This review describes studies with two paclitaxel (Taxol; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ)-containing treatments for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In an ongoing study, 100 patients with previously untreated stage IIIB or IV NSCLC received combination therapy comprised of paclitaxel 225 mg/m2 via 1-hour infusion and carboplatin, dosed to an area under the concentration-time curve of 6.0. Both drugs were given intravenously and cycles were repeated every 21 days. Patients with objective responses or stable disease after two courses continued for a maximum of 10 treatment courses. Of the 100 patients, 36% had an objective response, including three complete responses. An additional 33% had stable disease/minor response. The regimen was well tolerated. Grade 3/4 peripheral neuropathy, which usually appeared during or after the fourth treatment course, was noted in 18% of patients. An earlier study evaluated combined-modality therapy in 33 patients with unresectable stage IIIA or IIIB NSCLC. Two courses of intravenous induction chemotherapy were initially administered (paclitaxel 135 mg/m2 via 1-hour infusion, day 1; cisplatin 60 mg/m2, day 2; and etoposide 100 mg/m2, days 1 to 3). After two courses, radiation therapy was initiated at 1.8 to 2.0 Gy daily (median total dose, 60 Gy). Patients also received chemotherapy concurrent with radiation: paclitaxel 135 mg/m2 over 1 hour on day 1, cisplatin 5 mg/m2 days 2 to 5 and 8 to 12, and etoposide 25 mg/m2 days 1 to 5 and 8 to 12. Cycles were repeated every 21 days. Of the 29 patients who completed therapy, 41% achieved complete responses and 41% had partial responses. Median survival exceeds 14 months, and 30% of patients continue progression free 12 to 29 months after completion of therapy. Grade 3/4 esophagitis was observed in 51% of participants and usually occurred during the final 2 weeks of combined-modality therapy. The combination of paclitaxel and carboplatin is active and well tolerated in patients with advanced NSCLC, and paclitaxel-based combined-modality therapy produced a high rate of complete and partial responses and encouraging survival data. Continued investigation and refinement of these regimens is ongoing.

In 1995, a randomized intergroup study of neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by either surgery or radiotherapy in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer was started under the auspices of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC 08941). The objective of this study is to investigate whether surgery or radiotherapy represents superior locoregional treatment, in terms of survival and quality of life, for patients with stage IIIA(N2) non-small cell lung cancer who have achieved a response after three courses of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. A phase II side study will investigate the clinical and pathologic response rate (if applicable), as well as acute and late side effects during or after consecutive surgery and/or radiotherapy of combination paclitaxel (Taxol; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ) and carboplatin. It is planned that paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 will be given as a 3-hour infusion, followed by a 30-minute infusion of carboplatin at a dose based on a target area under the concentration-time curve of 6 mg x min/mL. This phase II study was started in October 1996. Depending on the response rate and early and late side effects observed in this well-defined, prognostically favorable group of patients, it will be decided whether and how to use the same combination chemotherapy in an ongoing randomized trial currently being conducted by the Dutch Lung Cancer Study Group (DLCSG 94-2). In the latter trial, patients with stage I and II non-small cell lung cancer are randomized to immediate surgery or two courses of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Responding patients will receive another two courses of chemotherapy before surgery; nonresponders will go directly to surgery.

Paclitaxel (Taxol; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ) is a new cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agent with a novel mechanism of action. Single-agent paclitaxel studies have shown promising activity in both small cell and non-small cell lung cancers. In non-small cell lung cancer, response rates of 22% to 26% and 1-year survival rates of 40% were reported with both 3-hour and 24-hour infusions of paclitaxel. In small cell lung cancer, 24-hour infusions produced response rates of 61%. These data indicate that paclitaxel is one of the most active agents for all lung cancer patients. Combination studies demonstrated that paclitaxel could be combined with either cisplatin or carboplatin at full doses using either a 3-hour or a 24-hour infusion schedule. Response rates with these combinations have been high, usually 40% to 50%, which are higher than with any of the drugs used alone. Neutropenia is the most frequent toxicity and occurs less frequently with the 3-hour infusion. Thrombocytopenia occurred less frequently than expected. One completed randomized study showed that the paclitaxel/cisplatin regimen was superior to the etoposide/cisplatin regimen with respect to response rate and survival. Additional randomized studies are necessary to determine whether the combinations are superior to single-agent paclitaxel, to define the optimal dose with the 3-hour infusion schedule, to define the optimal schedule (3 hours v 24 hours), and to determine whether paclitaxel can be combined with other new agents.

Dexrazoxane was found effective in reducing doxorubicin cardiotoxicity when given at a dose ratio (dexrazoxane: doxorubicin) of 20:1. Preclinical studies indicated that dexrazoxane at a dose ratio of 10 to 15:1 also protected against epirubicin-induced cardiotoxicity. The main objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of dexrazoxane, given at a dose ratio of 10:1 against epirubicin cardiotoxicity.

This randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, multicenter study compared the antiemetic effectiveness, safety, and tolerability of two different intravenous (i.v.) doses of dolasetron mesylate (0.6 and 1.8 mg/kg) in cancer patients receiving their first course of high-dose cisplatin-containing chemotherapy (> or = 75 mg/m2). Efficacy was assessed by recording the timing, number, and severity of emetic episodes in the 24 h following high-dose cisplatin. Safety was evaluated by monitoring adverse events, vital signs, clinical laboratory parameters, and electrocardiograms. Of the 62 patients enrolled in the study, 29 received 0.6 mg/kg of dolasetron mesylate and 33 received 1.8 mg/kg. Patients who received dolasetron mesylate 1.8 mg/kg consistently experienced a greater degree of antiemetic control than those who received 0.6 mg/kg. Complete responses were achieved by 55% of patients who received 1.8 mg/kg compared with 31% for the 0.6-mg/kg group. The 1.8-mg/kg group achieved a significantly (p = 0.039) higher complete/ major response rate than the 0.6-mg/kg group (77% vs 55%, respectively) and a significantly (p = 0.004) longer time to the first emetic episode (> 24 h vs 13.5 h, respectively). More than 80% of patients were either satisfied or very satisfied with dolasetron treatment. The most common adverse events were mild to moderate in intensity, consistent with other studies, and included headache (24.1% of patients) and diarrhea (4.8%). These results demonstrated that a single 1.8-mg/kg i.v. dose of dolasetron mesylate provided effective antiemetic activity in a majority of patients given high-dose cisplatin for the first time and should be evaluated further in clinical trials.

The outcome of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and bone marrow relapse has been unsatisfactory largely because of failure to prevent subsequent leukemia relapses. Ninety-six patients were enrolled and received vincristine, prednisone, L-asparaginase, and an anthracycline as reinduction therapy. Ninety-two patients were randomized to receive either daunomycin (DNR) or idarubicin (IDR). After achievement of second complete remission (CR2), maintenance chemotherapy included the same anthracycline, IDR or DNR, high-dose cytarabine, and escalating-dose methotrexate. Compared to DNR (45 mg/m2/week x 3), IDR (12.5 mg/m2/week x 3) was associated with prolonged myelosuppression and more frequent serious infections. Halfway through the study, the dose of IDR was reduced to 10 mg/m2. Overall, second remission was achieved in 71% of patients. Reinduction rate was similar for IDR and DNR. Reasons for induction failure differed; none of 15, 1 of 5, and 5 of 7 reinduction failures were due to infection for DNR, IDR (10 mg/m2), and IDR (12.5 mg/m2), respectively. Two-year event-free survival (EFS) was better among patients who received IDR (12.5 mg/m2) (27 +/- 18%) compared to DNR (10 +/- 8%, P = 0.05) and IDR (10 mg/m2) (6 +/- 12%, P = 0.02). However, after 3 years of follow-up, late events in the high-dose IDR group result in a similar EFS to the lower-dose IDR and DNR groups. In conclusion, IDR is an effective agent in childhood ALL. When used weekly at 12.5 mg/m2 during induction, the EFS outcome during the first 2 years of treatment appears better than lower-dose IDR or DNR (45 mg/m2), although this difference was not sustained at longer periods of follow-up. Increased hematopoietic toxicity seen at this dose might be reduced through the use of supportive measures, such as hematopoietins and intestinal decontamination.

Doxifluridine (5-dFUR) is a fluoropyrimidine derivative that has been shown to be active on a variety of solid tumors. The clinical use of intravenous (i.v.) 5-dFUR as a bolus injection or short term infusion has been limited because of its unpredictable severe neurotoxicity. Unlike fluorouracil (5-FU), 5-dFUR is effective when administered orally.

In 1982, the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project initiated a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial (B-14) to determine the effectiveness of adjuvant tamoxifen therapy in patients with primary operable breast cancer who had estrogen receptor-positive tumors and no axillary lymph node involvement. The findings indicated that tamoxifen therapy provided substantial benefit to patients with early stage disease. However, questions arose about how long the observed benefit would persist, about the duration of therapy necessary to maintain maximum benefit, and about the nature and severity of adverse effects from prolonged treatment.

In order to examine the usefulness of chemohormonal therapy, we conducted a multicentered randomized trial comparing hormonal therapy, using a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) agonist, with chemohormonal therapy, hormonal therapy plus cyclophosphamide (CPM), in patients with newly diagnosed clinical stage D prostatic cancer.

In a recent study by the Casodex Combination Study Group, USA, patients in a flutamide (750 mg/day) plus LH-RH agonist group showed a high treatment failure rate, mainly due to flutamide-induced diarrhea and hepatotoxicity. Our current study was conducted to determine the optimal dose of flutamide for use in this type of combination therapy.

Tamoxifen (TAM) treatment following isolated locoregional recurrence of breast cancer significantly increases 5-year disease-free survival rates compared with observation alone in potentially hormone-responsive patients [J Clin Oncol 1994, 12, 2071-2077]. The treatment outcome was re-analysed by menopausal status (stratification factor) in 35 premenopausal and in 132 postmenopausal patients. Disease progression was highly reduced by tamoxifen in the postmenopausal group and was similar to control in the premenopausal group. However, the 5-year cumulative incidence analysis of the type of first failure showed TAM to be associated with increased incidence of distant metastases (P = 0.01) in premenopausal patients. TAM reduced local progression (P = 0.40) in premenopausal and both types of failure (P = 0.16 and P = 0.001, respectively) in postmenopausal patients. Administration of TAM was associated with a decrease of 5-year overall survival from 90 +/- 7% to 60 +/- 14% in premenopausal patients. Although cautious interpretation of these results is highly recommended due to the small patient numbers and the retrospective subset analyses, these findings might be worthy of further investigation in larger trials. Prospective randomised studies to test hormonal treatment outcome by menopausal status should be encouraged in breast cancer.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of oral ondansetron, given alone or in combination with dexamethasone in the control of cisplatin-induced delayed emesis.

Tallimustine binds to the minor groove of DNA where it alkylates the N3 position of adenine and may interfere with gene transcription. We conducted a phase II trial of Tallimustine given at a dose of 750 micrograms/m2 intravenously every 4 weeks in patients with small cell lung cancer progressing or relapsing following cisplatin or carboplatin-based chemotherapy. We treated 14 eligible patients with a performance status 0, 1 or 2, bi-dimensionally measurable disease and adequate end-organ function. The main toxicity was neutropenia with a median granulocyte count of 0.1 x 10(9) per liter (range 0-3.9) and four patients (27%) developing febrile neutropenia. In addition, most patients (93%) experienced lethargy. No objective responses were seen. A mixed response was seen in one patient and three others had stable disease for a median of 3.7 months. We conclude that Tallimustine is an ineffective agent in previously treated small cell lung cancer.

The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer multicenter Euroscan trial was set up to prevent the occurrence of second primary tumors in the upper aerodigestive and respiratory tract in patients cured for early stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. One randomized group of patients receive daily N-acetylcysteine, an antioxidant that may be protective especially in the early steps of carcinogenesis. Mutagen sensitivity, measured as sensitivity to bleomycin in peripheral blood lymphocytes, has been found to be increased in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and is hypothesized to reflect cancer susceptibility. The aim of this study was to investigate whether mutagen sensitivity is influenced by oral N-acetylcysteine supplementation and can therefore be used as intermediate end point in chemoprevention. Patients (n = 19) who had various periods of N-acetylcysteine supplementation (600 mg daily for 3-9 months) were analyzed. In addition, a patient group (n = 14) that did not receive N-acetylcysteine supplementation was analyzed for comparison. Our results show no evidence that administration of N-acetylcysteine did influence the mutagen sensitivity level. The only explanatory variable in the analysis of the difference between two samples of one person was the b/c value of the first measurement. Moreover, the variability in these repeated measurements (coefficient of variation of 14%) indicates that additional studies should be performed to minimize this variability and to optimize the testing of mutagen sensitivity to accurately identify individual patients at high risk for the development of multiple primary tumors.

Increased proliferation of endogenous bone marrow progenitor cells in response to the administration of hematopoietic growth factors, followed by reduced cell cycling or entrance of the cells into a quiescent state upon withdrawal of the growth factors, may have clinically relevant effects on the tolerance of the hematopoietic system to subsequent myelotoxic treatments.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the association between GnRH analogues and ipriflavone, drug modulating the bone turnover limiting the negative bone effects of analogue. Thirty patients (33 +/- 5.4 years, mean +/- SD) affect by benign gynecological conditions in which there was an indication to use GnRH analogs have been treated with leuprolide acetate at the monthly intramuscular dose of 3.75 mg, for six months. Fifteen of these patients also received 600 mg/day per os of ipriflavone (group A), while the other 15 patients have been treated exclusively with leuprolide acetate (group B). Before and after treatment, radial bone mineral density (BMD) and main markers of bone turnover were measured in all patients. Before treatment no difference in the considered parameters could be detected between the two groups. In group A, after 6 months of treatment no significant decrease in BMD and no variations in the bone turnover parameters. On the contrary, in group B, after six months of treatment, a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in BMD was observed in comparison to basal and group A values. In the same group alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin and urinary calcium/creatinine and hydroxyproline/creatinine ratio proved significantly increased in comparison to basal and group A values (both with p < 0.05). Ipriflavone, therefore, seems to be effective in counteracting the negative effects of GnRH-a induced on bone.

139 peri- and postmenopausal women with advanced or recurrent breast cancer who had not received prior hormonal therapy were randomised in an open, cross-over study comparing the synthetic progestogen megestrol acetate with tamoxifen. The response rate (CR/PR) to megestrol acetate (25%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 15-35%) was not significantly different from that produced by tamoxifen (33%, CI 22-44%). Time-to-treatment failure was also similar in the two groups. Cross-over treatment was given on progression in 76 cases. Cross-over response (CR/PR) was seen in 3 of 35 patients (9%) receiving megestrol acetate as second-line therapy and in 6 of 41 patients (15%) receiving tamoxifen second-line. There was no significant difference in survival between the groups (P = 0.17) with median survival times of 24 and 32 months for the megestrol acetate and tamoxifen groups, respectively. The toxicity profile of the two drugs was different, although significant toxicity was rare with either agent. Megestrol acetate is an effective treatment for advanced breast cancer in older women when used either as first- or second-line treatment. Cross-over response is seen following both treatments. Given that most patients now receive tamoxifen as adjuvant treatment, megestrol acetate would appear to be one of the logical choices for patients who find the side-effects of tamoxifen unacceptable and for those who relapse on tamoxifen with further hormone therapy being clinically indicated.

The activity of paclitaxel (Taxol; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ) in advanced breast cancer patients who have failed doxorubicin treatment is well established, but the optimal sequence between these two important agents remains to be determined. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer therefore designed a prospective randomized clinical trial in which patients not exposed to anthracyclines in the adjuvant setting received either first-line paclitaxel, given as a 3-hour infusion at a dose of 200 mg/m2 followed at the time of disease progression by second-line doxorubicin, given as a bolus injection at a dose of 75 mg/m2 or the reverse sequence. The target accrual is 330 patients. Interim results on 207 evaluable patients of 289 randomized are presented.

A joint study was performed by the Tokai HCFU study group, which included seven institutions, to examine the value of oral administration of Carmofur (HCFU), a 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) derivative, for postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer undergoing curative resection.