Phase II trials of dolastatin-10 in advanced pancreaticobiliary cancers.

Background: Pancreaticobiliary malignancies respond poorly to conventional chemotherapy, and novel agents are needed. Dolatstatin-10 is a potent antimitotic pentapeptide isolated from the marine mollusk Dolabella auricularia that inhibits microtubule assembly. We conducted 2 parallel phase II trials of dolastatin-10 in patients with advanced hepatobiliary cancers and pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

A Phase II trial of fixed dose rate gemcitabine in patients with advanced biliary tree carcinoma.

Gemcitabine is a commonly used chemotherapy for biliary tree carcinomas, achieving response rates of 10% to 60%. Preclinical studies indicate that fixed dose rate infusion optimizes accumulation of gemcitabine triphosphate and may enhance the clinical activity of gemcitabine. We conducted a phase II study of fixed dose rate gemcitabine in 15 chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced cholangiocarcinoma and gallbladder carcinoma.