Results of a phase II study to evaluate the efficacy of docetaxel and carboplatin in metastatic malignant melanoma patients who failed first-line therapy containing dacarbazine

Purpose There is no standard second-line regimen for malignant melanoma patients with disease progression after first-line chemotherapy, and platinum-alkylating agents combined with paclitaxel have shown modest efficacy. Materials and Methods We conducted a phase II, open-label, single-arm study to test the efficacy of docetaxel combined with carboplatin for malignant melanoma patients who failed previous treatment with dacarbazine. Intravenous docetaxel (35 mg/m² on days 1 and 8 of each cycle) and carboplatin (area under the curve 3 on days 1 and 8 of each cycle) was administered every 21 days. Primary end point was objective response rate (ORR). Results Thirty patients were enrolled in the study, and the median follow-up duration was 19.8 months. Among 25 per-protocol patients, there were three responders (1 with complete response and 2 with partial response) and 17 stable disease patients (ORR, 12.0%). Among the per-protocol population, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 4.3 months and the median overall survival (OS) was 9.6 months. Uveal melanoma patients (n = 9) showed the best prognosis compared to other subtypes (median PFS, 7.6 months; OS, 9.9 months). The most common grade 3 or 4 adverse event was neutropenia (n = 15, 50.0%). Conclusion Docetaxel combined with carboplatin showed association with an acceptable safety profile and overall efficacy for patients with malignant melanoma who had progressed on chemotherapy containing dacarbazine.