Nab-paclitaxel as alternative treatment regimen in advanced cholangiocellular carcinoma

Nab-paclitaxel plus capecitabine as first-line treatment for advanced biliary tract cancers: An open-label, non-randomized, phase II clinical trial

BACKGROUND

Biliary tract cancers (BTCs) are a heterogeneous group of tumors with high malignancy, poor prognosis, and limited treatment options.

AIM

To explore the efficacy and safety of nab-paclitaxel plus capecitabine as first-line treatment for advanced and metastatic BTCs.

METHODS

This open-label, non-randomized, double-center, phase II clinical trial recruited systemic therapy-naive patients with unresectable or metastatic BTCs between April 2019 and June 2022 at Beijing Cancer Hospital and the First Hospital of China Medical University. Eligible patients were administered nab-paclitaxel (150 mg/m2, day 1) and capecitabine (2000 mg/m2, twice daily, days 1-7) in 14-day cycles until experiencing intolerable toxicity or disease progression. The primary outcome was the objective response rate (ORR). The secondary outcomes included the disease control rate (DCR), overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and safety.

RESULTS

A total of 44 patients successfully completed the trial, with a median age of 64.00 years (interquartile range, 35.00-76.00), and 26 (59.09%) were females. Tumor response assessment was impeded for one patient due to premature demise from tumor hemorrhage. Among the remaining 43 patients undergoing at least one imaging assessment, the ORR was 23.26% [95% confidence interval (CI): 11.80%-38.60%], and the DCR was 69.77% (95%CI: 53.90%-82.80%). The median OS was 14.1 months (95%CI: 8.3-19.9), and the median PFS was 4.4 months (95%CI: 2.5-6.3). A total of 41 patients (93.18%) experienced at least one adverse event (AE), with 10 patients (22.73%) encountering grade ≥ 3 AEs, and the most frequent AEs of any grade were alopecia (79.50%), leukopenia (54.55%), neutropenia (52.27%), and liver dysfunction (40.91%), and no treatment-related deaths were documented.

CONCLUSION

Nab-paclitaxel plus capecitabine may be an effective and safe first-line treatment strategy for patients with advanced or metastatic BTCs.

Combination chemotherapy with NAB® -paclitaxel and capecitabine for patients with advanced biliary tract cancer (NAP-CAPABIL Pilot Study)

BACKGROUND

 Advanced biliary tract cancer (ABTC) is a highly aggressive malignancy, with a 5-year overall survival of < 10%. Although preliminary evidence suggests a role of targeted treatments or immunotherapy in a subset of patients, chemotherapy remains the standard second-line treatment in the majority. We conducted a pilot study of second-line chemotherapy with capecitabine and nab-paclitaxel after failure of gemcitabine and platinum.

METHODS

Eligible patients had histologically proven, unresectable biliary tract cancer, which had progressed on a gemcitabine/platinum doublet. In this single-arm, multicenter trial, all patients received capecitabine (825 mg/m² bd PO D1-14 q21d) and nab-paclitaxel (125 mg/m² IV D1,8 q21d) until progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary objective was feasibility of delivering the proposed regimen, with secondary objectives of disease control measures and QOL outcomes.

RESULTS

Ten patients were enrolled between 2015 and 2016 from four cancer centers in NSW. Treatment was generally well tolerated with grade III toxicities in five patients (including infection, cholangitis, obstruction, and intestinal perforation) and no grade IV toxicity. Median treatment duration was 4.3 months, with a disease control rate of 80% (8/10), and median progression-free and overall survival of 5.7 and 12.1 months, respectively. Quality of life data and specimens for translational research have been collected.

CONCLUSIONS

Our pilot study demonstrates that combination of capecitabine and nab-paclitaxel is feasible as a second-line treatment in ABTC. Adequate safety and promising early efficacy signals make further assessment of the combination in a formal phase II or III trial reasonable.

CLINICAL TRIAL INFORMATION

ACTRN12615000504516.

Albumin-bound paclitaxel as new treatment for metastatic cholangiocarcinoma: A case report

BACKGROUND

Cholangiocarcinomas are rare and very aggressive tumors. Most patients have advanced-stage or unresectable disease at presentation, and the systemic therapies have limited efficacy. Albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel) is a solvent-free taxane that has been approved for the treatment of some cancers such as breast, non-small cell lung and pancreatic cancer, however it has not been applied to treat cholangiocarcinoma. We have both preclinical and clinical evidence of the efficacy of nab-paclitaxel in cholangiocarcinoma, yet no phase 3 trials have been made.

CASE SUMMARY

A 63-year-old man was diagnosed in December 2016 with stage III B intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. Surgery was performed, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy treatment with capecitabine and gemcitabine; although, the gemcitabine was suspended due to allergic reaction after two cycles. In April 2019, metastatic cholangiocarcinoma relapse was diagnosed, and a first-line treatment with FOLFOX scheme was started. Eight cycles were administered, producing an initial clinical improvement and decrease in blood tumor marker levels. Radiological and serological progression was noted in September 2019. As a second-line treatment, FOLFIRI was not recommended due to risk of worsening the patient’s tumor-related diarrhea. A combination therapy with gemcitabine was not feasible, as the patient had previously suffered from an allergic reaction to this treatment. We decided to use nab-paclitaxel as a second-line treatment, and four cycles were administered. Both clinical and serological responses were observed, and a radiological mixed response was also noted.

CONCLUSION

Advanced cholangiocarcinoma could be treated with nab-paclitaxel monotherapy, which should be studied in combination with other types of treatment (chemotherapy, fibroblast growth factor receptor inhibitors).

Second-line chemotherapy in advanced biliary cancers: A retrospective, multicenter analysis of outcomes

BACKGROUND

Although gemcitabine plus platinum chemotherapy is the established first-line regimen for advanced biliary cancer (ABC), there is no standard second-line therapy. This study evaluated current practice and outcomes for second-line chemotherapy in patients with ABC across 3 US academic medical centers.

METHODS

Institutional registries were reviewed to identify patients who had received second-line chemotherapy for ABC from April 2010 to March 2015 along with their demographics, diagnoses and staging, treatment histories, and clinical outcomes. Overall survival from the initiation of second-line chemotherapy (OS2) was estimated with Kaplan-Meier methods.

RESULTS

This study identified 198 patients with cholangiocarcinoma (intrahepatic [61.1%] or extrahepatic [14.1%]) or gallbladder carcinoma (24.8%); 52% received at least 3 lines of systemic chemotherapy. The median OS2 was 11 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.8-13.1 months). The median OS2 for patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma was 13.4 months (95% CI, 10.7-17.8 months), which was longer than that for patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (6.8 months; 95% CI, 5-10.6 months) or gallbladder carcinoma (9.4 months; 95% CI, 7.2-12.3 months; P = .018). The median time to second-line treatment failure was 2.2 months (95% CI, 1.8-2.7 months), and it was similar across tumor locations (P = .60).

CONCLUSIONS

In this large cohort of patients with ABC treated across 3 academic medical centers after the failure of first-line chemotherapy, the time to treatment failure on standard therapies was short, although the median OS2 was longer than has been reported previously, and more than half of the patients received additional lines of treatment. This multicenter collaboration represents the largest cohort studied to date of second-line chemotherapy for ABC and provides a contemporary benchmark for future clinical trials.

Establishment and Characterization of a New Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma Cell Line Resistant to Gemcitabine

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is one of the most lethal liver cancers. Late diagnosis and chemotherapy resistance contribute to the scarce outfit and poor survival. Resistance mechanisms are still poorly understood. Here, we established a Gemcitabine (GEM) resistant model, the MT-CHC01R1.5 cell line, obtained by a GEM gradual exposure (up to 1.5 µM) of the sensitive counterpart, MT-CHC01. GEM resistance was irreversible, even at high doses. The in vitro and in vivo growth was slower than MT-CHC01, and no differences were highlighted in terms of migration and invasion. Drug prediction analysis suggested that Paclitaxel and Doxycycline might overcome GEM resistance. Indeed, in vitro MT-CHC01R1.5 growth was reduced by Paclitaxel and Doxycycline. Importantly, Doxycycline pretreatment at very low doses restored GEM sensitivity. To assess molecular mechanisms underlying the acquisition of GEM resistance, a detailed analysis of the transcriptome in MT-CHC01R1.5 cells versus the corresponding parental counterpart was performed. Transcriptomic analysis showed that most up-regulated genes were involved in cell cycle regulation and in the DNA related process, while most down-regulated genes were involved in the response to stimuli, xenobiotic metabolism, and angiogenesis. Furthermore, additional panels of drug resistance and epithelial to mesenchymal transition genes (n = 168) were tested by qRT-PCR and the expression of 20 genes was affected. Next, based on a comparison between qRT-PCR and microarray data, a list of up-regulated genes in MT-CHC01R1.5 was selected and further confirmed in a primary cell culture obtained from an ICC patient resistant to GEM. In conclusion, we characterized a new GEM resistance ICC model that could be exploited either to study alternative mechanisms of resistance or to explore new therapies.