Phase II trial of the mTOR inhibitor, temsirolimus and evaluation of circulating tumor cells and tumor biomarkers in persistent and recurrent epithelial ovarian and primary peritoneal malignancies: A Gynecologic Oncology Group study

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

177 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: Patients with persistent/recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer/primary peritoneal cancer (EOC/PPC) have limited treatment options. AKT and PI3K pathway activation is common in EOC/PPC, resulting in constitutive activation of downstream mTOR. The GOG conducted a phase II evaluation of efficacy and safety for the mTOR inhibitor, temsirolimus in EOC/PPC and explored circulating tumor cells (CTC) and AKT/mTOR/downstream tumor markers. Methods: Eligible women with measurable, persistent/recurrent EOC/PPC who had received 1-3 prior regimens were treated with 25 mg weekly IV temsirolimus until progression or intolerable toxicity. Primary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) ≥ 6-months, tumor response, and toxicity. CellSearch® system was used to examine CTC, and AKT/mTOR/downstream markers were evaluated by archival tumor immunohistochemistry. Kendall's tau-b correlation coefficient (r) and Cox regression modeling were used to explore marker associations with baseline characteristics and outcome. Results: Sixty patients were enrolled in a two-stage sequential design. Of 54 eligible and evaluable patients, 24.1% (90% CI 14.9%-38.6%) had PFS ≥ 6 months (median 3.1 months), 9.3% (90% CI 3.7%-23.4%) experienced a partial response. Grade 3/4 adverse events included metabolic (8), gastrointestinal (8), pain (6), constitutional (5) and pulmonary (4). Suggested associations were between cyclin D1 and PFS ≥ 6 months, PFS or survival; positive CTC pre-treatment and lack of response; and high CTC expression of M30 and PFS ≥ 6 months/longer PFS. Conclusions: Temsirolimus appears to have modest activity in persistent/recurrent EOC/PPC; however, PFS is just below that required to warrant inclusion in phase III studies in unselected patients. Cyclin D1 as a selection marker and CTC measures merit further study.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)19-26
Number of pages8
JournalGynecologic Oncology
Volume123
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • AKT/PI3K pathway
  • Circulating tumor cells
  • Ovarian clinical trial
  • mTOR inhibitor

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Phase II trial of the mTOR inhibitor, temsirolimus and evaluation of circulating tumor cells and tumor biomarkers in persistent and recurrent epithelial ovarian and primary peritoneal malignancies: A Gynecologic Oncology Group study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this