OBJECTIVES:

Primary

• Compare the overall survival of men with progressive or recurrent metastatic germ cell tumors treated with paclitaxel, ifosfamide, and cisplatin vs vinblastine, ifosfamide, and cisplatin as second-line therapy.

Secondary

• Compare the progression-free survival of patients treated with these regimens.
• Compare the toxicity profiles of these regimens in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to prior complete response or partial response with negative markers for at least 6 months (yes vs no) and relapse at least 2 years after completing first-line chemotherapy for germ cell tumors (yes vs no). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

• Arm I: Patients receive paclitaxel IV over 24 hours on day 1 and cisplatin IV over 20-30 minutes and ifosfamide IV over 30 minutes on days 2-5. Patients also receive filgrastim (G-CSF) subcutaneously (SC) on days 7-18 OR pegfilgrastim SC once within 24-72 hours after completion of chemotherapy.
• Arm II: Patients receive vinblastine IV on days 1 and 2 and cisplatin IV over 20-30 minutes and ifosfamide IV over 30 minutes on days 1-5. Patients also receive G-CSF SC on days 7-18 OR pegfilgrastim as in arm I.

In both arms, treatment repeats every 21 days for 4 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Patients are followed every 2 months for 2 years, every 3 months for 1 year, every 4 months for 1 year, every 6 months for 1 year, and then annually thereafter.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 470 patients (235 per treatment arm) will be accrued for this study within 5.5 years.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed germ cell tumor (GCT), including 1 of the following primary tumor sites:

  • Seminoma

    • Testis
    • Retroperitoneum
    • Mediastinum
    • Other extragonadal site

  • Nonseminoma

    • Testis
    • Retroperitoneum

    • Other extragonadal site

      • No tumor of the mediastinum

• Must have evidence of metastatic disease, including either of the following:

  • Unidimensionally measurable lesions

    • At least 20 mm by conventional techniques (e.g., physical exam for clinically palpable lymph nodes and superficial skin lesions or chest x-ray for clearly defined lung lesions surrounded by aerated lung) OR at least 10 mm by spiral CT scan or MRI

  • Nonmeasurable lesions, including the following:

    • Small lesions
    • Bone lesions
    • Pleural or pericardial effusions
    • Ascites
    • Irradiated lesions, unless progression is documented after radiotherapy

• Progressive or recurrent disease meeting at least 1 of the following criteria:

  • Measurable progressive disease
  • Biopsy-proven residual disease
  • Persistently elevated or rising ß-human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) or alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) titers with no other clear cause for elevation

• Previously treated with 1 and only 1 regimen comprising etoposide and cisplatin with or without bleomycin AND exhibits clinical resistance by at least 1 of the following conditions after therapy*:

  • Progressive GCT after a partial response to first-line therapy
  • Relapse after complete response (CR) to first-line therapy, including partial response (PR) surgically converted to CR
  • Second testicular primary with evidence of metastases after first-line therapy
  • Relapse after adjuvant chemotherapy NOTE: *Patients failing to achieve PR or CR with first-line therapy as evidenced by rising markers or new disease within 4 weeks of first-line therapy are not eligible

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• 18 and over

Performance status

• Not specified

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• Granulocyte count ≥ 1,500/mm^3
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3
• Hemoglobin ≥ 9 g/dL (transfusion allowed)

Hepatic

• Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal* (ULN)
• AST and ALT ≤ 2.5 times ULN* NOTE: *Unless hepatic metastases are present

Renal

• Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times ULN OR
• Creatinine clearance ≥ 50 mL/min

Other

• Fertile patients must use effective contraception

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• No prior dose-intensive therapy with stem cell replacement

Chemotherapy

• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 3 weeks since prior chemotherapy
• No prior paclitaxel
• No prior docetaxel
• No prior ifosfamide
• No other concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

• Not specified

Radiotherapy

• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 3 weeks since prior radiotherapy
• Concurrent or sequential radiotherapy to brain metastases allowed
• No other concurrent palliative radiotherapy

Surgery

• See Disease Characteristics
• Concurrent surgery for brain metastases allowed

Other

• Recovered from prior therapy