Phase II Trial of Carboplatin and Paclitaxel in Papillary Renal Cell Carcinoma

BackgroundCytotoxic chemotherapy has not been well investigated in non–clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). A phase II study was thus conducted to assess the efficacy of carboplatin and paclitaxel in such patients.Patients and MethodsPatients were treated with carboplatin (area under the curve of 6) and paclitaxel 225 mg/m2 every 21 days and assessed for measurable disease response every 2 cycles. An initial 20 patients were planned to be enrolled to rule out a null hypothesized 15% response rate.ResultsSeventeen patients were enrolled, of which 16 patients had papillary and 1 had collecting duct histology. The patient with collecting duct histology had a complete response, but no responses were observed in patients with papillary histology and the trial was thus terminated early. Toxicities were as expected for the carboplatin and paclitaxel regimen.ConclusionCarboplatin and paclitaxel is not an active regimen in patients with metastatic papillary RCC. Future studies should explore the role of this or similar regimens in collecting duct carcinoma.