A phase I study of intravenous RMP-7 with carboplatin in patients with progression of malignant glioma.

RMP-7, a nine amino acid peptide bradykinin agonist, increases the delivery of hydrophilic compounds across the blood-tumour barrier. In this dose ranging study, 14 patients with progressing malignant glioma (9 glioblastoma multiforme, 4 anaplastic astrocytoma, 1 anaplastic oligodendroglioma; age range 31-68 years, baseline Karnofsky range 60-90%, 5 having had prior chemotherapy) were treated with intravenous RMP-7 and carboplatin to assess the safety, tolerability, and side-effect profile of increasing doses of this combination. Carboplatin dosing was by target area under the curve (AUC) according to the Calvert protocol. Patients were allocated to one of five treatment regimes: cohort A (n = 2) received 50 ng/kg RMP-7 and target AUC 5 mg/ml/min carboplatin; cohort B (n = 3) 100 ng/kg RMP-7 + AUC 5; cohort C (n = 2) 100 ng/kg RMP-7 + AUC 7; cohort D (n = 2) 200 ng/kg RMP-7 + AUC 7; cohort E (n = 5) 300 ng/kg RMP-7 + AUC 7. Treatment was given once every 4 weeks with magnetic resonance imaging scans every 2 months. Patients received 37 cycles in total (median 2, range 1-7). The drug combination, as a cancer treatment, was tolerated in all groups. Effects possibly related to RMP-7 included flushing, nausea, headache and mild increase in heart rate, all transient. 3 patients in cohort E experienced grade 3/4 neutropenia and thrombocytopenia. These toxicities are consistent with known effects of carboplatin at this dose range. In cohort E (n = 5) 1 patient improved and another remained stable for > or = 6 months. In summary, the dose was escalated to the maximum dose of RMP-7 given to volunteers without additional related side-effects. The side-effects of the combination were consistent with giving the two drugs alone and would merit further study for efficacy.