has been limited. This study assessed the safety and early outcomes of TMZ treatment, with or without combination therapy.


METHODS
The subjects comprised ten patients with high-grade glioma [glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), n=3, gliosarcoma (GS), n=1, anaplastic oligodendroglioma (AO), n=3, anaplastic mixed oligoastrocytoma (AOA), n=1, and anaplastic ependymoma (AE), n=2]. All the patients were initially treated with conventional radiotherapy following surgical resection with or without adjuvant chemotherapy. As second- or third-line chemotherapy, patients received TMZ for recurrence or tumor progression. As combination therapy, the local administration of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and the addition of carboplatin and etoposide were included for three patients during the course of oral TMZ treatment.


RESULTS
Partial response (PR) to TMZ therapy was achieved by four out of the ten patients (objective response rate, 40%), while three patients displayed stable disease (SD) and three showed disease progression (PD). One of the patients receiving combination therapy has continued to show shrinkage of the relapsed tumor. Despite prior radio- and chemotherapy, most patients experienced only grade 1-2 hematotoxicity that was well-controlled by conservative therapy.


CONCLUSIONS
TMZ chemotherapy is effective for the treatment of high-grade glioma in some patients without serious toxicity. Assessing the true efficacy of TMZ will require a larger study with comparison of long-term outcomes between other agents or combined therapeutic modalities.
Oshiro
Shinya
S
Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Jonan-ku, Fukuoka 814-0180, Japan. s-oshiro@fukuoka-u.ac.jp
Tsugu
Hitoshi
H
Komatsu
Fuminari
F
Ohmura
Tadahiro
T
Ohta
Mika
M
Sakamoto
Seisaburou
S
Fukushima
Takeo
T
Inoue
Tooru
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003606:Dacarbazine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D005047:Etoposide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D018316:Gliosarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009837:Oligodendroglioma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D000077204:Temozolomide; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use
D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D005047:Etoposide; D003606:Dacarbazine; D016190:Carboplatin; D000077204:Temozolomide