Abstract
Targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) may be effective in a subset of glioblastoma patients. This phase II study assessed the clinical activity of erlotinib plus carboplatin and to determine molecular predictors of response. The primary endpoint was progression free survival (PFS). Patients with recurrent glioblastoma with no more than two prior relapses received carboplatin intravenously on day 1 of every 28-day cycle (target AUC of 6 mg × ml/min). Daily erlotinib at 150 mg/day was dose escalated to 200 mg/day, as tolerated. Clinical and MRI assessments were made every 4 and 8 weeks, respectively. Tumor tissue was evaluated for EGFR, AKT and phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) status. One partial response (PR) was observed out of 43 assessable patients. Twenty patients (47%) had stable disease (SD) for an average of 12 weeks. Median PFS was 9 weeks. The 6-month PFS rate was 14%. Median overall survival (OS) was 30 weeks. This regimen was well tolerated with grade 3/4 toxicities of fatigue, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia and rash requiring dose reductions. A recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) predicted that patients with KPS ≥90 treated with more than 1 prior regimen had the highest OS. No correlation was observed between EGFR, Akt or PTEN expression and either PFS or OS. Carboplatin plus erlotinib is well tolerated but has modest activity in unselected patients. Future trials should be stratified based on optimal molecular or clinical characteristics.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baselga J (2004) Combining the anti-EGFR agent gefitinib with chemotherapy in non-small-cell lung cancer: how do we go from INTACT to impact? J Clin Oncol 22:759–761
Baselga J, Arteaga CL (2005) Critical update and emerging trends in epidermal growth factor receptor targeting in cancer. J Clin Oncol 23:2445–2459
Carson KA, Grossman SA, Fisher JD, Shaw EG (2007) Prognostic factors for survival in adult patients with recurrent glioma enrolled onto the new approaches to brain tumor therapy CNS consortium phase I and II clinical trials. J Clin Oncol 25:2601–2606
Cloughesy T, Yung WA, Vredenberg K et al (2005) Phase II study of erlotinib in recurrent GBM: molecular predictors of outcome. Am Soc Clin Oncol Annu Meet 23:1507
Cunningham D, Humblet Y, Siena S, Khayat D, Bleiberg H, Santoro A, Bets D, Mueser M, Harstrick A, Verslype C, Chau I, Van Cutsem E (2004) Cetuximab monotherapy and cetuximab plus irinotecan in irinotecan-refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. N Engl J Med 351:337–345
Doz F, Berens ME, Dougherty DV, Rosenblum ML (1991) Comparison of the cytotoxic activities of cisplatin and carboplatin against glioma cell lines at pharmacologically relevant drug exposures. J Neurooncol 11:27–35
Fuller GN, Bigner SH (1992) Amplified cellular oncogenes in neoplasms of the human central nervous system. Mutat Res 276:299–306
Grunwald V, Hidalgo M (2003) Development of the epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor Tarceva (OSI-774). Adv Exp Med Biol 532:235–246
Haas-Kogan DA, Prados MD, Lamborn KR, Tihan T, Berger MS, Stokoe D (2005) Biomarkers to predict response to epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors. Cell Cycle 4:1369–1372
Herbst RS, Prager D, Hermann R, Fehrenbacher L, Johnson BE, Sandler A, Kris MG, Tran HT, Klein P, Li X, Ramies D, Johnson DH, Miller VA (2005) TRIBUTE: a phase III trial of erlotinib hydrochloride (OSI-774) combined with carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer. J Clin Oncol 23:5892–5899
Kleihues P, Cavenee WK (eds) (2000) Pathology and genetics of tumors of the nervous system, 2nd edn. IARC Press, Lyon, France
Lassman AB, Rossi MR, Raizer JJ, Abrey LE, Lieberman FS, Grefe CN, Lamborn K, Pao W, Shih AH, Kuhn JG, Wilson R, Nowak NJ, Cowell JK, DeAngelis LM, Wen P, Gilbert MR, Chang S, Yung WA, Prados M, Holland EC (2005) Molecular study of malignant gliomas treated with epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors: tissue analysis from North American Brain Tumor Consortium Trials 01-03 and 00-01. Clin Cancer Res 11:7841–7850
Libermann TA, Nusbaum HR, Razon N, Kris R, Lax I, Soreq H, Whittle N, Waterfield MD, Ullrich A, Schlessinger J (1985) Amplification, enhanced expression and possible rearrangement of EGF receptor gene in primary human brain tumours of glial origin. Nature 313:144–147
Macdonald DR, Cascino TL, Schold SC Jr, Cairncross JG (1990) Response criteria for phase II studies of supratentorial malignant glioma. J Clin Oncol 8:1277–1280
Mellinghoff IK, Wang MY, Vivanco I, Haas-Kogan DA, Zhu S, Dia EQ, Lu KV, Yoshimoto K, Huang JH, Chute DJ, Riggs BL, Horvath S, Liau LM, Cavenee WK, Rao PN, Beroukhim R, Peck TC, Lee JC, Sellers WR, Stokoe D, Prados M, Cloughesy TF, Sawyers CL, Mischel PS (2005) Molecular determinants of the response of glioblastomas to EGFR kinase inhibitors. N Engl J Med 353:2012–2024
Moyer JD, Barbacci EG, Iwata KK, Arnold L, Boman B, Cunningham A, DiOrio C, Doty J, Morin MJ, Moyer MP, Neveu M, Pollack VA, Pustilnik LR, Reynolds MM, Sloan D, Theleman A, Miller P (1997) Induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest by CP-358, 774, an inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase. Cancer Res 57:4838–4848
Pelloski CE, Ballman KV, Furth AF, Zhang L, Lin E, Sulman EP, Bhat K, McDonald JM, Yung WK, Colman H, Woo SY, Heimberger AB, Suki D, Prados MD, Chang SM, Barker FG 2nd, Buckner JC, James CD, Aldape K (2007) Epidermal growth factor receptor variant III status defines clinically distinct subtypes of glioblastoma. J Clin Oncol 25:2288–2294
Pollack VA, Savage DM, Baker DA, Tsaparikos KE, Sloan DE, Moyer JD, Barbacci EG, Pustilnik LR, Smolarek TA, Davis JA, Vaidya MP, Arnold LD, Doty JL, Iwata KK, Morin MJ (1999) Inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor-associated tyrosine phosphorylation in human carcinomas with CP-358, 774: dynamics of receptor inhibition in situ and antitumor effects in athymic mice. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 291:739–748
Prados MD, Warnick RE, Mack EE, Chandler KL, Rabbitt J, Page M, Malec M (1996) Intravenous carboplatin for recurrent gliomas. A dose-escalating phase II trial. Am J Clin Oncol 19:609–612
Prados MD, Lamborn KR, Chang S, Burton E, Butowski N, Malec M, Kapadia A, Rabbitt J, Page MS, Fedoroff A, Xie D, Kelley SK (2006) Phase 1 study of erlotinib HCl alone and combined with temozolomide in patients with stable or recurrent malignant glioma. Neuro Oncol 8:67–78
Raizer J, Abrey LE, Wen T et al (2004) A phase II trial of erlotinib (OSI-774) in patients with recurrent malignant gliomas (MG) not on EIAEDs. Am Soc Clin Oncol Annu Meet 22:1502
Rich JN, Rasheed BK, Yan H (2004) EGFR mutations and sensitivity to gefitinib. N Engl J Med 351:1260–1261 author reply 1260–1261
Rich JN, Reardon DA, Peery T, Dowell JM, Quinn JA, Penne KL, Wikstrand CJ, Van Duyn LB, Dancey JE, McLendon RE, Kao JC, Stenzel TT, Ahmed Rasheed BK, Tourt-Uhlig SE, Herndon JE 2nd, Vredenburgh JJ, Sampson JH, Friedman AH, Bigner DD, Friedman HS (2004) Phase II trial of gefitinib in recurrent glioblastoma. J Clin Oncol 22:133–142
Shaw E, Arusell R, Scheithauer B, O’Fallon J, O’Neill B, Dinapoli R, Nelson D, Earle J, Jones C, Cascino T, Nichols D, Ivnik R, Hellman R, Curran W, Abrams R (2002) Prospective randomized trial of low- versus high-dose radiation therapy in adults with supratentorial low-grade glioma: initial report of a North Central Cancer Treatment Group/Radiation Therapy Oncology Group/Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group study. J Clin Oncol 20:2267–2276
Simmons ML, Lamborn KR, Takahashi M, Chen P, Israel MA, Berger MS, Godfrey T, Nigro J, Prados M, Chang S, Barker FG 2nd, Aldape K (2001) Analysis of complex relationships between age, p53, epidermal growth factor receptor, and survival in glioblastoma patients. Cancer Res 61:1122–1128
Stupp R, Mason WP, van den Bent MJ, Weller M, Fisher B, Taphoorn MJ, Belanger K, Brandes AA, Marosi C, Bogdahn U, Curschmann J, Janzer RC, Ludwin SK, Gorlia T, Allgeier A, Lacombe D, Cairncross JG, Eisenhauer E, Mirimanoff RO (2005) Radiotherapy plus concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide for glioblastoma. N Engl J Med 352:987–996
Sugawa N, Ekstrand AJ, James CD, Collins VP (1990) Identical splicing of aberrant epidermal growth factor receptor transcripts from amplified rearranged genes in human glioblastomas. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 87:8602–8606
Sugawa N, Yamamoto K, Ueda S, Morita N, Kita M, Nishino H, Fushiki S, Okabe T (1998) Function of aberrant EGFR in malignant gliomas. Brain Tumor Pathol 15:53–57
Van Den Bent M, Brandes A, Rampling R, Kouwenhoven M, Kros JM, Carpentier AF, Clement P, Klughammer B, Gorlia T, Lacombe D (2007) Randomized phase II trial of erlotinib (E) versus temozolomide (TMZ) or BCNU in recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM): EORTC 26034. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 25:2005
Vogelbaum MA, Peereboom DM, Stevens G et al (2005) Phase II study of erlotinib single agent therapy in recurrent glioblastoma. Eur J Cancer Suppl 3:135
Watanabe K, Tachibana O, Sata K, Yonekawa Y, Kleihues P, Ohgaki H (1996) Overexpression of the EGF receptor and p53 mutations are mutually exclusive in the evolution of primary and secondary glioblastomas. Brain Pathol 6:217–223 discussion 223–214
Wong AJ, Bigner SH, Bigner DD, Kinzler KW, Hamilton SR, Vogelstein B (1987) Increased expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor gene in malignant gliomas is invariably associated with gene amplification. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 84:6899–6903
Wong AJ, Ruppert JM, Bigner SH, Grzeschik CH, Humphrey PA, Bigner DS, Vogelstein B (1992) Structural alterations of the epidermal growth factor receptor gene in human gliomas. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89:2965–2969
Wong ET, Hess KR, Gleason MJ, Jaeckle KA, Kyritsis AP, Prados MD, Levin VA, Yung WK (1999) Outcomes and prognostic factors in recurrent glioma patients enrolled onto phase II clinical trials. J Clin Oncol 17:2572–2578
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
de Groot, J.F., Gilbert, M.R., Aldape, K. et al. Phase II study of carboplatin and erlotinib (Tarceva, OSI-774) in patients with recurrent glioblastoma. J Neurooncol 90, 89–97 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-008-9637-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-008-9637-y