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Combination chemotherapy with gemcitabine, oxaliplatin, and paclitaxel in patients with cisplatin-refractory or multiply relapsed germ-cell tumors: a study of the German Testicular Cancer Study Group.

BACKGROUND
The aim of this study is to determine feasibility and efficacy of the combination regimen gemcitabine, oxaliplatin, and paclitaxel (GOP) in patients with cisplatin-refractory or multiply relapsed germ-cell tumors.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
From April 2003 to October 2006, 41 patients refractory to cisplatin-based chemotherapy or with relapse after high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) plus stem-cell support (peripheral blood stem-cell transplantation: PBSCT) received 800 mg/m2 gemcitabine, 80 mg/m2 paclitaxel (Taxol), both on days 1 + 8, and oxaliplatin 130 mg/m2 on day 1 of a 3-week cycle for a minimum of two cycles. Primary end point was response rate. Patients were pretreated with a median of two lines of platin-based chemotherapy (range, 1-3), and 78% had relapsed after HDCT/PBSCT.


RESULTS
Seventy-three percent of patients had relapsed within 3 months after the last cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Five percent of the patients achieved a complete response, and 34% and 12% a marker-negative and marker-positive partial response, respectively (overall response rate 51%). After a median follow-up of 5 months (range, 0-20), 15% of the patients remain in complete remission after GOP chemotherapy +/- residual tumor resection with a median response duration of 8 months (1 to 17+). Main toxicity was leucocytopenia grade 3/4 in 15%, anemia in 7%, and thrombocytopenia in 49% of the patients.


CONCLUSION
Combination chemotherapy with GOP is feasible and effective with acceptable toxicity in patients with treatment-refractory germ-cell tumors.