Intraperitoneal Aerosolized Nanoliposomal Irinotecan (Nal-IRI) in Peritoneal Carcinomatosis From Gastrointestinal Cancer

Peritoneal metastases (PM) are a common manifestation of gastrointestinal cancer. The prognosis of patients with PM is particularly poor, and response to systemic chemotherapy is worse compared to parenchymal metastatic cancer in the liver or lungs. In addition, patients with PM frequently develop debilitating symptoms such as intractable ascites, bowel obstruction, or ureteric obstruction, resulting in a severely compromised quality of life. In selected patients with widespread PM, pressurized intraperitoneal aerosol chemotherapy (PIPAC) holds considerable promise. Briefly, PIPAC combines laparoscopy with intraperitoneal (IP) administration of chemotherapy as an aerosol, which is generated by a nebulizer. The pharmacokinetic (PK) and clinical advantages of PIPAC may be further enhanced by using nanosized anticancer drugs. Nal-IRI (Onivyde) is a nanoliposomal formulation of irinotecan (Camptothecin-11 (CPT-11)), with a markedly superior efficacy when compared with free CPT-11 in human breast and colon cancer xenograft models. This is a phase I clinical study with aerosolized IP Nal-IRI in patients with PM from GI cancer. In this phase I study, dose escalation will be combined with pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modelling which incorporates, in addition to plasma, tumour tissue, and peritoneal drug concentrations, biomarkers of toxicity and efficacy.