Sorafenib Tosylate With or Without Doxorubicin Hydrochloride in Treating Patients With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Liver Cancer

Phase 3

Completed

Conditions: Stage IIIB Hepatocellular Carcinoma AJCC v7
Stage IVB Hepatocellular Carcinoma AJCC v7
Advanced Adult Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Recurrent Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Stage IIIA Hepatocellular Carcinoma AJCC v7
Stage IVA Hepatocellular Carcinoma AJCC v7
Stage III Hepatocellular Carcinoma AJCC v7
Stage IIIC Hepatocellular Carcinoma AJCC v7
Stage IV Hepatocellular Carcinoma AJCC v7
Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Interventions: Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis
Drug: Doxorubicin Hydrochloride
Other: Pharmacogenomic Study
Drug: Sorafenib Tosylate

Registration Number: NCT01015833

Lead Sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Brief Summary: This randomized phase III trial studies sorafenib tosylate and doxorubicin hydrochloride to see how well they work compared with sorafenib tosylate alone in treating patients with liver cancer that has spread to nearby tissue or lymph nodes or has spread to other places in the body. Sorafenib tosylate may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth and by blocking blood flow to the tumor. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as doxorubicin hydrochloride, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. It is not yet known whether giving sorafenib tosylate together with doxorubicin hydrochloride is more effective than sorafenib tosylate alone in treating liver cancer.

Detailed Description: PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Compare the overall survival (OS) of patients treated with sorafenib (sorafenib tosylate) and doxorubicin (doxorubicin hydrochloride) to that of those treated with sorafenib.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Compare time to progression (TTP) of patients treated with sorafenib and doxorubicin to that of those treated with sorafenib.

II. Compare progression-free-survival (PFS) of patients treated with sorafenib and doxorubicin to that of those treated with sorafenib.

III. Compare tumor response using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) criteria of patients treated with sorafenib and doxorubicin to that of those treated with sorafenib.

OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

ARM I: Patients receive doxorubicin hydrochloride intravenously (IV) on day 1 and sorafenib tosylate orally (PO) once daily (QD) or twice daily (BID) on days 1-21. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After 6 courses, patients may continue to receive sorafenib tosylate PO QD or BID in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

ARM II: Patients receive sorafenib tosylate PO QD or BID on days 1-21. Courses repeat every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 3 months for 1 year and then every 6 months for 2 years.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 356

Inclusion Criteria

Patients must have pathologically or cytologically proven hepatocellular carcinoma; known mixed histology (e.g. hepatocellular carcinoma plus cholangiocarcinoma) or fibrolamellar variant is not allowed
Patients must have locally advanced or metastatic disease; locally advanced disease is defined as disease deemed to be unresectable or non-eligible for transplant without distant metastases
Lesions must be accurately measurable in at least one dimension (longest diameter to be recorded) as >= 2 cm with conventional techniques or as >= 1 cm with spiral computed tomography (CT) scan
No prior adjuvant sorafenib or other v-RAF-1 murine leukemia viral oncogene homolog (Raf)/vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors; other prior adjuvant therapy is allowed if completed > 6 months prior to registration with documented recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
Patients may have been treated with loco regional therapies provided that they either have:
- A target lesion that has not been subjected to local therapy or
- The target lesion(s) within the field of the local therapy has shown an increase of >= 20% in the size since last treatment
  - Such therapy must be completed at least 4 weeks prior to registration; patients that have received palliative radiation therapy to the bone need not wait 4 weeks to begin protocol therapy
Prior therapies allowed include the following:
- Bland embolization, radiation, radioactive microspheres, etc
- Chemoembolization using any chemotherapy (except, see below)
- Chemoembolization drug-eluting beads using doxorubicin
- Prior therapy with chemoembolization using doxorubicin in the non drug eluting beads form is NOT allowed
No prior systemic therapy for metastatic disease
No prior exposure to systemic doxorubicin administered intravenously
Antiviral treatment is allowed, however interferon therapy must be stopped at least 4 weeks prior to registration
Allografts are not allowed: no prior history of any allograft, including but not limited to liver and bone marrow transplants
Patients must have completed any major surgery >= 4 weeks from registration
Concomitant treatment with Rifampin or St John's wort is not allowed; patients should discontinue these drugs at least 4 weeks prior to registration
No known central nervous system (CNS) tumors including brain metastases
No clinically significant gastrointestinal bleeding events requiring intervention, transfusion, or admission to hospital within 30 days prior to registration
Patients with a history of hypertension should be well controlled (< 140/90 mmHg) on a regimen of anti-hypertensive therapy
Significant history of cardiac disease is not allowed:
- Congestive heart failure > class II New York Heart Association (NYHA)
- Myocardial infarction within 6 months prior to registration
- Serious myocardial dysfunction, defined as scintigraphically (multigated acquisition scan [MUGA], myocardial scintigram) determined absolute left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) below 45% or an LVEF on echocardiogram (ECHO) below the normal limit at the individual institution
No history of bleeding diathesis
Patients receiving combination anti-retroviral therapy for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are excluded from the study
Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0 or 1
Pregnancy/nursing status: women who are pregnant should not go on study; women should not breastfeed while participating in this study
Granulocytes >= 1,500/uL
Hemoglobin >= 8.5 g/dL; patients with recent or ongoing gastrointestinal bleed may not be transfused to reach the entry hemoglobin of 8.5 g/dL; physicians should ensure patients requiring transfusion prior to registration do not have an occult or clinically apparent gastrointestinal bleed
Platelets >= 75,000/uL
Creatinine =< 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) (or creatinine clearance calculated >= 60 cc/minute)
Child-Pugh score A; patients must meet all laboratory value requirements
Bilirubin =< 3 mg/dL
Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) =< 5 x ULN
Prothrombin time (PT)-international normalized ratio (INR) =< 1.7 (not required for patients on anticoagulation agents; patients who are being therapeutically anticoagulated with an agent such as Coumadin or heparin will be allowed to participate provided that no prior evidence of underlying abnormality in these parameters exists)

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Arm II (sorafenib tosylate)	Pharmacogenomic Study	Patients receive sorafenib tosylate PO QD or BID on days 1-21. Courses repeat every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
Arm II (sorafenib tosylate)	Sorafenib Tosylate	Patients receive sorafenib tosylate PO QD or BID on days 1-21. Courses repeat every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
Arm II (sorafenib tosylate)	Laboratory Biomarker Analysis	Patients receive sorafenib tosylate PO QD or BID on days 1-21. Courses repeat every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
Arm I (doxorubicin hydrochloride, sorafenib tosylate)	Pharmacogenomic Study	Patients receive doxorubicin hydrochloride IV on day 1 and sorafenib tosylate PO QD or BID on days 1-21. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After 6 courses, patients may continue to receive sorafenib tosylate PO QD or BID in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
Arm I (doxorubicin hydrochloride, sorafenib tosylate)	Laboratory Biomarker Analysis	Patients receive doxorubicin hydrochloride IV on day 1 and sorafenib tosylate PO QD or BID on days 1-21. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After 6 courses, patients may continue to receive sorafenib tosylate PO QD or BID in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
Arm I (doxorubicin hydrochloride, sorafenib tosylate)	Sorafenib Tosylate	Patients receive doxorubicin hydrochloride IV on day 1 and sorafenib tosylate PO QD or BID on days 1-21. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After 6 courses, patients may continue to receive sorafenib tosylate PO QD or BID in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
Arm I (doxorubicin hydrochloride, sorafenib tosylate)	Doxorubicin Hydrochloride	Patients receive doxorubicin hydrochloride IV on day 1 and sorafenib tosylate PO QD or BID on days 1-21. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After 6 courses, patients may continue to receive sorafenib tosylate PO QD or BID in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Overall Survival	Up to 3 years	Overall survival is defined as the time from study entry to death from any cause. The median OS was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Time to Progression (TTP)	Up to 3 years	Time to Progression (TTP) is defined as the time from on study to progression. Progression is defined by the RECIST criteria as Progressive Disease (PD): At least a 20% increase in the sum of the diameters of target lesions, taking as reference the smallest sum on study (this includes the baseline sum if that is the smallest on study). In addition to the relative increase of 20%, the sum must also demonstrate an absolute increase of at least 5 mm. (Note: The appearance of one or more new lesions is also considered progression). Median and 95% confidence intervals are provided for each arm below.
Incidence of Toxicities, as Assessed by National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events Version 4.0	Up to 3 years	Toxicity is defined as a grade 3 or higher adverse events that is classified as either possibly, probably, or definitely related to study treatment. The assignment of attribution to study treatment and grade (or degree of severity) of the adverse event are classified using the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 4.0. The maximum grade for each type of adverse event will be recorded for each patient, and frequency tables will be reviewed to determine patterns. Additionally, the relationship of the adverse event(s) to the study treatment will be taken into consideration. The percentage of patients with a maximum grade 3 or higher adverse event at least possibly related to the study treatment are reported below.
Best Overall Response Rate	Up to 3 years	Best Overall Response Rate is defined as is the best response recorded from the start of the treatment until disease progression/recurrence. Complete Response: Disappearance of all target lesions. Any pathological lymph nodes must have reduction in short axis to \< 10 mm. Partial Response (PR): At least a 30% decrease in the sum of the diameters of target lesions, taking as reference the baseline sum diameters. Progressive Disease (PD): At least a 20% increase in the sum of the diameters of target lesions, taking as reference the smallest sum on study (this includes the baseline sum if that is the smallest on study). In addition to the relative increase of 20%, the sum must also demonstrate an absolute increase of at least 5 mm. (Note: The appearance of one or more new lesions is also considered progression). Stable Disease (SD): Neither sufficient shrinkage to qualify for PR nor sufficient increase to qualify for PD taking as references the smallest sum diameters while on study.
Progression Free Survival	Up to 3 years	Progression free survival is defined as the time from study entry to earliest date of disease progression. Progression is defined as at least a 20% increase in the sum of the diameters of target lesions, taking as reference the smallest sum on study (this includes the baseline sum if that is the smallest on study). In addition to the relative increase of 20%, the sum must also demonstrate an absolute increase of at least 5 mm. (Note: The appearance of one or more new lesions is also considered progression).

Trial Locations

Locations (671): University of Alabama at Birmingham Cancer Center
🇺🇸
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Providence Hospital
🇺🇸
Mobile, Alabama, United States
Southern Cancer Center PC-Providence
🇺🇸
Mobile, Alabama, United States
Alaska Regional Hospital
🇺🇸
Anchorage, Alaska, United States
Fairbanks Memorial Hospital
🇺🇸
Fairbanks, Alaska, United States
Baptist Memorial Hospital and Fowler Family Cancer Center - Jonesboro
🇺🇸
Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States
Kaiser Permanente-Anaheim
🇺🇸
Anaheim, California, United States
Kaiser Permanente-Deer Valley Medical Center
🇺🇸
Antioch, California, United States
PCR Oncology
🇺🇸
Arroyo Grande, California, United States
Kaiser Permanente-Baldwin Park
🇺🇸
Baldwin Park, California, United States
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University of Alabama at Birmingham Cancer Center
🇺🇸Birmingham, Alabama, United States