scholarly journals Dual PD-1 and CTLA-4 Checkpoint Blockade Using Balstilimab and Zalifrelimab Combination as Second-Line Treatment for Advanced Cervical Cancer: An Open-Label Phase II Study

Author(s):  
David M. O'Malley ◽  
Maryna Neffa ◽  
Bradley J. Monk ◽  
Tamar Melkadze ◽  
Marilyn Huang ◽  
...  

PURPOSE Balstilimab (antiprogrammed death-1) and zalifrelimab (anticytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated antigen-4) are two new checkpoint inhibitors emerging as promising investigational agents for the treatment of advanced cervical cancer. This phase II trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03495882 ) evaluated the combination of balstilimab plus zalifrelimab in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic cervical cancer who relapsed after prior platinum-based therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients were intravenously dosed with balstilimab 3 mg/kg once every 2 weeks and zalifrelimab 1 mg/kg once every 6 weeks, for up to 24 months. The primary end point was objective response rate (ORR, RECIST version 1.1, assessed by independent central review). Secondary end points included duration of response, safety and tolerability, and survival. RESULTS In total, 155 women (median age, 50 years [range 24-76 years]) were enrolled and treated with balstilimab plus zalifrelimab; 125 patients had measurable disease at baseline and one prior line of platinum-based therapy in the advanced setting, and these patients constituted the efficacy-evaluable population. The median follow-up was 21 months. The confirmed ORR was 25.6% (95% CI, 18.8 to 33.9), including 10 complete responders and 22 partial responders, with median duration of response not reached (86.5%, 75.5%, and 64.2% at 6, 9, and 12 months, respectively). The ORRs were 32.8% and 9.1% in patients with programmed death ligand-1–positive and programmed death ligand-1–negative tumors, respectively. For patients with squamous cell carcinoma, the ORR was 32.6%. The overall disease control rate was 52% (95% CI, 43.3 to 60.6). Hypothyroidism (14.2%) and hyperthyroidism (7.1%) were the most common immune-mediated adverse events. CONCLUSION Promising and durable clinical activity, with favorable tolerability, was seen in this largest trial to date evaluating dual programmed death-1/cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated antigen-4 blockade in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic cervical cancer. Further investigation of the balstilimab and zalifrelimab combination in this setting is continuing.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M O’Malley ◽  
Leslie M Randall ◽  
Camille Gunderson Jackson ◽  
Robert L Coleman ◽  
John L Hays ◽  
...  

Balstilimab (anti-programmed death 1) and zalifrelimab (anti-CTLA-4) are two new checkpoint inhibitors that have emerged as promising investigational agents for the treatment of cervical cancer, particularly in the setting of previously-treated, recurrent/metastatic disease. Here we describe the rationale and design of RaPiDS (NCT03894215), a two-arm Phase II study evaluating the safety, tolerability and efficacy of balstilimab administered alone or in combination with zalifrelimab in patients with advanced cervical cancer who progressed after first-line, platinum-based chemotherapy. Patients will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio. The primary end point is objective response rate, and key secondary objectives include safety, duration of response, progression-free survival, overall survival and quality of life outcomes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (34) ◽  
pp. 4095-4106
Author(s):  
Chunyan Lan ◽  
Jingxian Shen ◽  
Yin Wang ◽  
Jundong Li ◽  
Zhimin Liu ◽  
...  

PURPOSE Camrelizumab is an antibody against programmed death protein 1. We assessed the activity and safety of camrelizumab plus apatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2, in patients with advanced cervical cancer. METHODS This multicenter, open-label, single-arm, phase II study enrolled patients with advanced cervical cancer who progressed after at least one line of systemic therapy. Patients received camrelizumab 200 mg every 2 weeks and apatinib 250 mg once per day. The primary end point was objective response rate (ORR) assessed by investigators per RECIST version 1.1. Key secondary end points were progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), duration of response, and safety. RESULTS Forty-five patients were enrolled and received treatment. Median age was 51.0 years (range, 33-67 years), and 57.8% of patients had previously received two or more lines of chemotherapy for recurrent or metastatic disease. Ten patients (22.2%) had received bevacizumab. Median follow-up was 11.3 months (range, 1.0-15.5 months). ORR was 55.6% (95% CI, 40.0% to 70.4%), with two complete and 23 partial responses. Median PFS was 8.8 months (95% CI, 5.6 months to not estimable). Median duration of response and median OS were not reached. Treatment-related grade 3 or 4 adverse events (AEs) occurred in 71.1% of patients, and the most common AEs were hypertension (24.4%), anemia (20.0%), and fatigue (15.6%). The most common potential immune-related AEs included grade 1-2 hypothyroidism (22.2%) and reactive cutaneous capillary endothelial proliferation (8.9%). CONCLUSION Camrelizumab plus apatinib had promising antitumor activity and manageable toxicities in patients with advanced cervical cancer. Larger randomized controlled trials are warranted to validate our findings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 5524-5524
Author(s):  
Qin Xu ◽  
Chuanben Chen ◽  
Yang Sun ◽  
Zhangzhou Huang ◽  
Yibin Lin ◽  
...  

5524 Background: It is difficult for patients with recurrent advanced cervical cancer to obtain clinical benefits after the failure of standard chemotherapy. However, antiangiogenic therapy combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors have become a promising strategy for advanced cervical cancer. Anlotinib is a novel multi-target tyrosine kinase inhibitor, inhibiting tumour angiogenesis and proliferative signalling. Sintilimab is a fully humanized, high-affinity monoclonal antibody against programmed cell death-1 (PD-1). This phase II, single-arm study (ChiCTR1900023015) aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of anlotinib plus sintilimab in patients with recurrent advanced cervical cancer. Methods: Patients who have received at least once platinum-based chemotherapy, histopathologically confirmed recurrent advanced cervical cancer (including squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma or adenosquamous carcinoma), more than 1% PD-L1 expression, ECOG 0-1 were considered eligible for enrollment. Anlotinib was taken orally (10mg mg qd, d1-14, 21 days per cycle), and sintilimab was administered intravenously (200mg once every 3 weeks). The treatment was continued until disease progression, death or intolerant toxicity. The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR) and the secondary endpoints included disease control rate (DCR), progression free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and safety. Results: Between September 2019 and February 2021, 42 patients with a median age of 52 years (range:47-58), FIGO histopathological stage I (11.9%), II (31.0%), III (33.3%), IV (9.5%) and undiagnosed (14.3%) were enrolled. 39 of these patients were evaluable. In the efficacy-evaluable population (n = 39), the therapeutic evaluation showed that 2 and 20 patients achieved complete response and partial response respectively, yielding the ORR of 56.4% (22/39, 95% CI:40.2 to 71.5). The DCR was 94.9% (37/39, 95% CI:80.7 to 98.8). The median response time was 1.6 months. The median PFS was not reached. The most common adverse events (AEs) were grade 1 or 2, which included hypothyroidism (33.3%), hypertension (23.8%), AST (21.4%), diarrhea (19.0%), ALT (16.7%), hand-foot syndrome(14.3%), hypertriglyceridemia (14.3%) and anemia (11.9%). The grade 3 AEs were hypertension (4.8%), hyponatremia (4.8%), immune pneumonia (2.4%) and immune myocarditis (2.4%). No higher AEs and treatment-related death were observed. Conclusions: Anlotinib plus sintilimab showed a promising efficacy with a favorable toxicity profile for patients with recurrent advanced cervical cancer. We will report more data in the future. Clinical trial information: ChiCTR1900023015.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 5529-5529
Author(s):  
Cailin Joyce ◽  
Dhan Chand ◽  
Benjamin Duckless ◽  
Manuel Hidalgo ◽  
Joseph Elan Grossman ◽  
...  

5529 Background: The development and clinical application of immune checkpoint inhibitors has transformed the therapeutic landscape for cancer treatment in recent years. Balstilimab (AGEN2034) is a fully human, monoclonal IgG4 antibody that binds with high affinity to programmed death 1 (PD-1), thus preventing the interaction between this receptor and its ligands programmed death ligand 1 and 2 (PD-L1, PD-L2). Emerging evidence suggests that balstilimab exhibits a differentiated activity profile compared to currently approved anti-PD-1 agents, including pembrolizumab and nivolumab. Methods: Balstilimab as monotherapy was evaluated in a large phase 2 study in patients (pts) with recurrent/metastatic cervical cancer who had relapsed after a platinum-based treatment regimen for advanced disease. Pts were dosed at 3 mg/kg once every 2 weeks for up to 24 months and antitumor activity was assessed using RECIST v1.1. The tumor cell killing activity of balstilimab was evaluated preclinically in a human co-culture system of (1) primary T cells engineered to recognize NY-ESO-1 and (2) NY-ESO-1+ cancer cell lines, including PD-L1 and/or PD-L2-deficient engineered lines. The co-culture system was maintained for ̃ two weeks to drive partial T cell exhaustion; a state where cytotoxicity is compromised but recoverable with PD-1 blockade. Cytotoxicity of these partially exhausted T cells was quantified against PD-L1/L2 double positive, single positive, or double negative cancer cells in the presence or absence of PD-(L)1 antibodies. Results: In the second-line treatment setting for pts with advanced cervical cancer, balstilimab showed a numerically higher objective response rate (ORR) in subjects with PD-L1+, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) tumors (21%, 95% CI, 12.7-32.6%) than those reported for pembrolizumab. Unlike pembrolizumab, balstilimab showed activity in PD-L1(-) pts, and irrespective of tumor histology (ORR 7.9%, 95% CI, 2.7-20.8%). Despite lower overall PD-L1 positivity compared to SCC (41.7 v 72.9%), an ORR of 12.5% (95% CI, 5.9-24.7%) was observed in the subset of pts with a poorer prognosis, those with cervical adenocarcinoma. Concordant with clinical observations, balstilimab demonstrated superior rescue of antigen-specific T cell cytotoxicity in vitro relative to pembrolizumab, nivolumab, or atezolizumab. Balstilimab also induced cytotoxicity against PD-L1 and/or PD-L2 deficient target cancer cells. Conclusions: Taken together, these data suggest functional differentiation of balstilimab from other PD-1 inhibitors with potentially important implications for extending the therapeutic reach of anti-PD-1 therapy. Investigation of the underlying mechanistic basis for these findings is ongoing. Clinical trial information: NCT03104699.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2985
Author(s):  
Ian Chau ◽  
Nicolas Penel ◽  
Andres O. Soriano ◽  
Hendrik-Tobias Arkenau ◽  
Jennifer Cultrera ◽  
...  

Ramucirumab (anti-VEGFR2) plus pembrolizumab (anti-PD1) demonstrated promising antitumor activity and tolerability among patients with previously treated advanced cancers, supporting growing evidence that combination therapies modulating the tumor microenvironment may expand the spectrum of patients who respond to checkpoint inhibitors. Here we present the results of this combination in first-line patients with metastatic G/GEJ cancer. Twenty-eight patients (≥18 years) with no prior systemic chemotherapy in the advanced/metastatic setting received ramucirumab (8 mg/kg days 1 and 8) plus pembrolizumab (200 mg day 1) every 3 weeks as part of JVDF phase 1a/b study. The primary endpoint was safety. Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), and overall survival (OS). Tumors were PD-L1-positive (combined positive score ≥ 1) in 19 and -negative in 6 patients. Eighteen patients experienced grade 3 treatment-related adverse events, most commonly hypertension (14%) and elevated alanine/aspartate aminotransferase (11% each), with no grade 4 or 5 reported. The ORR was 25% (PD-L1-positive, 32%; PD-L1-negative, 17%) with duration of response not reached. PFS was 5.6 months (PD-L1-positive, 8.6 months; PD-L1-negative, 4.3 months), and OS 14.6 months (PD-L1-positive, 17.3 months; PD-L1-negative, 11.3 months). Acknowledging study design limitations, ramucirumab plus pembrolizumab had encouraging durable clinical activity with no unexpected toxicities in treatment-naïve biomarker-unselected metastatic G/GEJ cancer, and improved outcomes in patients with PD-L1-positive tumors.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (22) ◽  
pp. 2535-2541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick A. Ott ◽  
Yung-Jue Bang ◽  
Dominique Berton-Rigaud ◽  
Elena Elez ◽  
Michael J. Pishvaian ◽  
...  

Purpose The multicohort phase Ib KEYNOTE-028 (NCT02054806) study was designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of pembrolizumab, an anti–programmed death 1 monoclonal antibody, in patients with programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) –positive advanced solid tumors. The results from the advanced endometrial cancer cohort are reported. Patients and Methods Female patients with locally advanced or metastatic PD-L1–positive endometrial cancer who had experienced progression after standard therapy were eligible. Patients received pembrolizumab 10 mg/kg every 2 weeks for up to 24 months or until progression or unacceptable toxicity. Primary efficacy end point was objective response rate by RECIST (version 1.1). Secondary end points included safety, duration of response (DOR), progression-free survival, and overall survival. The data cutoff was February 17, 2016. Results Of 75 patients screened, 36 (48.0%) had PD-L1–positive tumors, and 24 (32.0%) were enrolled. Fifteen (62.5%) of these 24 patients had received at least two previous lines of therapy for advanced disease. Three patients (13.0%) achieved confirmed partial response (95% CI, 2.8% to 33.6%); the median DOR was not reached. Two patients were still receiving treatment and exhibiting continued response at time of data cutoff. Three additional patients (13.0%) achieved stable disease, with a median duration of 24.6 weeks. One patient who achieved partial response had a polymerase E mutation. Thirteen patients (54.2%) experienced treatment-related adverse events (AEs), with fatigue (20.8%), pruritus (16.7%), pyrexia (12.5%), and decreased appetite (12.5%) occurring in ≥ 10% of patients. Grade 3 treatment-related AEs were reported in four patients. No patient experienced a grade 4 AE, and no patient discontinued treatment because of an AE. Conclusion Pembrolizumab demonstrated a favorable safety profile and durable antitumor activity in a subgroup of patients with heavily pretreated advanced PD-L1–positive endometrial cancer.


2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (6_suppl) ◽  
pp. TPS540-TPS540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Font Pous ◽  
Javier Puente ◽  
Daniel E. Castellano ◽  
Francisco X. Real ◽  
Miguel A. Climent ◽  
...  

TPS540 Background: First-line treatment of patients (pts) with advanced/metastatic UC consists of platinum-based CT, with no well-established subsequent therapy for platinum-refractory disease. Although checkpoint inhibitors have shown promising results recently, targeted agents have generally not demonstrated significant clinical activity in this setting. Around 20% of UC harbor ERBB family genetic alterations, as such it may be a suitable therapeutic target (Knowles, Nat Rev Cancer 2015;15:25–41). The irreversible ERBB family blocker, afatinib, has shown activity in a Phase II trial in a subset of pts with UC who had ERBB2/ERBB3 aberrations (Choudhury, J Clin Oncol 2016;34:2165–71). This Phase II trial will evaluate afatinib in pts with UC molecularly selected for ERBB receptor alterations. Methods: This single-arm trial will assess the efficacy and safety of afatinib in pts with UC harboring ERBB2/ERBB3 mutations or ERBB2 amplification (Cohort A), or EGFR (ERBB1) amplification (Cohort B). Eligible pts are ≥18 years of age with ECOG PS 0–1, histologically confirmed advanced/metastatic UC of the bladder, upper tract or urethra, not amenable to surgery and progressing during or after platinum-based CT, with available archival tissue samples for pre-screening biomarker analysis. Pts will receive oral afatinib 40 mg/day until disease progression or discontinuation. Cohort A is enrolling in two stages, with Stage 2 enrollment based on anti-tumor activity observed. The primary endpoint is progression-free survival (PFS) rate at 6 months; secondary endpoints include objective response rate, PFS, overall survival, disease control rate, duration of response and tumor shrinkage. Trial objectives will be analyzed separately for the two cohorts. Safety and biomarker assessments will also be performed. The trial commenced in June 2016; as of October 4, 2017, 201 samples have been analyzed, with 24.3% and 8% of pts with genetic alterations potentially eligible for inclusion in Cohort A and B, respectively. To date, 12 pts have received study treatment in Cohort A and 6 in Cohort B; recruitment is ongoing. Clinical trial information: NCT02780687.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 6032-6032
Author(s):  
Xiaohua Wu ◽  
Lingfang Xia ◽  
Qi Zhou ◽  
Jianqing Zhu ◽  
Ke Wang ◽  
...  

6032 Background: GLS-010 is a novel fully human anti-PD-1 mAb. Previous Phase I study exhibited favorable result of tolerance, preliminary efficacy and 240mg fixed dose q2w was selected as Recommended Phase II Dose (RP2D). This Phase II clinical trial is aimed to further evaluate the safety and anti-tumor activity of GLS-010 in patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer. Methods: PD-L1 positive (combined positive score (CPS) ≥1) patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer who had received one or more lines of chemotherapy were enrolled and received GLS-010 240mg every 2 weeks. Primary endpoint was the objective response rate (ORR) per RECIST 1.1, secondary endpoints included duration of response (DoR) and safety. Results: From May 16th 2019 to December 24th 2019, 44 pts were enrolled and treated in the study. As of December 24th 2019,the median line of prior systemic chemotherapy was 2(range: 1~4), and 59% (26/44) of pts had received ≥2 previous lines of chemotherapy. The median number of GLS-010 doses was 1.5(range: 1~4). 25 pts received response evaluation per investigator review. With a median follow-up of 2.9 months, 7 of 25 evaluable pts achieved a partial response (PR). The ORR was 28% (95% CI, 12.07-49.39), with 7 pts achieving a PR ( 3 of 7 confirmed), 3 pts achieving stable disease (SD) and 15 pts with progressive disease (PD), 1 of which was assessed as dissociated response with treatment ongoing. Median duration of response had not been reached yet. 33 of 44 patients (75%) experienced one or more treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) per NCI CTCAE v4.03, most of which were grade 1 or 2. The most common TRAEs were Anaemia (15/44), and 73.3% of them were grade 1 or 2. The most common ≥grade 3 TRAE included Anaemia (4/44). As data cut off, only 1 pt discontinued treatment due to adverse event. Conclusions: GLS-010 showed impressive therapeutic activity and manageable safety profile in Chinese recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer patients. Current evidence support further development of GLS-010 in this and more indications. This trial is still ongoing, and we are looking forward to further results. Clinical trial information: NCT03972722.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (4_suppl) ◽  
pp. 619-619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Halperin ◽  
Suyu Liu ◽  
Arvind Dasari ◽  
David R. Fogelman ◽  
Priya Bhosale ◽  
...  

619 Background: Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are relatively rare and heterogeneous tumors arising throughout the aerodigestive tract, which are incurable and life-limiting when metastatic. Prior studies of checkpoint inhibitors in NET patients have yielded minimal evidence of efficacy. Historically, effective therapies for advanced, progressive NET yield response rates less than 10% and progression-free survival (PFS) durations of approximately 11 months, as compared to approximately 4.5 months with placebo. Methods: We undertook a phase II basket study of atezolizumab in combination with bevacizumab in patients with rare cancers, and present here the data from the pancreatic NET (pNET) cohort and extrapancreatic NET (epNET) cohort, each of which included 20 patients with grade 1-2 NET that was progressive under any prior therapy. Patients received 1200mg of atezolizumab and 15mg/kg of bevacizumab IV q 21 days. The primary endpoint was confirmed objective response by RECIST 1.1. Results: The confirmed objective response rate with this combination was 20% (95% CI 6-44%) in the pNET cohort and 15% (95% CI 3-38%) in the epNET cohort. The median PFS in the pNET cohort is 19.6 months (95% CI 10.6-NR), while it was 14.9 months (95% CI 6.1-NR) in the epNET cohort, 1-year PFS was 75% and 52%, respectively. The combination was well-tolerated in this patient population, with the most common related treatment-emergent adverse events being hypertension (47.5%), proteinuria (37.5%), and fatigue (35%). The most common related grade 3/4 adverse events were hypertension (20%) and proteinuria (7.5%). Conclusions: The combination of atezolizumab and bevacizumab demonstrated moderate clinical activity in patients with advanced NETs. As pre-treatment and on-treatment biopsies were obtained for all patients, correlations with immune infiltration, mutations, and transcriptome alterations should provide additional insight into the mechanisms of response and resistance. Clinical trial information: NCT03074513.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nitya Raj ◽  
Youyun Zheng ◽  
Virginia Kelly ◽  
Seth S. Katz ◽  
Joanne Chou ◽  
...  

PURPOSE Adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC) are rare and aggressive malignancies with limited treatment options. This study was undertaken to evaluate the immunogenicity of ACC. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with advanced ACC were enrolled in a phase II study to evaluate the clinical activity of pembrolizumab 200 mg every 3 weeks, without restriction on prior therapy. The primary end point was objective response rate. Efficacy was correlated with tumor programmed death-ligand 1 expression, microsatellite-high and/or mismatch repair deficient (MSI-H/MMR-D) status, and somatic and germline genomic correlates. RESULTS We enrolled 39 patients with advanced ACC and herein report after a median follow-up of 17.8 months (range, 5.4 months to 34.7 months). The objective response rate to pembrolizumab was 23% (nine patients; 95% CI, 11% to 39%), and the disease control rate was 52% (16 patients; 95% CI, 33% to 69%). The median duration of response was not reached (lower 95% CI, 4.1 months). Two of six patients with MSI-H/MMR-D tumors responded. The other seven patients with objective responses had microsatellite stable tumors. The median progression-free survival was 2.1 months (95% CI, 2.0 months to 10.7 months), and the median overall survival was 24.9 months (95% CI, 4.2 months to not reached). Thirteen percent of patients (n = 5) had treatment-related grade 3 or 4 adverse events. Tumor programmed death-ligand 1 expression and MSI-H/MMR-D status were not associated with objective response. CONCLUSION MSI-H/MMR-D tumors, for which pembrolizumab is a standard therapy, are more common in ACC than has been recognized. In advanced ACC that is microsatellite stable, pembrolizumab provided clinically meaningful and durable antitumor activity with a manageable safety profile.


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