Efficacy of docetaxel in patients with paclitaxel-resistant advanced gastric cancer

Background: Although there appears to be incomplete cross-resistance between docetaxel and paclitaxel in several types of malignancies, to our best knowledge there have been no available data on this for advanced gastric cancer. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the efficacy and safety of docetaxel in patients with paclitaxel-resistant advanced gastric cancer. Docetaxel was administered at 50-60 mg/m² every 3 weeks. Results: Twenty-one patients were evaluated. All patients had received 2 or more previous chemotherapy regimens. Among the 12 patients with measurable lesions, apparent tumor shrinkage was seen in 1 patient for an overall response rate of 8.3% and a disease control rate of 33.3%. Median progression free survival and overall survival of all patients were 2.6 months and 6.7 months, respectively. There were no correlations between the progression free survival of docetaxel and the progression free survival of previous paclitaxel and between the progression free survival of docetaxel and taxane-free interval (Spearman's correlation coefficients of ρ = -0.14 and ρ = -0.02, respectively). Grade 3/4 neutropenia developed in 8 patients (38%) and Grade 3 febrile neutropenia in 1 patient (4.8%). Conclusions: Docetaxel showed modest activity in paclitaxel-resistant advanced gastric cancer patients, and no correlations between previous efficacy of paclitaxel or taxane-free interval were seen.