Abstract

It is estimated that as many as 30% of patients with primary CNS tumors have leptomeningeal, disseminated, and/or multicentric disease (LDM). These patients respond poorly to conventional therapy. Fifty-seven children with LDM (median age of 7.1 years) were treated in multiple prospective phase II clinical studies of high- and low-grade primary CNS tumors with Antineoplastons A10 and AS2-1 (ANP). Their inclusion in this analysis was based on MRI imaging. Patients with glioblastoma were excluded. The patients received ANP therapy 6 times daily; A10: 8.77 g/kg/d; AS2-1: 0.35 g/kg/d. The response to ANP was monitored by MRIs every 8 weeks. Patients evaluable for efficacy (N = 40) received 12 or more weeks of ANP or developed progressive disease (PD) before 12 weeks. 10 patients (17.5%) achieved an objective response (OR) with 4 (7%) achieving a complete response (CR) and 6 (10.5%) had a partial response (PR). Stable disease (SD) was maintained in 7 patients (12.3%) and PD developed in 23 patients (40.4%). Survival analysis of the 57 children showed 2- and 5-year overall survival (OS) were both 28% while 10- and 15-year OS were both 26%. One of the patients achieving an OR had atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) while nine had low-grade gliomas (LGGs). Grade 3 and 4 toxicities included hypokalemia (14.0%); fatigue, anemia, hypernatremia and leukopenia (3.5% each); diarrhea, hypertension, joint pain, thrombocytopenia, and somnolence (1.8% each). These findings suggest the need for a single-arm, phase II study of ANP in children with LDM.

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