Safety and antitumor activity of 3-weekly anti-EpCAM antibody adecatumumab (MT201) in combination with docetaxel for patients with metastatic breast cancer: Results of a multicenter phase Ib trial

1009 Background: The fully human IgG1 antibody adecatumumab (MT201) binds to the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), which is expressed in over 90% of breast cancers and has been associated with poor prognosis. Data from a previous phase II study in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) indicated that single agent MT201 could prolong progression-free survival in a subset of patients with high EpCAM expression. This study tested safety and tolerability of MT201 treatment in combination with standard docetaxel. Methods: Relapsed or primary refractory, EpCAM-positive MBC patients were treated with docetaxel (100 mg/m2 q21d) in combination with MT201 (dose levels 180 mg/m2, and 550 mg/m2 q21d). A loading dose of 100 mg/m2 and 300 mg/m2, respectively, was administered on day 1 and 7. Patients were grouped into high- and low-level EpCAM expression. Primary objectives were safety and tolerability; anti-tumor activity according to RECIST was a secondary objective. Results: A total of 22 patients with a median of 3 prior chemotherapy lines were enrolled. Most frequent grade 3/4 adverse events (AE) in all patients were leucopenia (90%), neutropenia (77%), lymphopenia (68%), and diarrhea (23%). No evidence for aggravation of grade 3/4 toxicities typically associated with docetaxel was found. The dose level 550 mg/m2 q21d has been determined as MTD in combination with 100 mg/m2 q21d docetaxel. The overall response rate (CR/PR; RECIST) and clinical benefit rate (CR/PR and SD>24wks) in all evaluable patients was 24% and 41%, respectively. Patients with high EpCAM expression showed a response rate of 43%, whereas patients with low EpCAM expression had a response rate of 10%. Median time-to-progression (TTP) in all evaluable patients was 165 days. Conclusions: Combining MT201 with docetaxel for the treatment of MBC appears to be safe and feasible. The DLT of this combination were short and manageable episodes of grade 3 diarrhea. The response rate and TTP observed in this heavily pre-treated population is encouraging and warrant further development of MT201/chemotherapy combinations in patients with tumors of high EpCAM target level. [Table: see text]