Treatment of Epidemic Kaposi Sarcoma
Treatment of epidemic Kaposi sarcoma (KS) may result in the following:
- The disappearance or reduction in size of specific skin lesions, thereby alleviating the discomfort associated with the chronic edema and ulcerations that often accompany multiple skin tumors seen on the lower extremities.
- Control of symptoms associated with mucosal or visceral lesions.
No data are available, however, to show that treatment improves survival.[1] In addition to antitumor treatment, essential components of an optimal KS treatment strategy include highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART), prophylaxis for opportunistic infections, and rapid recognition and treatment of intercurrent infections.
Most patients with good-risk disease, defined by the AIDS Clinical Trials Group as T0, show tumor regression with HAART alone.[2,3,4] Patients with poor-risk disease, defined as T1, usually require a combination of HAART and chemotherapy with discontinuation of the chemotherapy after disappearance of the skin lesion.[2,3,4] The combination of HAART and liposomal doxorubicin resulted in a 5-year overall survival (OS) rate of 85% in 140 patients with T1 disease.[3][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiv]
Treatment Options for Epidemic Kaposi Sarcoma
Treatment options for epidemic KS include the following:
- Local modalities.
- Chemotherapy.
- Biological and targeted therapy.
Local modalities
Small localized lesions of KS may be treated by electrodesiccation and curettage, cryotherapy, or by surgical excision. KS tumors are also generally very responsive to local radiation therapy, and excellent palliation has been obtained with doses at 20 Gy or slightly higher.[5,6] Radiation therapy is generally reserved to treat localized areas of the skin and oral cavity. It is less often used to control pulmonary, gastrointestinal tract, or other sites of KS lesions. Localized KS lesions have also been effectively treated with intralesional injections of vinblastine.[7] Alitretinoin 0.1% gel provided local control in a randomized prospective multicenter trial.[8][Level of evidence: 1iiDiv]
Chemotherapy
In epidemic KS, the already profoundly depressed immunologic status of the patient limits the therapeutic usefulness of systemic chemotherapy. Systemic chemotherapy studies in patients with epidemic KS have used doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, vincristine, etoposide, paclitaxel, and docetaxel alone or in combination.[9,10,11,12,13][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiv] The combination of HAART and liposomal doxorubicin resulted in a 5-year OS rate of 85% in 140 patients with T1 disease.[3][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiv]
Randomized multicenter trials showed an improvement in response rate (45%–60% vs. 20%–25%) and a more favorable toxic effects profile for pegylated liposomal doxorubicin or liposomal daunorubicin, compared with the combination of doxorubicin, bleomycin, and vincristine or bleomycin and vincristine.[14,15,16][Level of evidence: 1iiDiv] During HAART, both pegylated liposomal doxorubicin and paclitaxel are active single agents with response rates close to 50%.[17][Level of evidence: 1iiDiv]
Biological and targeted therapy
The interferon alfas have also been widely studied and show a 40% objective response rate in patients with epidemic KS.[18,19] In these reports, the responses differed significantly according to the prognostic factors of extent of disease, prior or coexistent opportunistic infections, prior treatment with chemotherapy, CD4 lymphocyte counts lower than 200 cells/mm³, the presence of circulating acid-labile interferon alfa, and an increase in beta-2-microglobulin. Several treatment studies have combined interferon alfa with other chemotherapeutic agents. Overall, these trials have shown no benefit with the interferon-chemotherapy combinations as compared with the single-agent activities.
Recombinant interferon alfa-2a and recombinant interferon alfa-2b were the first agents approved for the treatment of KS. Approval was based on single-agent studies performed in the 1980s before the advent of antiretroviral therapy. The early studies demonstrated improved efficacy at relatively high doses. High-dose monotherapy is rarely used today, and instead, interferon is given in combination with other anti-HIV drugs in doses of 4 to 18 million units. Neutropenia is dose limiting, and trials of doses of 1 to 10 million units combined with less myelosuppressive antiretrovirals are in progress. Response to interferon is slow, and the maximum effect is seen after 6 or more months. Interferon should probably not be used in the treatment of patients with rapidly progressive, symptomatic KS.
Imatinib, a c-kit/PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor) receptor inhibitor, resulted in partial responses in 10 of 30 previously treated patients (HAART and chemotherapy).[20]
Bevacizumab, the humanized, antivascular, endothelial growth–factor monoclonal antibody, resulted in a response rate in 5 of 16 patients who did not improve after the use of HAART and chemotherapy.[21][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiv]
Recombinant interleukin-12 resulted in a response rate of 71% (95% confidence interval, 48%–89%) among 24 evaluable patients in a phase I and phase II trial.[22][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiv]
Current Clinical Trials
Use our advanced clinical trial search to find NCI-supported cancer clinical trials that are now enrolling patients. The search can be narrowed by location of the trial, type of treatment, name of the drug, and other criteria. General information about clinical trials is also available.
References:
- Safai B: Kaposi's sarcoma and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. In: DeVita VT, Hellman S, Rosenberg S, eds.: AIDS: Etiology, Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention. 4th ed. Lippincott-Raven Publishers, 1997, pp 295-318.
- Krown SE: Highly active antiretroviral therapy in AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma: implications for the design of therapeutic trials in patients with advanced, symptomatic Kaposi's sarcoma. J Clin Oncol 22 (3): 399-402, 2004.
- Bower M, Dalla Pria A, Coyle C, et al.: Prospective stage-stratified approach to AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma. J Clin Oncol 32 (5): 409-14, 2014.
- Krell J, Stebbing J: Broader implications of a stage-guided stratified therapeutic approach for AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma. J Clin Oncol 32 (5): 373-5, 2014.
- Singh NB, Lakier RH, Donde B: Hypofractionated radiation therapy in the treatment of epidemic Kaposi sarcoma--a prospective randomized trial. Radiother Oncol 88 (2): 211-6, 2008.
- Tsao MN, Sinclair E, Assaad D, et al.: Radiation therapy for the treatment of skin Kaposi sarcoma. Ann Palliat Med 5 (4): 298-302, 2016.
- Epstein JB, Lozada-Nur F, McLeod WA, et al.: Oral Kaposi's sarcoma in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Review of management and report of the efficacy of intralesional vinblastine. Cancer 64 (12): 2424-30, 1989.
- Bodsworth NJ, Bloch M, Bower M, et al.: Phase III vehicle-controlled, multi-centered study of topical alitretinoin gel 0.1% in cutaneous AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma. Am J Clin Dermatol 2 (2): 77-87, 2001.
- Evans SR, Krown SE, Testa MA, et al.: Phase II evaluation of low-dose oral etoposide for the treatment of relapsed or progressive AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma: an AIDS Clinical Trials Group clinical study. J Clin Oncol 20 (15): 3236-41, 2002.
- Saville MW, Lietzau J, Pluda JM, et al.: Treatment of HIV-associated Kaposi's sarcoma with paclitaxel. Lancet 346 (8966): 26-8, 1995.
- Lim ST, Tupule A, Espina BM, et al.: Weekly docetaxel is safe and effective in the treatment of advanced-stage acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related Kaposi sarcoma. Cancer 103 (2): 417-21, 2005.
- Gill PS, Tulpule A, Espina BM, et al.: Paclitaxel is safe and effective in the treatment of advanced AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma. J Clin Oncol 17 (6): 1876-83, 1999.
- Di Lorenzo G, Konstantinopoulos PA, Pantanowitz L, et al.: Management of AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma. Lancet Oncol 8 (2): 167-76, 2007.
- Stewart S, Jablonowski H, Goebel FD, et al.: Randomized comparative trial of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin versus bleomycin and vincristine in the treatment of AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma. International Pegylated Liposomal Doxorubicin Study Group. J Clin Oncol 16 (2): 683-91, 1998.
- Northfelt DW, Dezube BJ, Thommes JA, et al.: Pegylated-liposomal doxorubicin versus doxorubicin, bleomycin, and vincristine in the treatment of AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma: results of a randomized phase III clinical trial. J Clin Oncol 16 (7): 2445-51, 1998.
- Gill PS, Wernz J, Scadden DT, et al.: Randomized phase III trial of liposomal daunorubicin versus doxorubicin, bleomycin, and vincristine in AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma. J Clin Oncol 14 (8): 2353-64, 1996.
- Cianfrocca M, Lee S, Von Roenn J, et al.: Randomized trial of paclitaxel versus pegylated liposomal doxorubicin for advanced human immunodeficiency virus-associated Kaposi sarcoma: evidence of symptom palliation from chemotherapy. Cancer 116 (16): 3969-77, 2010.
- Real FX, Oettgen HF, Krown SE: Kaposi's sarcoma and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: treatment with high and low doses of recombinant leukocyte A interferon. J Clin Oncol 4 (4): 544-51, 1986.
- Groopman JE, Gottlieb MS, Goodman J, et al.: Recombinant alpha-2 interferon therapy for Kaposi's sarcoma associated with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Ann Intern Med 100 (5): 671-6, 1984.
- Koon HB, Krown SE, Lee JY, et al.: Phase II trial of imatinib in AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma: AIDS Malignancy Consortium Protocol 042. J Clin Oncol 32 (5): 402-8, 2014.
- Uldrick TS, Wyvill KM, Kumar P, et al.: Phase II study of bevacizumab in patients with HIV-associated Kaposi's sarcoma receiving antiretroviral therapy. J Clin Oncol 30 (13): 1476-83, 2012.
- Little RF, Pluda JM, Wyvill KM, et al.: Activity of subcutaneous interleukin-12 in AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma. Blood 107 (12): 4650-7, 2006.