Albumin-bound paclitaxel and gemcitabine combination therapy in soft tissue sarcoma

Background The evidence that albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel) is safe and efficacious for the treatment of many types of malignant tumors is continuously increasing. However, the evidence and clinical data of nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine in metastatic soft tissue sarcoma (STS) treatment are rare. Methods The clinical data of metastatic STS patients who received nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine chemotherapy between January 2019 and February 2020 were retrospectively analysed. All these patients were treated with nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine only after doxorubicin-based chemotherapy had failed. We evaluated the effectiveness and safety of nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine in these patients. Results A total of 17 patients treated with nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine were enrolled in this study. One patient with angiosarcoma achieved complete response, 6 patients had partial response, 5 patients achieved stable disease, and 5 patients had progressive disease. The average diameter change in target lesion from baseline was -19.0645.74%. And median progression free survival was 6months (95% CI, 2-9months). Grade 3 /4 adverse events were not common, included neutropenia (17.6%), fatigue (11.8%), anemia (11.8%), leukopenia (11.8%), nausea (5.9%), peripheral neuropathy (5.9%), diarrhea (5.9%), and thrombocytopenia (5.9%). No treatment-related deaths occurred. Conclusion Nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine combination chemotherapy is comparatively effective in the treatment of STS, demonstrates low toxicity, and is worthy of further study.