Phase II study of preoperative chemotherapy with nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine followed by chemoradiation for borderline resectable or node-positive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Abstract

697 Background: Pre-operative therapy for resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) may eliminate micro-metastatic disease early and help achieve negative surgical margins. The present study is based on the hypothesis that gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel chemotherapy followed by chemo-radiation with fluoropyrimidine is a feasible and efficacious pre-operative treatment for borderline resectable or node-positive PDAC. Methods: This is a single-arm phase II trial to evaluate pre-operative treatment with 2 cycles of gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2 and nab-paclitaxel 125 mg/m2 on days 1, 8, 15 every 28 days followed by 50.4 Gy of intensity-modulated radiation therapy over 28 fractions with concurrent 5-fluorouracil or capecitabine prior to pancreatic resection. Patients were eligible if they met borderline resectable criteria or had abnormal regional nodes visible on contrast CT. After surgery, they were eligible to receive up to 4 additional cycles of gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel. The primary endpoint was the R0 resection rate. Secondary endpoints included response to pre-operative therapy, overall toxicities, relapse-free survival, and overall survival. Results: Nineteen of 24 screened patients have been enrolled. Median age was 68, 10 (53%) were female, and 4 (21%) were non-Caucasian. Eleven (78%) had head of pancreas cancers, 13 (68%) exhibited both arterial and venous involvement, and 12 (63%) had positive clinical nodes. All 19 patients received 2 months of gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel, of which 17 patients continued to chemo-radiation (1 developed metastatic disease and 1 moved out of state). In the interval between chemo-radiation and surgery, 3 developed metastatic disease, 1 became unresectable, 1 withdrew from study, and 1 was deemed too frail for surgery. Nine have undergone successful pancreatic resection, and 2 are pending resection. Conclusions: Pre-operative gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel followed by chemo-radiation with fluoropyrimidine is feasible in patients with borderline resectable PDAC and represents another strategy to FOLFIRINOX-based therapy. A planned interim analysis is ongoing. Clinical trial information: NCT02427841.