Skip to main content
British Journal of Cancer logoLink to British Journal of Cancer
. 2001 Nov;85(10):1467–1471. doi: 10.1054/bjoc.2001.2120

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor alone or with dacarbazine in metastatic melanoma: a randomized phase II trial

A Ravaud 1,2, M Delaunay 3, C Chevreau 4, V Coulon 2,5, M Debled 1, C Bret-Dibat 3, F Courbon 4, N Gualde 2,5, B Nguyen Bui 1
PMCID: PMC2363949  PMID: 11720430

Abstract

The potential antitumoural effect of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) led us to evaluate GM-CSF alone or with dacarbazine (DTIC) in metastatic melanoma in first line randomized phase II. Treatment was arm A: GM-CSF: 5 μg kg−1, bid, 14 consecutive days every 21 days and arm B: GM-CSF: 5 μg kg−1, bid, day 2 to day 19 every 21 days and DTIC: 800 mg m−2, day 1 of each cycle. 32 patients (pts) were included, 15 pts in arm A and 17 in arm B. All pts had visceral metastatic sites. 9 had only one metastatic site. The median number of cycles given was 2 in arm A and 3 in arm B. 100% and 89.4% of the planned dose of GM-CSF was given in arm A and arm B respectively. No objective response was obtained. 19 pts experienced at least WHO grade 3 toxicity. All pts had fever, 29 had a decrease in performance status and 23 had pain. Grade 3 toxicity were fever (38.7%), decrease in performance status (32.3%), pain (19.4%) and dyspnoea (12.5%). In this study, GM-CSF alone or in association with DTIC did not induce any antitumoural activity with subsequent toxicity. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign   http://www.bjcancer.com

Keywords: melanoma, GM-CSF, DTIC, clinical trial

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (62.8 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Armitage J. O. Emerging applications of recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Blood. 1998 Dec 15;92(12):4491–4508. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Atkins M. B., Lotze M. T., Dutcher J. P., Fisher R. I., Weiss G., Margolin K., Abrams J., Sznol M., Parkinson D., Hawkins M. High-dose recombinant interleukin 2 therapy for patients with metastatic melanoma: analysis of 270 patients treated between 1985 and 1993. J Clin Oncol. 1999 Jul;17(7):2105–2116. doi: 10.1200/JCO.1999.17.7.2105. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bender A., Sapp M., Schuler G., Steinman R. M., Bhardwaj N. Improved methods for the generation of dendritic cells from nonproliferating progenitors in human blood. J Immunol Methods. 1996 Sep 27;196(2):121–135. doi: 10.1016/0022-1759(96)00079-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Coulon V., Ravaud A., Gaston R., Delaunay M., Pariente J. L., Verdier D., Scrivante V., Gualde N. In vitro immunization of patient T cells with autologous bone marrow antigen presenting cells pulsed with tumor lysates. Int J Cancer. 2000 Dec 1;88(5):783–790. doi: 10.1002/1097-0215(20001201)88:5<783::aid-ijc16>3.0.co;2-m. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Demirer T., Buckner C. D., Bensinger W. I. Optimization of peripheral blood stem cell mobilization. Stem Cells. 1996 Jan;14(1):106–116. doi: 10.1002/stem.140106. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Disis M. L., Bernhard H., Shiota F. M., Hand S. L., Gralow J. R., Huseby E. S., Gillis S., Cheever M. A. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor: an effective adjuvant for protein and peptide-based vaccines. Blood. 1996 Jul 1;88(1):202–210. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Dranoff G., Jaffee E., Lazenby A., Golumbek P., Levitsky H., Brose K., Jackson V., Hamada H., Pardoll D., Mulligan R. C. Vaccination with irradiated tumor cells engineered to secrete murine granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor stimulates potent, specific, and long-lasting anti-tumor immunity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Apr 15;90(8):3539–3543. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.8.3539. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Edmonson J. H., Long H. J., Kvols L. K. Cytotoxic drugs plus subcutaneous granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor: can molgramostim enhance antisarcoma therapy? J Natl Cancer Inst. 1994 Feb 16;86(4):312–314. doi: 10.1093/jnci/86.4.312. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Edmonson J. H., Long H. J., Kvols L. K., Mann B. S., Grill J. P. Can molgramostim enhance the antitumor effects of cytotoxic drugs in patients with advanced sarcomas? Ann Oncol. 1997 Jul;8(7):637–641. doi: 10.1023/a:1008292010062. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. GEHAN E. A. The determinatio of the number of patients required in a preliminary and a follow-up trial of a new chemotherapeutic agent. J Chronic Dis. 1961 Apr;13:346–353. doi: 10.1016/0021-9681(61)90060-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Grabstein K. H., Urdal D. L., Tushinski R. J., Mochizuki D. Y., Price V. L., Cantrell M. A., Gillis S., Conlon P. J. Induction of macrophage tumoricidal activity by granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Science. 1986 Apr 25;232(4749):506–508. doi: 10.1126/science.3083507. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Greenberg P., Advani R., Keating A., Gulati S. C., Nimer S., Champlin R., Karanes C., Gorin N. C., Powles R. L., Smith A. GM-CSF accelerates neutrophil recovery after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant. 1996 Dec;18(6):1057–1064. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hill A. D., Redmond H. P., Austin O. M., Grace P. A., Bouchier-Hayes D. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor inhibits tumour growth. Br J Surg. 1993 Dec;80(12):1543–1546. doi: 10.1002/bjs.1800801216. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Ho R. C. Medical management of stage IV malignant melanoma. Medical issues. Cancer. 1995 Jan 15;75(2 Suppl):735–741. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19950115)75:2+<735::aid-cncr2820751418>3.0.co;2-q. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Jäger E., Ringhoffer M., Dienes H. P., Arand M., Karbach J., Jäger D., Ilsemann C., Hagedorn M., Oesch F., Knuth A. Granulocyte-macrophage-colony-stimulating factor enhances immune responses to melanoma-associated peptides in vivo. Int J Cancer. 1996 Jul 3;67(1):54–62. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0215(19960703)67:1<54::AID-IJC11>3.0.CO;2-C. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Kaplan G., Walsh G., Guido L. S., Meyn P., Burkhardt R. A., Abalos R. M., Barker J., Frindt P. A., Fajardo T. T., Celona R. Novel responses of human skin to intradermal recombinant granulocyte/macrophage-colony-stimulating factor: Langerhans cell recruitment, keratinocyte growth, and enhanced wound healing. J Exp Med. 1992 Jun 1;175(6):1717–1728. doi: 10.1084/jem.175.6.1717. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Kass E., Panicali D. L., Mazzara G., Schlom J., Greiner J. W. Granulocyte/macrophage-colony stimulating factor produced by recombinant avian poxviruses enriches the regional lymph nodes with antigen-presenting cells and acts as an immunoadjuvant. Cancer Res. 2001 Jan 1;61(1):206–214. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Kirkwood J. M., Strawderman M. H., Ernstoff M. S., Smith T. J., Borden E. C., Blum R. H. Interferon alfa-2b adjuvant therapy of high-risk resected cutaneous melanoma: the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Trial EST 1684. J Clin Oncol. 1996 Jan;14(1):7–17. doi: 10.1200/JCO.1996.14.1.7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Kushner B. H., Cheung N. K. GM-CSF enhances 3F8 monoclonal antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity against human melanoma and neuroblastoma. Blood. 1989 May 15;73(7):1936–1941. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Legha S. S., Ring S., Eton O., Bedikian A., Buzaid A. C., Plager C., Papadopoulos N. Development of a biochemotherapy regimen with concurrent administration of cisplatin, vinblastine, dacarbazine, interferon alfa, and interleukin-2 for patients with metastatic melanoma. J Clin Oncol. 1998 May;16(5):1752–1759. doi: 10.1200/JCO.1998.16.5.1752. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Leong S. P., Enders-Zohr P., Zhou Y. M., Stuntebeck S., Habib F. A., Allen R. E., Jr, Sagebiel R. W., Glassberg A. B., Lowenberg D. W., Hayes F. A. Recombinant human granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF) and autologous melanoma vaccine mediate tumor regression in patients with metastatic melanoma. J Immunother. 1999 Mar;22(2):166–174. doi: 10.1097/00002371-199903000-00008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. McNeel D. G., Schiffman K., Disis M. L. Immunization with recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor as a vaccine adjuvant elicits both a cellular and humoral response to recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Blood. 1999 Apr 15;93(8):2653–2659. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Metcalf D. The granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factors. Science. 1985 Jul 5;229(4708):16–22. doi: 10.1126/science.2990035. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Miller A. B., Hoogstraten B., Staquet M., Winkler A. Reporting results of cancer treatment. Cancer. 1981 Jan 1;47(1):207–214. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19810101)47:1<207::aid-cncr2820470134>3.0.co;2-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Rabinovich G. A., Riera C. M., Iribarren P. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor protects dendritic cells from liposome-encapsulated dichloromethylene diphosphonate-induced apoptosis through a Bcl-2-mediated pathway. Eur J Immunol. 1999 Feb;29(2):563–570. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1521-4141(199902)29:02<563::AID-IMMU563>3.0.CO;2-A. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Ragnhammar P., Fagerberg J., Frödin J. E., Hjelm A. L., Lindemalm C., Magnusson I., Masucci G., Mellstedt H. Effect of monoclonal antibody 17-1A and GM-CSF in patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma--long-lasting, complete remissions can be induced. Int J Cancer. 1993 Mar 12;53(5):751–758. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910530508. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Ravaud A., Chevreau C., Cany L., Houyau P., Dohollou N., Roché H., Soubeyran P., Bonichon F., Mihura J., Eghbali H. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor in patients with neutropenic fever is potent after low-risk but not after high-risk neutropenic chemotherapy regimens: results of a randomized phase III trial. J Clin Oncol. 1998 Sep;16(9):2930–2936. doi: 10.1200/JCO.1998.16.9.2930. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Richard C., Alsar M. J., Calavia J., Bello-Fernandez C., Baro J., Loyola I., Rios R., Cuadrado M. A., Gonzalez-Pardo C., Iriondo A. Recombinant human GM-CSF enhances T cell-mediated cytotoxic function after ABMT for hematological malignancies. Bone Marrow Transplant. 1993 Jun;11(6):473–478. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Santoli D., Clark S. C., Kreider B. L., Maslin P. A., Rovera G. Amplification of IL-2-driven T cell proliferation by recombinant human IL-3 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. J Immunol. 1988 Jul 15;141(2):519–526. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Si Z., Hersey P., Coates A. S. Clinical responses and lymphoid infiltrates in metastatic melanoma following treatment with intralesional GM-CSF. Melanoma Res. 1996 Jun;6(3):247–255. doi: 10.1097/00008390-199606000-00008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Sieff C. A. Hematopoietic growth factors. J Clin Invest. 1987 Jun;79(6):1549–1557. doi: 10.1172/JCI112988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Spitler L. E., Grossbard M. L., Ernstoff M. S., Silver G., Jacobs M., Hayes F. A., Soong S. J. Adjuvant therapy of stage III and IV malignant melanoma using granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. J Clin Oncol. 2000 Apr;18(8):1614–1621. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2000.18.8.1614. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Steward W. P., Verweij J., Somers R., Spooner D., Kerbrat P., Clavel M., Crowther D., Rouesse J., Tursz T., Tueni E. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor allows safe escalation of dose-intensity of chemotherapy in metastatic adult soft tissue sarcomas: a study of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group. J Clin Oncol. 1993 Jan;11(1):15–21. doi: 10.1200/JCO.1993.11.1.15. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Szabolcs P., Moore M. A., Young J. W. Expansion of immunostimulatory dendritic cells among the myeloid progeny of human CD34+ bone marrow precursors cultured with c-kit ligand, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, and TNF-alpha. J Immunol. 1995 Jun 1;154(11):5851–5861. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Willman C. L., Stewart C. C., Miller V., Yi T. L., Tomasi T. B. Regulation of MHC class II gene expression in macrophages by hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors (CSF). Induction by granulocyte/macrophage CSF and inhibition by CSF-1. J Exp Med. 1989 Nov 1;170(5):1559–1567. doi: 10.1084/jem.170.5.1559. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Cancer are provided here courtesy of Cancer Research UK

RESOURCES