Albumin-bound paclitaxel and gemcitabine combination therapy in soft tissue sarcoma

Abstract

Background: The evidence that albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel) is safe and efficacious for the treatment of many types of malignant tumors is continuously increasing. However, the clinical data and evidence of nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine in metastatic soft tissue sarcoma (STS) treatment are rare.Methods: The data of 17 patients with metastatic STS who received nab-paclitaxel/ gemcitabine chemotherapy between January 2019 and February 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients were treated with nab-paclitaxel/ gemcitabine only after doxorubicin-based chemotherapy had failed. We evaluated the median progression-free survival (m-PFS), disease control rate (DCR), objective response rate (ORR) and adverse events (AEs) in these patients.Results: The m-PFS was 6 months (95% CI, 2–9 months), ORR was 41.2% and DCR was 70.6%. The average change in target lesion diameter from baseline was -19.06±45.74%. While the majority of the treatment patients experienced grade 1 or 2 AEs, grade 3 or 4 AEs were not common, but included neutropenia (17.6%), fatigue (11.8%), anemia (11.8%), leukopenia (11.8%), nausea (5.9%), peripheral neuropathy (5.9%), diarrhea (5.9%), and thrombocytopenia (5.9%). No treatment-related deaths occurred. Conclusion: Nab-paclitaxel/ gemcitabine combination chemotherapy is comparatively effective in the treatment of STS, demonstrates low toxicity, and is worthy of further study.