mitolactol and Breast-Neoplasms

One thousand four hundred sixty patients with 2,590 patient-years of follow-up were treated on 15 protocols for metastatic breast cancer with dibromodulcitol (mitolactol; DBD)-containing regimens since 1976. Twenty-three patients developed myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and/or acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL). The overall risk of developing MDS or ANLL per person is 1.6%. In patients who had received more than 16,000 mg of DBD the risk per person is 6%, and in the high-dose subsets of patients who received no prior radiation or alkylator therapy, it is 7.9%. The risk per person increases to a maximum by 30 to 36 months (5.3%). The high risk was seen despite a study population of metastatic breast cancer patients with a median survival of 16 months. This analysis strongly suggests that DBD is one of the most potent of the reported leukemogenic-inducing agents. Further use of this drug in both the adjuvant and metastatic situation should be reconsidered.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Breast Neoplasms; Humans; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Risk

Topics: Breast Neoplasms; Doxorubicin; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Humans; Mitolactol; Vincristine

Patients who have metastatic breast cancer are seldom curable. Chemotherapy given by conventional doses and schedules generally produces complete remissions in 10% to 20% of patients. This study sought to determine 1) whether a combination of dibromodulcitol, Adriamycin, vincristine, tamoxifen, Halotestin, and methotrexate with leucovorin rescue (DAVTHML) can produce a complete remission rate of 50%; and 2) the toxicity of this combination in patients with chemotherapy-naive metastatic breast cancer. Patients were treated with six 28-day cycles of DAVTHML induction chemotherapy consisting of dibromodulcitol, 135 mg/m2 perorally days 1 to 10; Adriamycin 45 mg/m2 intravenously day 1; vincristine, 2 mg intravenously day 1; tamoxifen and Halotestin, 20 mg perorally daily; methotrexate, 800 mg/m2 intravenously days 15 and 22; and leucovorin, 15 mg/m2 perorally every 6 hours for 9 doses, starting 4 hours after methotrexate. After induction, patients who had stable disease or a partial response were treated with a cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil-based regimen (CMF). Patients in complete remission were treated with three additional cycles of DAVTHML after achieving complete remission and then observed off therapy until relapse, when DAVTHML was to be given again. Fifty-eight patients were included in this study. During induction, 26% of eligible patients experienced a complete remission; overall response rate was 80%. The median time to treatment failure and the median survival time of eligible patients was 11.1 and 24.0 months, respectively. This did not change significantly when all the patients were included in the evaluation. The 3-year and 5-year survival rates were 37% and 11%, respectively. Ninety percent of the eligible patients experienced grade III or IV toxicity. They were leukopenia (75%), anemia (20%), thrombocytopenia (20%), and vomiting (17%). No lethal toxicity was documented during therapy; however, 1 patient later died of myelodysplastic syndrome induced by dibromodulcitol. The overall response and complete remission rates from our study were encouraging. The toxicity of DAVTHML was tolerable, with the exception of myelodysplastic syndrome from dibromodulcitol. The concept of using mid-cycle nonmyelosuppressant agents to increase complete remission rate is feasible.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Doxorubicin; Female; Fluoxymesterone; Humans; Methotrexate; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Neoplasm Metastasis; Pilot Projects; Remission Induction; Survival Analysis; Tamoxifen; Vincristine

To evaluate a combination of thioguanine, procarbazine, dibromodulcitol, CCNU (CCNU), fluorouracil, and hydroxyurea (TPDC-FuHu), designed to improve the efficacy of CCNU, in the treatment of recurrent metastatic brain tumors.. One hundred fifteen patients with progressive or recurrent metastatic brain tumors that failed to respond to surgery and/or radiation therapy were enrolled onto a multicenter prospective study between 1989 and 1995. Patients received TPDC-FuHu in a repeated cycle every 6 weeks until recurrence or until they completed six courses.. Ninety-seven patients were assessable at the end of the study. Forty-eight had lung cancer (39 non-small-cell [NSCLC] and nine small-cell [SCLC]), 28 had breast cancer, nine had melanoma, and 12 had adenocarcinoma of different origins (three colon, two kidney, one bladder, one stomach, and five of unknown origin). The response and stable disease (SD) rate (overall response rate) was 52%, 66%, 60%, and 22% in patients with NSCLC, SCLC, breast cancer, and melanoma, respectively. Median time to progression (MTP) was 12, 26, 12, and 6 weeks, respectively, for the four groups. Side effects were mild to moderate in the majority of patients. Severe myelosuppression (grade 4) occurred in only 11% of the patients.. TPDC-FuHu chemotherapy is an active treatment against recurrent brain metastases from breast cancer and SCLC, and to a lesser extent from NSCLC. This regimen is well tolerated and has acceptable toxicity.

Topics: Adenocarcinoma; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Brain Neoplasms; Breast Neoplasms; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung; Carcinoma, Small Cell; Disease Progression; Female; Fluorouracil; Humans; Hydroxyurea; Lomustine; Lung Neoplasms; Male; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Procarbazine; Prospective Studies; Thioguanine

To investigate the therapeutic value of reinduction with the same cytostatic treatment that had been used in induction treatment for women with metastatic breast cancer.. One hundred six women with metastatic breast cancer were given dibromodulcitol (mitolactol), doxorubicin, vincristine, tamoxifen, and fluoxymesterone (DAVTH) for 6 months of induction treatment, then randomized to receive one of two chemotherapy regimens if they had obtained an induction partial response (PR) or no change (NC), or to receive observation versus chemotherapy if they had obtained an induction complete response (CR). Patients were then retreated with DAVTH reinduction after relapse.. Seventy-four patients were eligible or had minor reasons for ineligibility. Severe or life-threatening toxicity was documented in 46%, and lethal toxicity in 4%. Eighteen percent had a response on reinduction (zero of 16 induction nonresponders, 15% induction PR, 44% induction CR). The median time to treatment failure (TTF) from reinduction was 3 months, and the median survival duration from reinduction was 14 months. In a logistic model, factors associated with more reinduction responses were observation after induction CR (P = .002) and age greater than 55 years (P = .04). Time since induction was not significant.. Reinduction of response after treatment failure remains a therapeutic problem. The need for better salvage treatment underlines the importance of developing new regimens.

Topics: Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Doxorubicin; Female; Fluoxymesterone; Humans; Logistic Models; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Neoplasm Metastasis; Remission Induction; Survival Analysis; Tamoxifen; Treatment Outcome; Vincristine

Long-term survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer treated on two prospective stratified randomised trials has been analysed. Patients on study B122 received either cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil (CMF) or cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin and 5-fluorouracil (CAF). On study B141 patients received CAF or mitolactol (dibromodulcitol), doxorubicin and vincristine alternating after every three cycles with three cycles of CMF (DAV/CMF). Long-term follow-up of 172 patients showed no significant survival difference (in multivariate regression models) for treatment with either CMF vs. CAF or CAF vs. DAV/CMF. The difference in median survival times between CMF and CAF showed a trend in favour of CAF. Advances in the management of metastatic breast cancer in postmenopausal women obtained by doxorubicin regimens have had a small but measurable impact on survival, but known patient discriminants were not overridden by the treatment regimens investigated in these studies.

Topics: Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Cyclophosphamide; Doxorubicin; Female; Fluorouracil; Humans; Methotrexate; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Prognosis; Prospective Studies; Time Factors; Vincristine

Six hundred twenty-four women with metastatic breast cancer were entered on Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) study EST 2181. Patients were treated with mitolactol, doxorubicin, vincristine (DAV), tamoxifen, and fluoxymesterone (DAVTH). Nine patients were canceled, and 114 were ineligible (half because of concomitant diseases). Among the 501 eligible patients, the overall response rate was 54% (14% complete response and 5% not assessable). The median time to treatment failure (TTF) was 9.0 months, and the median survival was 20.9 months. Multivariate models were fit on a randomly chosen half of the eligible cases and then verified on the other half. About half of the variables that were significant in the models remained significant in the verification data set. In the verification data set the variables that remained significantly associated with lower probability of response were three or more organ sites of disease and lack of nodal metastases; the variables associated with a significantly shorter TTF were liver metastases, estrogen receptor (ER)-negativity, and prior adjuvant therapy. The variables associated with significantly shorter survival were liver metastases, ER negativity, three or more organ sites of disease, and prior adjuvant chemotherapy. None of the variables in the data set had a significant influence on toxicity. The 125 patients aged over 65 years did not have worse toxicity or worse prognosis than younger patients. Ineligible patients had significantly less response but virtually identical TTF curves, survival curves, and toxicities. Therefore, patient discriminants are of paramount importance in predicting the outcome of treatment. Many of the current criteria for eligibility for entry on study may not be justified.

Topics: Adenocarcinoma; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Doxorubicin; Female; Fluoxymesterone; Humans; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Multivariate Analysis; Prognosis; Proportional Hazards Models; Survival Analysis; Tamoxifen; Treatment Outcome; Vincristine

The therapeutic efficacy of the combination of epirubicin + dibromodulcitol was evaluated in 108 previously treated or untreated patients with advanced breast cancer. The overall response rate was 39.8%, complete remission 3.7% (mean duration 6.3 months) and partial remission 36.1% (mean duration 3.5 months). The response was rated in function of age, menopausal status, performance status and previous therapy. Toxicity (in case of 115 patients) was evaluated according to the WHO recommendation. The similar therapeutic effectiveness and less toxicity of the above drug combination compared to ADM + DBD regimen are demonstrated.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Drug Evaluation; Epirubicin; Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Multicenter Studies as Topic

Ninety-seven eligible and evaluable women with metastatic breast cancer were placed on a prospective clinical protocol to evaluate the use of continuous cyclic therapy with dibromodulcitol, doxorubicin, vincristine, tamoxifen, and fluoxymesterone (DAVTH) v DAVTH alternating with cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil, and prednisone (CMFP); and the use of pretreatment and serial carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels in these patients. Continuous DAVTH and DAVTH/CMFP were equivalent therapies with respect to response rates, time to treatment failure (TTF), and survival. Pretreatment CEA levels were elevated (greater than 5 ng/mL) in 42/97 patients and less than 5 ng/mL in the remaining patients. Patients with elevated pretreatment CEA levels were more likely to be estrogen receptor (ER) positive (P = .006), to have prolonged disease-free intervals (P = .017), to have hepatic (P = .004) and/or osseous (P = .01) metastases, and to have multiple sites of metastatic disease (P = .004). Pretreatment CEA levels did not significantly predict for overall response rates, TTF, or survival; nonetheless, those patients with low pretreatment CEA levels had more complete responses (CRs) (16/55 v 4/42; P = .02). Serial CEA levels during therapy revealed a number of interesting patterns. During the first 4 months of treatment, serial CEA levels in responding patients either (1) progressively declined (15/29 women with elevated pretreatment CEA levels), or (2) initially rose significantly (mean, 243% of pretreatment value) and then declined (14/29 women with elevated pretreatment CEA levels). Peak CEA levels in the latter patients were seen 27 to 135 days following initiation of cytotoxic therapy. In some patients the initial increase in the CEA level was incorrectly interpreted as evidence of impending disease progression. CEA levels frequently increased around the time of clinical disease progression. However, rising CEA levels rarely provided a clinically meaningful lead time before the appearance of other clinical evidence of disease progression. These data suggest that routine pretreatment and monthly serial CEA levels in metastatic breast cancer patients have minimal use in clinical practice. Two further noteworthy findings were observed in this prospective study. First, patients with an unknown ER status had a prolonged median survival when compared with patients with ER positive or negative tumors; this appeared to be related to prolonged disease-free inter

Topics: Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Carcinoembryonic Antigen; Clinical Laboratory Techniques; Clinical Trials as Topic; Cyclophosphamide; Doxorubicin; Drug Administration Schedule; Female; Fluorouracil; Fluoxymesterone; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Methotrexate; Mitolactol; Neoplasm Metastasis; Prednisone; Prognosis; Prospective Studies; Random Allocation; Tamoxifen; Vincristine

One hundred fifty-one women with advanced breast cancer who had failed prior chemotherapy were randomized to monthly courses of doxorubicin (60 mg/m2 I.V. day 1, observation after 500 mg/m2) or doxorubicin (40 mg/m2 I.V. day 1; maximum 500 mg/m2) and mitolactol (135 mg/m2 orally, days 1-10; 180 mg/m2 after maximum doxorubicin). Median survival times were 232 days for doxorubicin and 225 days for doxorubicin + mitolactol, and median times to progression were 112 days and 97 days, respectively. Results are inconsistent with a 25% improvement in survival or time to progression for doxorubicin + mitolactol (p = 0.04 and 0.02, respectively, adjusted for stratification factors but not multiple testing). Regression rates for all patients, both measurable and evaluable, were 30% for doxorubicin alone and 26% for doxorubicin + mitolactol. Regression rates were significantly higher in patients with measurable indicator lesions. Cardiac toxicity was seen in four patients, all of whom were receiving doxorubicin alone. It appears that the combination of doxorubicin + mitolactol is not substantially more effective than doxorubicin alone in women with advanced breast cancer and prior chemotherapy exposure.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Clinical Trials as Topic; Doxorubicin; Drug Evaluation; Female; Humans; Leukopenia; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Random Allocation; Thrombocytopenia

A controlled study with two independent cytostatic combinations in advanced breast cancer was performed in total 236 patients. Results of the treatment in 218 evaluable patients are reported. The first combination included cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil, and vincristine (CMFV, 108 patients), the second one carminomycin and dibromodulcitol (CD, 110 patients), both treatments having been administered intermittently. Those patients who became resistant to the first applied schedule or those after five CD cycles, were crossed over to the alternative schedule. Patients were perspectively stratified according to dominant sites of metastases and randomized then to the treatment schedule. Overall response (CR + PR + MR) was achieved in CMFV combination in 35/108 patients (32%), conventional response (CR + PR) in 31/108 patients (29%), complete response (CRP) in 7/108 patients (7%). In CD combination the corresponding values were 34/110 (31%), 27/110 (25%), 1/100 (1%). Response (CR + PR) in patients crossed over from CMFV to CD was seen in 2/37 patients (5%), and from CD to CMFV in 4/36 patients (11%). Median duration of response observed in the CMFV combination was 5.5 months (range 1-12 + months), in the CD combination 4.5 months (range 1-15 months). Toxic reactions were reversible, grade 3 and 4 cardiotoxicity in the CD combination in 4% of patients in the primary treatment and in 14% in patients when crossed over from the primary treatment and in 14% in patients when crossed over from the primary CMFV regimen.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Carubicin; Clinical Trials as Topic; Cyclophosphamide; Daunorubicin; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Fluorouracil; Humans; Methotrexate; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Vincristine

The therapeutic effectiveness of combining tamoxifen with a combination chemotherapy regimen was tested in 135 patients with advanced breast cancer previously treated with chemotherapy. Patients were randomly allocated to received dibromodulcitol + Adriamycin (DA, 55 patients) or DA + tamoxifen (DAT, 67 patients). An additional 13 patients less than 50 years of age were assigned to DAT (DATN). Pretreatment characteristics were similar across both regimens. DAT and DATN yielded similar results in the less than 50-year-old cohort. DAT tended to be superior to DA with respect to response rate (55% versus 36%, p = 0.004), time to treatment failure (medians: 170 days versus 110 days, log rank p = 0.001), responders' time to treatment failure (360 days versus 220 days, p = 0.035), and survival (340 days versus 270 days, p = 0.18). Toxicity was similar in both regimens. Thus, addition of tamoxifen to a second-line DA regimen appears to increase the therapeutic effectiveness. It is suggested that the addition of this antiestrogen to other chemotherapy regimens would also be beneficial.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Agents; Breast Neoplasms; Digestive System; Doxorubicin; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Neoplasm Metastasis; Prospective Studies; Random Allocation; Tamoxifen

The aim of this study was to compare the treatment efficacy of mitomycin-C plus tamoxifen (MT) to adriamycin, dibromodulcitol and tamoxifen (DAT) in previously treated patients with metastatic breast cancer. Thirty-two patients with measurable or evaluable disease were entered on the study. Twenty-three were prospectively randomized to receive DAT (Group 1) or MT (Group 2). Nine patients with prior exposure to adriamycin were directly assigned to receive MT (Group 3). Thirty-one patients were evaluable for response and toxicity. The hematological toxicities were comparable among the three treatment groups. DAT gave more nausea and vomiting than MT. One patient developed irreversible fatal congestive heart failure while receiving DAT. The response for Group 1 was 5/11, Group 2, 3/12, and Group 3, 3/8. The duration of response for patients in Group 1 was 455+, 315, 251, 239, 231 days, in Group 2 it was 328+, 144+, 119, and in Group 3 it was 35+, 84, and 112 days. The median time to treatment failure did not differ significantly between Group 1 (114 days), 2 (83 days) and 3 (61 days) (p = 0.24). The median survival time was similar among the three groups (p = 0.41). This pilot study suggests that MT and DAT are both effective treatment programs in patients with metastatic breast cancer who have failed prior chemotherapy regimens.

Topics: Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Bone Neoplasms; Breast Neoplasms; Doxorubicin; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Humans; Mitolactol; Mitomycin; Mitomycins; Pilot Projects; Random Allocation; Soft Tissue Neoplasms; Tamoxifen

A total of 268 patients with metastatic breast cancer were prospectively randomized to receive Adriamycin-vincristine (AV) alone, AV plus dibromodulcitol (AVD), or AV plus ICRF-159 (AVI). Two hundred thirty were eligible and had received prior chemotherapy. The objective response rates were 27%, 23%, and 16% for AV, AVD and AVI, respectively, and an additional 44% had stabilization of disease. Duration of responses ranged from 4.1 to 4.6 months and the times to treatment failure from 2.9 to 3.8 months. Median survivals ranged from 7.1 to 8.3 months. Performance status and the presence of liver or brain metastases were significant prognostic variables for outcome. These studies show that AVI is inferior to AV with respect to survival when prognostic variables are taken into account in a multivariate model, whereas AVD which utilizes a lower dose of Adriamycin appears to have comparable antitumor activity to AV. This does not appear to offer any benefit to patients previously treated with chemotherapy, as in this trial, but it may be an advantage to previously untreated patients since Adriamycin can be administered to responding patients over a longer period of time before an unacceptable total cumulative dose is reached.

Topics: Aged; Breast Neoplasms; Clinical Trials as Topic; Doxorubicin; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Humans; Menopause; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Neoplasm Metastasis; Piperazines; Razoxane; Time Factors; Vincristine

Topics: Adult; Aged; Altretamine; Breast Neoplasms; Clinical Trials as Topic; Drug Evaluation; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Neoplasm Metastasis; Time Factors; Triazines

Topics: Acute Disease; Adult; Aged; Breast Neoplasms; Female; Humans; Leukemia, Myeloid; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Neoplasms, Second Primary; Risk Factors

Topics: Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Cyclophosphamide; Doxorubicin; Female; Fluorouracil; Fluoxymesterone; Humans; Methotrexate; Mitolactol; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Prednisone; Prospective Studies; Remission Induction; Survival Rate; Tamoxifen

The aim of this pilot study was to estimate the toxicity and response rate of an alternating chemotherapeutic program in chemotherapy-naive metastatic breast cancer patients. Treatment consisted of regimen A (given days 1-28): cyclophosphamide 100 mg/m2 PO days 1-14, doxorubicin 30 mg/m2 i.v. days 1 and 8, and 5-fluorouracil 500 mg/m2 i.v. days 1 and 8 (CAF regimen); regimen B (given days 29-56): dibromodulcitol 135 mg/m2 p.o. days 30-39, mitoxantrone 9 mg/m2 i.v. day 29, and vincristine 1.2 mg/m2 i.v. (maximum 2.0 mg) day 29 (DMV regimen); and regimen C (given days 57-84): thiotepa 12 mg/m2, doxorubicin 45 mg/m2 and vinblastine 4.5 mg/m2 all i.v. on day 57. There were 27 eligible patients with a median age of 51 years (range 34-78). On 14 episodes the leukocyte count fell to less than 1 X 10(9)/L during the first six cycles of treatment (14% of 99 cycles). There were no treatment-related deaths. Common non-life-threatening toxicities included thrombocytopenia, anemia, vomiting, and alopecia. Despite having no drugs in common, the leukocyte and platelet nadirs after CAF correlated with the nadir counts after DMV (r values of 0.6829 and 0.5892, respectively; p = 0.01). Among the 23 patients with measurable and/or evaluable disease there were five complete responses (22%) and nine partial responses (39%), with a median time to treatment failure of 29 weeks. The overall median survival was 19 months.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Cyclophosphamide; Doxorubicin; Drug Administration Schedule; Female; Fluorouracil; Hematologic Diseases; Humans; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Mitoxantrone; Pilot Projects; Remission Induction; Survival Rate; Thiotepa; Vinblastine; Vincristine

Acute non-lymphatic leukaemia and myelodysplasia occur in a larger percentage of patients treated with dibromodulcitol (DBD) than in patients treated with other cytostatics. Sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) in the lymphocytes in peripheral blood as well as other haematological parameters were measured in women with breast cancer to investigate whether women who had previously been treated with DBD as a part of their treatment regime had an increased frequency of SCE or another haematological abnormality attributable to DBD. SCE levels were elevated in women treated with DBD as well as in those treated with other cytostatics compared to the untreated control group. All other haematological parameters were normal. There was no significant difference in the number of SCEs between the patients who received DBD and those treated with other cytostatics. The increased frequencies of SCE in the treated patients are attributable to various cytostatic agents, and there is no significant permanent increase in the frequency of SCE after exposure to DBD.

Topics: Breast Neoplasms; Female; Humans; Lymphocytes; Mitolactol; Neoplasm Metastasis; Sister Chromatid Exchange

Topics: Breast Neoplasms; Female; Humans; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; Mitolactol; Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Two Adriamycin (doxorubicin)-based chemotherapy regimens were investigated in patients with carcinoma of the breast who had failed prior systemic therapy. The two chemotherapy programs, dibromodulcitol, Adriamycin, vincristine, and Halotestin (fluoxymesterone) (DAVH), and thiotepa, Adriamycin, vinblastine, and Halotestin (TAVH), were chosen for comparison on the basis of reported response rates of 40% to 50% with remission durations of 11 months in patients refractory to other cytotoxic chemotherapy. Cycles of DAVH were repeated every 4 weeks. Cycles of TAVH were repeated every 3 weeks. Of 184 patients evaluable for response, 32% of patients treated with DAVH and 38% of patients treated with TAVH had a complete response (CR) or partial response (PR). An additional 5% of patients had nonmeasurable improvement in osseous disease for an overall rate of response (CR + PR + improvement) of 40%. Patients who had previously received cytotoxic chemotherapy for metastatic disease or had early failure after adjuvant therapy had a lower response rate to DAVH, but not to TAVH than those who did not fail prior chemotherapy. Duration of response and survival were similar with the two treatments. There were seven treatment-related deaths, five among patients receiving DAVH and two among patients receiving TAVH. Patients receiving DAVH had significantly more thrombocytopenia and neurologic toxicity than those receiving TAVH. These treatments appear to be reasonable second-line regimens and are good candidates to be used in initial therapy of metastatic disease or adjuvant therapy studies that explore the use of alternating non-cross-resistant combinations with cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil.

Topics: Adenocarcinoma; Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Doxorubicin; Drug Evaluation; Female; Fluoxymesterone; Humans; Leukopenia; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Nervous System Diseases; Thiotepa; Thrombocytopenia; Vinblastine; Vincristine

Topics: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Drug Evaluation; Female; Humans; Idarubicin; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Neutropenia; Thrombocytopenia

Twenty-three patients with metastatic breast carcinoma were induced with a complex systemic therapy regimen in an attempt to ascertain if a complete remission rate greater than 50% could be obtained with intensive drug exposure. The durability of the remissions was observed by discontinuing therapy after 3 cycles in complete remission or after 6 cycles of treatment, whichever was longer. In 13 patients consolidation radiation therapy to the pre-treatment sites of disease was administered after discontinuing systemic therapy. Each 28 day cycle of the drug regimen consisted of pulses of adriamycin, vincristine, dibromodulcitol, prednisone, methotrexate with leukovorin rescue, hexamethylmelamine, bleomycin (discontinued after entry #17), fluoxymesterone, and tamoxifen. Eighteen of the 23 patients achieved complete remissions (78%) and 3 had partial remissions. The median times to treatment failure and survival were, respectively, 12.3 and 19.4 mos. The times for complete remission patients were, respectively, 13.5 and 23.9 mos. Consolidation radiotherapy at greater than or equal to 40 Gy to drug induced pre-study sites of complete remission was associated with first relapses at pre-study sites in 5/30 (17%) instances, compared to 21/35 (60%) in sites not receiving radiotherapy. Side-effects were commensurate with the intensity of the treatment program and are detailed in the text. Although the achievement of a high complete remission rate is promising, the failure to extend their duration beyond that of historical data suggests that additional conceptual and therapeutic approaches need to be explored.

Topics: Altretamine; Antineoplastic Agents; Bleomycin; Breast Neoplasms; Combined Modality Therapy; Doxorubicin; Drug Administration Schedule; Female; Fluoxymesterone; Humans; Leucovorin; Leukopenia; Lung; Methotrexate; Mitolactol; Neoplasm Metastasis; Prednisone; Receptors, Estrogen; Tamoxifen; Thrombocytopenia; Time Factors; Vincristine

Topics: Alopecia; Amenorrhea; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Cyclophosphamide; Cystitis; Doxorubicin; Drug Eruptions; Female; Fluorouracil; Heart; Humans; Methotrexate; Mitolactol; Mitomycins; Neoplasms

A combination of dibromodulcitol 500 mg orally, mitomycin C 10 mg i.v. and vinblastine 10 mg i.v. all given on day 1 and repeated every 4 weeks was given to 40 patients with advanced breast cancer. All but one had received previous endocrine therapy. The response rate (CR + PR) in 24 previously untreated patients was 66% and was 37% in 16 previously treated patients. The survival of responders was significantly longer than non-responders. Thirty-two per cent of patients experienced nausea and vomiting. There was little myelosuppression or thrombocytopenia on the day of starting a new course of therapy but the haemoglobin dropped by 2 g/dl in 32% of patients during therapy. Thus DMV is a relatively non-toxic active regimen for patients with advanced breast cancer.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Mitomycin; Mitomycins; Vinblastine

Twenty-six evaluable patients with metastatic breast carcinoma previously treated with a combination of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil, vincristine, and prednisone (CMFVP) were treated with a combination of doxorubicin (Adriamycin), dibromodulcitol, and mitomycin (ADM). Four patients (15%) achieved complete remission, and 10 patients (39%) had a partial response. Five patients (19%) had stable disease, and seven patients (27%) experienced disease progression. The median time to disease progression was 10 months for responding patients (range, 4-44 months) and 5 months (range, 2-13 months) for patients with stable disease. The median survival duration was 15 months (range, 6-44+ months) for responders, 11 months (range, 2-27 months) for patients with stable disease, and 4 months (range, 2-41 months) for nonresponders. Two of the four patients with complete remission are alive and in continued remission at a follow-up of 44 and 40 months. Seventy-one patients with greater than or equal to two sites of metastasis responded, whereas 23% of patients with greater than or equal to three metastatic sites responded. Although higher responses were seen with soft tissue and osseous metastasis, responses were observed in all three sites of metastasis. This combination chemotherapy regimen with ADM is an effective second-line program for patients who have previously received CMFVP chemotherapy.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Alopecia; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Bone Neoplasms; Breast Neoplasms; Cyclophosphamide; Doxorubicin; Female; Fluorouracil; Humans; Leukopenia; Methotrexate; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Mitomycins; Nausea; Prednisone; Soft Tissue Neoplasms; Thrombocytopenia; Time Factors; Vincristine; Vomiting

Thirty-eight evaluable patients with metastatic breast cancer refractory to hormonal therapy and multiple chemotherapy regimens were treated with mitolactol at a dose of 130 mg/m2/day orally for 10 days every 6 weeks. Only one patient, with nodal and chest wall metastases, had a sustained complete regression; two patients had stable disease; and 35 patients had disease progression. The toxicity, which was primarily hematologic, was acceptable.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Breast Neoplasms; Cyclophosphamide; Drug Evaluation; Female; Fluorouracil; Humans; Methotrexate; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Neoplasm Metastasis; Receptors, Estrogen

Topics: Adult; Aged; Breast Neoplasms; Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Platelet Count

A combination of adriamycin, vincristine, dibromodulcitol, and hexamethylmelamine was piloted in patients with advanced breast cancer who had failed prior CMFP chemotherapy, as a part of ongoing trials by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group to improve second-line chemotherapy for this disease. The vincristine was given as an intensive 5 week induction regimen and hexamethylmelamine was administered on days 15-27 of a 28 day cycle, at the time of anticipated nadir peripheral blood counts. The study was terminated early after only 9 patients had been entered because of severe neurotoxicity related to the intensive schedule of vincristine as well as hematologic and gastrointestinal side effects. Three patients responded for 11, 18 and 21 weeks. The limited therapeutic benefit did not justify the toxicity produced, and suggested that intensive dosage schedules of vincristine, and use of low dose hexamethylmelamine during the time of anticipated hematologic nadir counts would not be of substantial benefit.

Topics: Aged; Altretamine; Breast Neoplasms; Doxorubicin; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Pilot Projects; Triazines; Vincristine

Determination of polyamines (putrescine, spermidine) can be useful for evaluation of treatment efficacy. The amount of putrescine and spermidine were estimated for 10 patients (breast carcinoma; stage IV; T0--4 N0--3 M1) prior to, during and after different combination chemotherapy (carminomycin-dibromodulcitol; cyclophosphamide-methotrexate-5-fluorouracil). Hydrolysis with hydrochloric acid showed best results. Automated ion exchange chromatography is a sensitive and reproducible method. 6 out of 10 patients did not show both clinical changes and changes in polyamine content comparable to values prior to combination chemotherapy. One example demonstrated both clinical progression and an increase of polyamine content. A correlation between decrease of putrescine and spermidine level and clinical remission were found in 3 out of 10 patients. These results support the usefulness of polyamine determinations to evaluate cancer chemotherapy.

Topics: Breast Neoplasms; Carubicin; Cyclophosphamide; Fluorouracil; Humans; Methotrexate; Mitolactol; Polyamines; Putrescine; Spermidine

Topics: Aged; Biotransformation; Breast Neoplasms; Female; Humans; Kinetics; Lung Neoplasms; Male; Maxillary Neoplasms; Middle Aged; Mitolactol

A phase 1 to 2 evaluation of a combination of adriamycin (ADR) and dibromodulcitol (DBD) was performed in patients with progressive, metastatic breast carcinoma. All but one patient had been treated previously with chemotherapy. ADR was given on Day 1 or Days 1 and 8, and DBD was given on Days 1 to 10 of each 21- to 28-day treatment cycle. Side effects were evaluable in 54 patients, and 50 patients were evaluable for therapeutic response. The dose-limiting toxicities were leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. The severity of both toxicities increased as both the ADR and DBD doses increased; however, the effect of increases in DBD dose was much more profound. The mean white blood cell count and platelet nadirs occurred, respectively, on Days 15.3 and 15.9; both nadirs were delayed for 0.6 day by each 30-mg/sq m/day increase in the DBD dose and delayed for 1.7 to 3.9 days using the Day 1, 8 rather than the Day 1 ADR schedule Recovery of the peripheral counts by Day 29 was prolonged by the Day 1, 8 ADR schedule and by increasing the DBD dose. A tolerable dose schedule for previously treated patients was considered to be ADR, 40 mg/sq m on Day 1, and DBD, 135 mg/sq m on Days 1 to 10 repeated every 28 days. Responses were observed in 46% (23 of 50) of the patients. There were 1 complete remission, 19 partial remissions, and 3 improvements. Thirteen patients showed no change and 14 developed progressive disease. There were responses in 13 of 37 (36%) with visceral dominant disease as compared to 7 of 8 (87%) with osseous and 3 of 5 (60%) with soft tissue-dominant disease. There were 22 of 48 (46%) responses in patients previously exposed to alkylating agent therapy. Twnety-two patients had responded and 19 had failed to respond to prior alkylating agent-containing regimens; the response rates to DBD in these groups were respectively, 45 and 42%. The median time to remission was 29 days. The median time to therapeutic failure was 5.1 months for responders, 2.3 months for patients with no change, and 29 days for progressors. The combination of ADR and DBD appears to be an active and well-tolerated program in patients with previously treated metastatic breast carcinoma.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Breast Neoplasms; Doxorubicin; Drug Administration Schedule; Drug Evaluation; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Humans; Leukopenia; Middle Aged; Mitolactol; Neoplasm Metastasis; Remission, Spontaneous; Thrombocytopenia; Time Factors

Co-operative investigation of clinical therapy for cancer is used to test hypotheses developed in single institutions and in animal research laboratories. The present studies in a large co-operative organization, the Central Oncology Group, are being conducted in seven major solid tumors in adults; in these studies patients with a poor surgical prognosis are being treated with preoperative or postoperative chemotherapy, preoperative radiotion therapy of these modalities. Results of studies currently underway or recently completed in 1,278 patients are summarized. In most instances, the research has demonstrated little or no apparent improvement in the disease free interval or the survival time from adjuvant therapy, although only on of the studies has been completed and fully evaluated thus far. In carcinoma of the colon and rectum and melanoma, mild toxicity from drug therapy has been associated with statistically significant improvement in survival times. These studies have produced base line information on disease free intervals, time to progression and survival time in patients with cancer who are seen in the participating institutions. These observations are expected to useful in the planning of future adjuvant studies.

Topics: Adult; Altretamine; Antineoplastic Agents; Bone Neoplasms; Breast Neoplasms; Carmustine; Colonic Neoplasms; Cyclophosphamide; Dacarbazine; Doxorubicin; Drug Evaluation; Female; Fluorouracil; Head and Neck Neoplasms; Humans; Lomustine; Lung Neoplasms; Male; Melanoma; Mitolactol; Neoplasms; Osteosarcoma; Pancreatic Neoplasms; Rectal Neoplasms; Vincristine

Dibromodulcitol was administered orally on Days 1-10 every 3-4 weeks to 29 patients with metastatic breast carcinoma refractory to previous combination chemotherapy. Initial doses between 70 and 280 mg/m2/day were utilized. The dose was escalated as tolerated in subsequent cycles in individual patients. Hematosuppression was dose-limiting. At doses of greater than 200 mg/m2/day leukopenia (greater than 1000 cells/mm3) and thrombocytopenia (greater than 25,000 platelets/mm3) occurred in one of 28 cycles and two of 27 cycles respectively. In contrast, at doses of less than or equal to 200 mg/m2/day leukopenia and thrombocytopenia occurred in four of 18 cycles and five of 18 cycles respectively. Recovery of leukocytes (less than 4000 cells/mm3) and platelets (less than 100,000 platelets/mm3) by Day 29 after the start of therapy was also delayed at higher doses. Responses were observed in three of 29 evaluable patients and subjective improvement of osseous disease in one additional patient. A dose of 180 mg/m2/day X 10 Every 28 days is recommended in previously treated patients to avoid severe hematologic side effects.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Blood Platelet Disorders; Breast Neoplasms; Drug Administration Schedule; Drug Evaluation; Female; Humans; Leukopenia; Middle Aged; Mitolactol

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Azacitidine; Breast Neoplasms; Chemical Phenomena; Chemistry; DNA Replication; DNA, Neoplasm; Doxorubicin; Drug Therapy, Combination; Humans; Leukemia, Lymphoid; Lymphoma; Male; Mitolactol; Neoplasms; Nitrosourea Compounds; Testicular Neoplasms; Thyroid Neoplasms