Brief report: phase II multicenter study of temozolomide in patients with cisplatin-resistant germ cell tumors

To determine the activity and toxicity of temozolomide in a phase II multicenter trial in patients diagnosed with relapsed or cisplatin-refractory germ cell tumors.

During a recruitment period of 30 months, 20 patients received temozolomide 150 mg/m(2)/day p.o. for 5 days every 4 weeks, escalating to 200 mg/m(2)/day if grade II toxicity was not observed in the first cycle. Eligibility criteria were tumor progression or relapse after previous cisplatin and ifosfamide-containing chemotherapy, creatinine clearance of >40 ml/min, and a performance status of 0-2.

The median age was 38 years (range 27-56). Seventeen patients had nonseminomatous tumors, and 3 had seminomatous tumors. Six of the patients had extragonadal primary tumors (3 retroperitoneal and 3 mediastinal). The median number of prior cisplatin-containing cycles was 11 (range 7-20). Eight patients received prior high-dose chemotherapy and 14 were refractory or absolutely refractory to cisplatin. A total of 45 cycles were administered. Two partial responses lasting 9 and 3.5 months (overall response rate 10%, 95% CI 1.2-31.7) were observed. One of these responses was seen in a patient with a cisplatin-refractory tumor that had previously been treated with high-dose chemotherapy. The median time to progression and the median overall survival were 1.5 and 3.1 months, respectively. Grade III hematological toxicity consisted of thrombocytopenia in 2 patients and anemia in 1 patient. No grade IV toxicity was observed.

Temozolomide had some activity in heavily pretreated patients resistant to cisplatin-based chemotherapy.