Metronomic oral vinorelbine doublet chemotherapy with carboplatin in treatment of advanced lung cancer: a feasibility and safety study

Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is globally one of the most common forms of cancer. Palliative treatment is a delicate balance against toxicity and survival. Using small frequent doses of chemotherapy, metronomic regimens have been hypothesized to maintain or even improve efficacy while achieving a lower treatment-related toxicity. The mechanism is thought to result from a more continuous exposure of the tumour cells to the drugs. Treating NSCLC, this study addresses the feasibility and tolerability of carboplatin in combination with 12 weeks of daily metronomic vinorelbine. Method: Patients were included over a period of ten months. All patients had biopsy-verified incurable NSCLC and were candidates for first line chemotherapy (PD-L1<50% and no targetable mutations). This open label, non-randomized prospective safety and feasibility study was investigator initiated. Patients received up-to four cycles of standard dose carboplatin AUC 5 every third week in combination with 12 weeks of metronomic oral daily Navelbine® (20/30 mg). Patients were evaluated by CT scans after end of treatment and then every 8 weeks (+/- 1 week) until progression. Results: A total of 20 patients were included. Male/female-ratio was 4/16. Age ranged from 49-83 with a median of 70.5 years. Majority had adenocarcinoma (95%). Two patients withdrew their consent within a week. 18 patients were included in safety analysis. 13 received all four cycles. Grade 1/2 toxicity was frequently seen and included fatigue 13 (72%), diarrhoea 13 (72%), constipation/congestion 13 (72%). Grade 3 toxicities were dyspnoea 2 (11%), nausea 3 (17%) and fatigue 3 (17%). Two (11%) had grade 4 toxicity with neutropenic fever, both recovered. No grade 5 toxicity was detected. Conclusion: In treatment of NSCLC this study is the first addressing the regimen of carboplatin in combination with daily metronomic vinorelbine. We conclude that doublet chemotherapy with daily vinorelbine is safe and feasible.

Oral metronomic vinorelbine combined with endocrine therapy in hormone receptor-positive HER2-negative breast cancer: SOLTI-1501 VENTANA window of opportunity trial

Background The biological effect of oral metronomic vinorelbine (mVNB) alone or in combination with endocrine therapy in patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+)/HER2-negative breast cancer has been scarcely addressed. Methods Postmenopausal women with untreated stage I–III HR+/HER2-negative breast cancer were randomized (1:1:1) to receive 3 weeks of letrozole (LTZ) 2.5 mg/day, oral mVNB 50 mg 3 days/week, or the combination. The primary objective was to evaluate, within PAM50 Luminal A/B disease, if the anti-proliferative effect of LTZ+mVNB was superior to monotherapy. An anti-proliferative effect was defined as the mean relative decrease of the PAM50 11-gene proliferation score in combination arm vs. both monotherapy arms. Secondary objectives included the evaluation of a comprehensive panel of breast cancer-related genes and safety. An unplanned analysis of stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) was also performed. PAM50 analyses were performed using the nCounter®-based Breast Cancer 360™ gene panel, which includes 752 genes and 32 signatures. Results Sixty-one patients were randomized, and 54 paired samples (89%) were analyzed. The main patient characteristics were mean age of 67, mean tumor size of 1.7 cm, mean Ki67 of 14.3%, stage I (55.7%), and grades 1–2 (90%). Most baseline samples were PAM50 Luminal A (74.1%) or B (22.2%). The anti-proliferative effect of 3 weeks of LTZ+mVNB (− 73.2%) was superior to both monotherapy arms combined (− 49.9%; p = 0.001) and mVNB (− 19.1%; p < 0.001). The anti-proliferative effect of LTZ+mVNB (− 73.2%) was numerically higher compared to LTZ (− 65.7%) but did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.328). LTZ+mVNB induced high expression of immune-related genes and gene signatures, including CD8 T cell signature and PDL1 gene and low expression of ER-regulated genes (e.g., progesterone receptor) and cell cycle-related and DNA repair genes. In tumors with ≤ 10% sTILs at baseline, a statistically significant increase in sTILs was observed following LTZ (paired analysis p = 0.049) and LTZ+mVNB (p = 0.012). Grade 3 adverse events occurred in 3.4% of the cases. Conclusions Short-term mVNB is well-tolerated and presents anti-proliferative activity alone and in combination with LTZ. The high expression of immune-related biological processes and sTILs observed with the combination opens the possibility of studying this combination with immunotherapy. Further investigation comparing these biological results with other metronomic schedules or drug combinations is warranted. Trial registration NCT02802748, registered 16 June 2016.

Model-driven metronomic vinorelbine in heavily pre-treated metastatic NSCLC and PM patients: Results of a phase I/II study.

e20505 Background: A phase I/II trial (NCT02555007) of oral metronomic Vinorelbine derived from a mathematical model was performed in heavily pretreated metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer or Pleural Mesothelioma patients. Progression free survival, toxicity and PK/PD endpoints were the main objectives. Methods: Metronomic scheduling was selected using a simplified phenomenological model to identify the best continuous scheduling and dosing of oral vinorelbine with a total dose of 150 mg QW. Patients were monitored on a weekly basis, efficacy was evaluated by CT scans (RECIST). Toxicity was monitored using standard CTCAE criteria. Total tumor size (TTS) was the sum of diamaters of all lesions. Computation of individual PK parameters was done with Monolix software using population approach. Results: The PK/PD model proposed the following schedule: 60 mg D1, 30 mg D2, 60 mg D4. A total of 36 patients (30 evaluable) were enrolled (22M, 13F, 24 NSCLC, 11 mesothelium, median age 69.5, range 33-85.2). Patients were all heavily pre-treated (median 3 lines, range 1-9). Grade 3+ Neutropenia was observed in 30% patients. Median PFS was 11 weeks (range: 6-16.9). Best responses included 4 PR (13%) and 18 SD (60%). Baseline total tumor size was associated with reduced PFS (HR: 1.09, p = 0.026). A large variability in drug exposure (AUC 53 %, range 26 – 501 ng.h/ml) and PK parameters (Cl 82 %, range 45-605 l/h) was observed among patients. Exposure was not associated with efficacy, apart in patients with larger TTS (i.e., > 70 mm) who seemed to have longer PFS (125 days VS. 40 days, p = 0.057). Vinorelbine exposure tended to be associated with higher risk for grade 2+ neutropenia, especially in patients with BSA < 1.8 m² (60% VS. 25.5%, p = 0.055). A non-significant trend towards baseline NLR and PFS was observed (i.e., NLR < 4: 80 days, NLR > 4: 60 days, p = 0.077). Conclusions: Metronomic vinorelbine was characterized by huge variability in drug exposure among patients. However and despite being all heavily pre-treated, 60% of stable disease and 13% of PR were achieved in these patients. Plasma exposure yielded conflicting results depending on the initial tumor burden, suggesting that patients should be carefully selected prior to be scheduled for metronomic regimen. Possible role NLR could play as a predictive marker is intriguing and should be confirmed in larger cohort.