A study of docetaxel and irinotecan in children and young adults with recurrent or refractory Ewing sarcoma family of tumors

BACKGROUND: Patients with Ewing sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT) who are resistant even to salvage chemotherapy, have dismal prognoses and few therapeutic options. Because the docetaxel/irinotecan (DI) combination has not been previously evaluated in ESFT, we prospectively evaluated its use in patients with recurrent or refractory ESFT. METHODS: Patients aged <30 years with ESFT, who failed ≥ third-line therapy, were eligible. They received docetaxel 100 mg/m(2) intravenously on day 1, and irinotecan 80 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8, of a 21-day cycle up to 15 cycles or until disease progressed. The primary objective was objective response rate (ORR); secondary objectives were progression-free survival (PFS) and safety. RESULTS: We enrolled nine patients (median age: 13 years); four were male. Two patients had recurrent disease and seven had progressive disease. This group had undergone a median of four prior chemotherapy regimens (range: 3-6), and received a total of 51 DI cycles (median: three cycles/per person; range: 1-15 cycles). The nine patients showed one complete response (CR), two partial responses (PRs), one stable disease, and five progressive diseases, for an ORR (CR + PR) of 3/9 (33.3%). Two patients with PR achieved CR with subsequent surgery. Overall median PFS was 2.2 months (range: 0.5-16.9 months). All nine patients had grade 4 neutropenia (100%); grade 3 diarrhea or grade 2/3 neuropathy each occurred in two patients (22%). All toxicities were manageable without serious morbidities or treatment-related mortality. CONCLUSIONS: The DI combination may be effective and tolerable for patients with heavily pre-treated ESFT. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01380275. Registered June 21, 2011.