A trial of nab-paclitaxel for children who have cancer that is not responding to treatment or has come back

Doctors use various treatments to treat cancer in children and young people. But sometimes the cancer doesn’t respond to treatment as well as hoped, or comes back later on. 

In this trial, researchers looked at a drug called nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane). This is the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel, combined with a protein called albumin.

This trial was for children and young people up to the age of 24. They had all had treatment for cancer already. But their cancer had started to grow again. 

The people taking part in this trial had a number of different cancers, including:

• rhabdomyosarcoma – soft tissue sarcoma that affects muscle cells
• neuroblastoma - cancer that starts in nerve cells, most commonly in the tummy (abdomen)
• Ewing’s sarcoma - a type of sarcoma that often starts in the bone 
• osteosarcoma – a type of bone cancer 

There were 2 parts (phases) in this trial. Everyone taking part had nab-paclitaxel.

The first few people in phase 1 had the lowest dose of nab-paclitaxel. The next few people had a higher dose. And so on. This is called dose escalation.

The main aim of phase 1 was to find the best dose of nab-paclitaxel to use. 

Everyone in phase 2 had the same dose of nab-paclitaxel. The dose used was based on the results of phase 1.

The main aim of phase 2 was to find out how well nab-paclitaxel worked for children and young people with cancer that has come back.