For Hodgkin Lymphoma, Perifosine Plus Sorafenib May Be Safe and Effective

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

According to a new study published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, combination therapy with perifosine and sorafenib may be effective and safe for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma.

For the study, investigators sought to determine the safety and efficacy of the combination therapy in patients with relapsed or refractory lymphoproliferative diseases. Researchers enrolled 40 patients, each of which received perifosine 50mg twice daily for 1 month. Sorafenib 400mg twice daily was added to perifosine in patients who had achieved less than a partial response after the first month, and patients received combination therapy until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Of the 25 patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, a partial response rate of 28% was observed. Among all patients, a median overall survival of 16 months and a progression-free survival of 5 months were observed. The most common adverse effects were hand-foot skin reaction, joint pain, diarrhea, anemia, and thrombocytopenia.

Perifosine is an investigational Akt and PI3K inhibitor being studied for a variety of cancer types. Sorafenib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, was initially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005. It is approved for the treatment of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma and advanced renal cell carcinoma.