Phase 1 Study Testing the Combination of Aflibercept and Capecitabine in Metastatic Digestive and Breast Cancers

Aflibercept has been found to be active with a broad pharmacological index against early and advanced stage disease in a variety of preclinical solid tumor models including sarcomas, and ovarian, prostate, mammary, colon, and gastric carcinomas either as a single agent or in combination with cytotoxic agents. Metronomic chemotherapy, namely administration of continuous low-dose chemotherapy at close, regular intervals, with no prolonged drug-free interruptions, bases its rationale on the fact that virtually all classes of cancer chemotherapeutic drugs are designed to damage DNA or disrupt microtubules of dividing cells. Endothelial cell division takes place during new blood vessel formation, including tumour angiogenesis. Frequent administration of most cytotoxic agents at low doses is thought to increase their putative antiangiogenic activity. This strategy lowers the toxicity and theoretically the risk of emergence of drug-resistant tumour cells compared to classic maximum tolerated dose (MTD)-based chemotherapy.