Gemcitabine Plus Rapamycin Versus Gemcitabine to Treat Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcoma

October 26, 2015 updated by: Grupo Espanol de Investigacion en Sarcomas

Phase 1/2, Randomized, Multicenter, Prospective Study of Gemcitabine and Rapamycin (Sirolimus) Combination Versus Gemcitabine Only to Treat Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcoma

The soft tissue sarcomas (STS) constitute an infrequent group of malignant neoplasms of mesenchymal origin. In Spain, the approximate incidence is of 2 new cases per 100.000 inhabitants every year. In patients with metastatic STS, the average survival is very short, approximately 12 months. The systemic treatment of the metastatic disease has had a very limited development, with few satisfactory results. This facts reflect the urgent need to identify new active agents for treatment of these patients.

The molecular pathway of the serine/threonine kinase mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays a central role in the regulation of the proteins translation, cellular growth and metabolism (Meric-Bernstam F et al. 2009). Currently, the mTOR pathway is considered a relevant target for the development of anti-cancer drugs, as rapamycin. Preliminary results of some clinical trials suggest that mTOR inhibitors could have some clinical activity for different types of sarcoma, including STS (Chawla et al Proc.ASCO 2006; Schuetze et al. Proc.ASCO 2006).

Gemcitabine is a chemotherapy antimetabolite agent with a broad antitumoral spectrum. The activity of this drug to treat resistant sarcomas and its reduced toxicity make from gemcitabine an adequate candidate for its study in combination with new drugs addressed to molecular targets in the STS treatment.

Pre-clinical studies suggest that mTOR inhibitors could have a potential synergistic or additive effect with some chemotherapy agents. The combination of rapamycin and gemcitabine seems to be a reasonable strategy to explore for the STS treatment.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

28

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

      • Barcelona, Spain, 08024
        • H. Sant Pau
      • L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain
        • Institut Català d'Oncologia - Hospital Duran i Reynals
      • Madrid, Spain
        • Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre
      • Madrid, Spain
        • H. La Paz
      • Majadahonda, Spain
        • Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro
      • Mallorca, Spain
        • H. Son Espases
      • Valencia, Spain
        • Instituto Valenciano de Oncologia
      • Zaragoza, Spain, 50009
        • H. Universitario Miguel Servet
    • Santa Cruz de Tenerife
      • Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, 38320
        • H. Universitario de Canarias

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients with anatomopathological diagnosis of metastatic or locally advanced unresectable soft tissue sarcoma (STS). Patients with the following STS types will be excluded: chondrosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma and embryonal or alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. In phase 1 it will be allowed to include patients having other types of advanced cancer which are resistant to the standard treatment and can benefit from any of the study drugs.
  2. Prior treatment with chemotherapy including doxorubicin and ifosfamide, or contraindication for its administration. The previous treatment with gemcitabine or inhibitors of mTOR is not allowed.
  3. Age ≥ 18 y ≤ 70 years.
  4. ECOG performance status: 0 - 1. In Phase 1 only patients with ECOG 0-1 will be enrolled.
  5. Disease measurable according to RECIST criteria. Proven relapsed disease.
  6. Adequate bone marrow function, defined as neutrophil count ≥ 1.500/mm^3 and platelets ≥ 100.000/mm^3.
  7. Adequate renal and hepatic function , defined as calculated creatinine clearance ≥ 60 ml/min, creatinine, total bilirubin, AST and/or ALT ≤ 1,5 times the upper limit of normal (ULN).
  8. Informed consent form signed by the patient prior to the beginning of the treatment.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. History of previous cancer diagnosed or treated in the past 5 years except basal cell carcinoma, cervical carcinoma in situ or superficial bladder cancer.
  2. Presence of brain metastases.
  3. Active infection or other severe concomitant diseases.
  4. Concurrent treatment with other experimental drugs within 30 days prior to study entry.
  5. Pregnancy or breastfeeding.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Phase 2: Experimental Arm
Gemcitabine + rapamycin at recommended dose of Phase 1. Recommended dose is defined as, the dose one level below of the (MTD). Being MTD, the dose of the cohort in which a maximum of one patient of 6 has presented dose-limiting toxicity (DLT).

Gemcitabine + rapamycin at recommended dose of Phase 1. Recommended dose is defined as, the dose one level below of the (MTD). Being MTD, the dose of the cohort in which a maximum of one patient of 6 has presented dose-limiting toxicity (DLT).

Every three weeks until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The treatment will last for 6 cycles if there is not progression or intolerable toxicity.

Additionally, there will be a pharmacokinetic study in a minimum of 9 patients treated with the drug combination.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Phase 1: Determination of dosage: Security and toxicity of the combination gemcitabine and rapamycin.
Time Frame: 15 months
Type, frequency, seriousness and relation with the treatment of the adverse events in patients treated with the investigational medicinal products.
15 months
Phase 2: Progression Free Survival
Time Frame: 12 months
Progression free survival rate at 3 months to compare the effectiveness of the the treatment.
12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Phase 2: Overall Survival
Time Frame: 12 months
Overall survival rate of the patients included in the experimental arm.
12 months
Phase 2: Toxicity
Time Frame: 12 months
Tolerance to the drugs combination of the patients treated with gemcitabine + sirolimus
12 months
Phase 1 and 2: Assessment of molecular biomarkers
Time Frame: 36 months
Assess, both in models of sarcomas induced in immunodeficient mice and tumor samples from patients enrolled in the trial, the predictive value of the response to combination therapy of certain molecular markers for survival and mTOR pathway.
36 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Xavier García del Muro Solans, MD, GEIS

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

January 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2013

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 30, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 10, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

September 13, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

October 27, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 26, 2015

Last Verified

October 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • GEIS-24
  • 2009-017232-41 (EudraCT Number)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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