Nivolumab, Ipilimumab, and Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients with Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma
This phase II trial studies how well nivolumab, ipilimumab, and radiation therapy work in treating patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as nivolumab and ipilimumab, may help the body’s immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Radiation therapy uses high energy x-rays to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Giving nivolumab, ipilimumab, and radiation therapy may work better in treating patients with glioblastoma.
Inclusion Criteria
- Histopathological evidence of glioblastoma or gliosarcoma, World Health Organization (WHO) grade IV
- Tumor MGMT promoter deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) not methylated (i.e., unmethylated) by central testing
- There will be two study cohorts: * Main study cohort: Maximal tumor diameter of 6.6 cm or less. Patients with multifocal tumors are allowed if the sum of the maximal tumor diameters does not exceed 6.6 cm. Note, the maximal tumor diameter for the first 3 subjects enrolled will be 5 cm * Surgical study cohort: Patients who received tumor biopsy or subtotal tumor resection and are amenable to a second tumor resection with expected post-operative tumor diameter of =< 6 cm (planning target volume [PTV] of =< 150 cm^3)
- Subjects must not have received any prior standard or investigational anti-tumor therapy other than surgery and must not intend to receive any standard or investigational anti-tumor therapy other than the study regimen
- Karnofsky performance status of >= 60
- Availability of a paraffin-embedded or frozen tumor-tissue block with a minimum of 1 cm^2 of tumor surface area, or 20 unstained slides from the glioblastoma tissue specimen if a tumor block cannot be submitted. For surgical study cohort: availability of pre- and post-operative tumor tissue is required
- Subjects must start study agent within 6 weeks from the first diagnostic surgery for glioblastoma
- Begin of study treatment: * An interval of at least 2 weeks for surgical resection and 1 week for stereotactic biopsy from the start of study treatment. Main study cohort: Subjects must start study agents no sooner than 2 weeks from last surgical resection and 1 week from stereotactic biopsy * Surgical study cohort: Subjects must receive 1st dose of study agents 2 weeks prior to tumor re-resection and must resume study agents no sooner than 2 weeks from date of tumor re-resection
- A contrast-enhanced MRI must be obtained within 21 days of the first dose of study treatment
- White blood cell count >= 2.0 x 10^9/L
- Absolute neutrophil count >= 1.5 x 10^9/L
- Platelet count >= 100 x 10^9/L
- Hemoglobin > 9 g/dL
- Serum creatinine =< 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) or creatinine clearance (CrCl) >= 40 mL/min according to the Cockcroft-Gault formula or local institutional standard method
- Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) =< 3 x ULN
- Total bilirubin =< 1.5 x ULN (except subjects with Gilbert syndrome, who can have total bilirubin < 3.0 mg/dL)
- Women of child-bearing potential (WOCBP) and men able to father a child must agree to use highly effective contraception (any contraceptive method with a failure rate of less than 1 percent [%] per year) while on study drug and for 23 weeks (for women) or 31 weeks (for men) after the last dose of study drug * WOCBP must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test within 24 hours of initiation of study drug * WOCBP is defined as any female who has experienced menarche and who has not undergone surgical sterilization (hysterectomy or bilateral oophorectomy) or who is not postmenopausal; menopause is defined clinically as 12 months of amenorrhea in a woman over 45 in the absence of other biological or physiological causes; in addition, women under the age of 55 must have a documented serum follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level less than 40 mIU/mL to be defined as post-menopausal * WOCBP receiving nivolumab will be instructed to adhere to contraception for a period of 23 weeks after the last dose of investigational product; men receiving nivolumab and who are sexually active with WOCBP will be instructed to adhere to contraception for a period of 31 weeks after the last dose of investigational product; these durations have been calculated using the upper limit of the half-life for nivolumab (25 days) and are based on the protocol requirement that WOCBP use contraception for 5 half-lives plus 30 days and men who are sexually active with WOCBP use contraception for 5 half-lives plus 90 days * Highly effective contraceptive measures include: stable use of oral contraceptives such as combined estrogen and progestogen and progestogen only hormonal contraception or other prescription pharmaceutical contraceptives for 2 or more menstrual cycles prior to screening; intrauterine device (IUD); intrauterine hormone-releasing system (IUS); bilateral tubal ligation; vasectomy and sexual abstinence * Contraception is not required for men with documented vasectomy * Pregnancy testing and contraception are not required for women with documented hysterectomy or tubal ligation * Women must not be breastfeeding
- Willing to and capable of providing written informed consent prior to any study related procedures
- Ability and willingness to comply with all study requirements, including scheduled visits, treatment plans, laboratory tests, and other study-related procedures
Exclusion Criteria
- Prior use of any standard or investigational anti-tumor therapy other than surgery
- Planned participation in another study of an investigational agent or investigational device or planned use of any other agent or therapeutic device intended for therapy of glioma
- Infratentorial tumors
- Patients with > 1 cm midline shift on postoperative, baseline brain MRI
- Diffuse leptomeningeal gliomatosis
- Known mutation of the IDH1 or IDH2 genes in the tumor, since glioblastomas with these mutations have different biology and are associated with improved prognosis * Documentation that no IDH1 or IDH2 mutations are present in the tumor by a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) approved laboratory is required prior to initiation of study treatment
- Intracranial hemorrhage grade > 1 not attributable to recent neurosurgery
- Systemic treatment with either immunosuppressive doses of corticosteroids (> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents) or other immunosuppressive medications within 14 days of study drug administration * Subjects on a standard high-dose steroid taper after craniotomy or stereotactic biopsy may have received a higher dose of corticosteroids within 14 days of registration, however must be at a dose < 10 mg daily prednisone or bioequivalent per day within 5 days prior to initiation of study drug * Administration of steroids through a route known to result in a minimal systemic exposure (i.e., intranasal, intraocular, inhaled, topical, or local injection [e.g., intra-articular injection] corticosteroids [< 5% of body surface area]) are permitted in the absence of active autoimmune disease * Subjects requiring adrenal replacement with corticosteroids are eligible if the steroids are at doses =< 10 mg prednisone or bioequivalent per day in the absence of active autoimmune disease * Steroids as premedication for hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., computed tomography [CT] scan premedication) are allowed
- Active autoimmune disease that might deteriorate when receiving an immuno-stimulatory agent; the following conditions are not exclusions (subjects with the following conditions are permitted): * Patients with diabetes type I, vitiligo, residual hypo- or hyperthyroidism due to autoimmune condition only requiring hormone replacement, or psoriasis not requiring systemic immunosuppressive treatment, or autoimmune conditions not expected to recur in the absence of an external trigger
- Prior organ transplantation, including allogeneic stem cell transplantation
- Known history of, or any evidence of active, non-infectious pneumonitis within the last 5 years
- Known severe (National Cancer Institute [NCI]- Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events [CTCAE] version [v]4.03 grade 3 or 4) infusion-related allergy or acute hypersensitivity reaction attributed to any monoclonal antibody, any history of anaphylaxis, or uncontrolled asthma (that is, 3 or more features of partially controlled asthma)
- Unable tolerate an MRI, or have a contraindication to MRI
- Active infection requiring systemic therapy
- Known history of testing positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or known acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
- Positive test for hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBV sAg) or hepatitis C virus (HCV antibody) indicating acute or chronic infection
- Vaccination within 4 weeks of the first dose of study drug and while on trials is prohibited except for administration of inactivated vaccines; note: seasonal influenza vaccines for injection are generally inactivated flu vaccines and are allowed; however intranasal influenza vaccines (e.g., Flu-Mist) are live attenuated vaccines, and are not allowed
- Clinically significant (i.e., active) cardiovascular disease: cerebral vascular accident / stroke (< 6 months prior to enrollment), myocardial infarction (< 6 months prior to enrollment), unstable angina, congestive heart failure (>= New York Heart Association Classification class II), or serious cardiac arrhythmia requiring medication
- Patients with another active cancer (excluding basal cell carcinoma, cervical carcinoma in situ or melanoma in situ); prior history of other cancer is allowed, as long as there was no active disease within the prior 2 years
- All other unstable, severe, or chronic medical or psychiatric conditions including colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, pneumonitis, pulmonary fibrosis, recent (within the past year) or active suicidal ideation or behavior, known alcohol or drug abuse, or laboratory abnormalities that may increase the risk associated with study participation or study treatment administration or may interfere with the interpretation of study results and, in the judgment of the investigator, would make the patient inappropriate for entry into this study
Study sponsor and potential other locations can be found on ClinicalTrials.gov for NCT03367715.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
I. To determine the overall survival at 1 year (1-yr OS) of adults with newly diagnosed, MGMT unmethylated glioblastoma (GBM) administered nivolumab, ipilimumab and hypofractionated radiation therapy (RT). (Main Study Cohort)
II. To assess safety, feasibility and tolerability. (Surgical Study Cohort)
III. Explore the association of 1-yr OS with tumor tissue and circulating biomarkers as described in the exploratory study endpoints to identify potential biomarkers that predict response or resistance. (Both Study Cohorts)
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
I. To evaluate the safety and tolerability. (Main Study Cohort)
II. To estimate additional measures of efficacy, as outlined in the study endpoints. (Main Study Cohort)
III. To estimate measures of efficacy, as outlined in the study endpoints. (Surgical Study Cohort)
OUTLINE: Patients are assigned to 1 of 2 arms.
ARM I (MAIN STUDY COHORT): Patients receive nivolumab intravenously (IV) over 30 minutes and ipilimumab IV over 30 minutes on day 1. Cycles with nivolumab repeat every 2 weeks and cycles with ipilimumab repeat every 6 weeks for up 2 years in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients undergo intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) or stereotactic radiosurgery over 15 fractions 5 days per week for 3 weeks.
ARM II (SURGICAL STUDY COHORT): Patients receive nivolumab IV over 30 minutes and ipilimumab IV over 30 minutes on day -29. Patients then undergo craniotomy and undergo tumor resection on day -15. Two weeks later, patients receive nivolumab IV over 30 minutes on days 1, 15, and 29 and ipilimumab IV over 30 minutes on day 15. Cycles repeat every 6 weeks for up 2 years in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients undergo IMRT or stereotactic radiosurgery over 15 fractions 5 days per week for 3 weeks.
After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at 30 and 90 days, then every 3 months thereafter.
Trial PhasePhase II
Trial Typetreatment
Lead OrganizationLaura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone
Principal InvestigatorSylvia Christine Kurz
- Primary IDS17-00218
- Secondary IDsNCI-2018-00237
- ClinicalTrials.gov IDNCT03367715