A trial looking at combretastatin and chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer, primary peritoneal cancer, and fallopian tube cancer (CA4P-UKCTC-207)

Cancer type:

Ovarian cancer

Status:

Results

Phase:

Phase 2

This trial looked at how well combretastatin (CA4P), carboplatin and paclitaxel (Taxol) worked together in women with advanced ovarian cancer, primary peritoneal cancer or fallopian tube cancer.

Doctors often treat ovarian cancer, primary peritoneal cancer or fallopian tube cancer with surgery and then chemotherapy. But sometimes the cancer comes back after this treatment. If that happens, it is usually more difficult to treat it successfully.

Doctors hoped that a new drug, given with chemotherapy, would be useful for treating women with ovarian and peritoneal cancer that was no longer responding to platinum chemotherapy Open a glossary item .

Combretastatin is a new treatment. It causes the cells that line the cancer’s blood vessels (capillaries) to swell up. These swollen cells block the blood flow to the cancer cells. All cancers need a blood supply to get the oxygen and food they need to survive. Doctors hope that blocking the blood supply will stop cancers growing.

The aim of this trial was to find out how well combretastatin, carboplatin and paclitaxel worked together. The researchers also looked at the side effects of this combination of chemotherapy.

Summary of results

The trial team found that the combination of combretastatin, carboplatin and paclitaxel did not cause too severe side effects. These drugs also seemed to give a higher response rate than they were expecting for cancers that were no longer responding to platinum chemotherapy. By response, they mean the cancer had disappeared or shrunk by at least a third, or the level of CA125 Open a glossary item in the blood had fallen by at least half for 4 weeks or more.

When the trial team presented some results at a cancer conference in 2009, the trial had recruited 44 women in total and they had the results for 34 of them. All women had combretastatin, carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy.

The trial team found that out of 34 women, 11 cancers had responded to treatment. They were waiting for confirmation that 1 other cancer had shrunk by about a third or more (partial response Open a glossary item ).

The side effects included

A drop in the number of white blood cells and platelets
Tiredness (fatigue)
Being sick
Diarrhoea
Hair loss
Tingling or numbness in hands and feet (peripheral neuropathy)
Problems with coordination or balance

The research team didn’t feel these side effects were much different to the standard treatment of carboplatin and paclitaxel.

The main side effect of combretastatin was high blood pressure, which was easily controlled with medication.

The trial team hope that larger trials in the future will show similar results.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed Open a glossary item ) but may not have been published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.