Purpose: The type 1 insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of the Ewing sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT). We conducted a multicenter phase II study of the fully human IGF-1R monoclonal antibody R1507 in patients with recurrent or refractory ESFT.
Patients and methods: Patients ≥ 2 years of age with refractory or recurrent ESFT received R1507 at doses of 9 mg/kg intravenously one a week or 27 mg/kg intravenously every three weeks. Response was measured by using WHO criteria. Tumor imaging was performed every 6 weeks for 24 weeks and then every 12 weeks.
Results: From December 2007 through April 2010, 115 eligible patients from 31 different institutions were enrolled. The median age was 25 years (range, 8 to 78 years). The location of the primary tumor was bone in 57% of patients and extraskeletal in 43% of patients. A total of 109 patients were treated with R1507 9 mg/kg/wk, and six patients were treated with 27 mg/kg/3 wk. The overall complete response/partial response rate was 10% (95% CI, 4.9% to 16.5%). The median duration of response was 29 weeks (range, 12 to 94 weeks), and the median overall survival was 7.6 months (95% CI, 6 to 9.7 months). Ten of 11 responses were observed in patients who presented with primary bone tumors (P = .016). The most common adverse events of grades 3 to 4 were pain (15%), anemia (8%), thrombocytopenia (7%), and asthenia (5%).
Conclusion: R1507 was a well-tolerated agent that had meaningful and durable benefit in a subgroup of patients with ESFT. The identification of markers that are predictive of a benefit is necessary to fully capitalize on this approach.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00642941.