Donor NK Cell Therapy in Combination with Gemcitabine and Docetaxel for the Treatment of Relapsed or Refractory Sarcomas, The TINKS Trial

Inclusion Criteria

• Patients must be between the ages >= 2 years and =< 40 years of age and have had a relapsed or refractory osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma or non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcoma
• Patients must have measurable disease using RECIST 1.1 criteria
• Patients must have had at least one and no more than four total lines of cytotoxic systemic treatment regimens for relapse sarcoma. Local control with surgical resection or radiation therapy of the primary tumor and any metastatic sites as clinically indicated as standard of care per the treating physician must be considered prior to enrollment
• Prior Therapy: Therapy may not have been received more recently than the timeframes defined below: * Myelosuppressive chemotherapy: Patients must not have received myelosuppressive therapy within 14 days of protocol therapy * Radiation: At least 2 weeks must have elapsed from the start of protocol therapy since local palliative external radiation therapy (XRT) (smallport); 4 weeks must have elapsed for all other radiation therapy * Hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT): Patients must have at least 6 weeks elapsed after autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant * Biologic (anti-neoplastic agent): At least 7 days or 5 half-lives of the drug, whichever is longer, must have elapsed from the start of protocol therapy since the completion of therapy with a biologic agent * Monoclonal antibodies: At least 3 weeks must have elapsed from the start of protocol therapy since prior therapy that included a monoclonal antibody * Prior use of gemcitabine and/or docetaxel: Patients who have received these agents for prior treatment may be included if previous treatments were given >= 6 months prior to enrollment on this study, and there were no allergic reactions, pulmonary edema or fibrosis, grade 3 or higher neuropathy or other non-hematologic grade 4 adverse events related to gemcitabine and/or docetaxel therapies
• Performance status: Karnofsky >= 60 for patients >=16 years of age. Lansky score of >= 60 for patients < 16 years of age
• Absolute neutrophil count >= 1000/mcL (within 7 days of starting protocol therapy)
• Platelet count >= 100,000/mcL (transfusion-independent, defined as no platelet transfusions within the last 72 hours) (within 7 days of starting protocol therapy)
• Total bilirubin < 1.5 x upper limit of normal for age (within 7 days of starting protocol therapy)
• Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase [SGOT])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase [SGPT]) =< 2.5 x institutional upper limit of normal (within 7 days of starting protocol therapy)
• Serum creatinine < 1.5 x upper limit of normal based on age/gender OR creatinine clearance >= 70 mL/min/1.73 m^2 for patients with creatinine levels above institutional normal (within 7 days of starting protocol therapy)
• Shortening fraction >= 27% by ECHO OR ejection fraction of >= 50% by ECHO or gated radionuclide study (within 7 days of starting protocol therapy) * Echocardiogram done within 12 months of study entry will be acceptable. If patient has required anthracycline chemotherapy since last ECHO and enrollment on this study, echocardiogram should be repeated
• No evidence for dyspnea at rest, no chronic oxygen requirement, and room air pulse oximetry > 94% if there is a clinical indication for pulse oximetry (within 7 days of starting protocol therapy)
• Neuropathy: Patients must have =< grade 2 neuropathy at enrollment
• Patients with seizure disorders may be enrolled if seizures are well controlled on anti-convulsant, with the exception of diazepam given its potential deleterious effects on NK cell activity
• Contraception: The effects of expanded NK cells on the developing human fetus are unknown. For this reason and because the chemotherapeutic preparative agents as well as other therapeutic agents used in this trial are known to be teratogenic, women of child-bearing potential must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation. Should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while she or her partner is participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately. Men treated or enrolled on this protocol must also agree to use adequate contraception prior to the study, for the duration of study participation, and 4 months after completion of preparatory regimen administration
• All patients and/or their parents or legal guardians must have the ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent/assent document

Exclusion Criteria

• Patients who are receiving any other investigational agents
• Patients must not be receiving any additional medicines being given for the specific purpose of treating cancer
• Patients with a history of allergic reactions attributed to docetaxel, gemcitabine, or peg-filgrastim or biosimilar
• Patients who have received any prior cellular therapies, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells or other expanded or manufactured cellular products
• Patients with bone marrow only disease are not eligible for this study
• Patients with any of the following “intermediate (rarely metastasizing)” or “malignant” grade 2 or grade 3 tumors of any size, as defined in the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of soft tissue tumors, are not eligible for this study: * So-called fibrohistiocytic tumors – plexiform fibrohistiocytic tumor, giant cell tumor of soft tissues * Fibroblastic/myofibroblastic tumors – solitary fibrous tumor, malignant solitary fibrous tumor, inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor, low grade myofibroblastic sarcoma, myxoinflammatory fibroblastic sarcoma, atypical myxoinflammatory fibroblastic tumor, myxofibrosarcoma, low grade fibromyxoid sarcoma, sclerosing epithelioid fibrosarcoma * Tumors of uncertain differentiation – epithelioid sarcoma, alveolar soft part sarcoma, clear cell sarcoma of soft tissue, angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma, ossifying fibromyxoid tumor, myoepithelioma, myoepithelial carcinoma, extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma, neoplasms with perivascular epithelioid cell differentiation (PEComa), intimal sarcoma, atypical fibroxanthoma, mixed tumor not otherwise specified (NOS), phosphaturic mesenchymal tumor, malignant ossifying fibromyxoid tumor, malignant mixed tumor, malignant phosphaturic mesenchymal tumor * Chondro-osseous tumors – extraskeletal osteosarcoma *Pericytic (perivascular) tumors – malignant glomus tumor * Nerve sheath tumors - malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor, malignant granular cell tumor, epithelioid malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor, malignant Triton tumor * Undifferentiated sarcomas (with a specific pathologic category in the WHO classification) - undifferentiated round cell sarcoma, undifferentiated epithelioid sarcoma, undifferentiated spindle cell sarcoma
• Patients who, in the judgment of the treating physician, has tumors near critical structures for which transient swelling would cause substantial symptoms, such as tumor within the bowel mucosa
• Patients with central nervous system (CNS) metastatic disease will not be eligible for this study
• Concomitant medications: * Due to their effect on NK cell function, systemic corticosteroids outside of the supportive dexamethasone given from day 7 through 9 should be used ONLY for life-threatening conditions (i.e., life-threatening allergic reactions and anaphylaxis such as bronchospasm, stridor) unresponsive to other measures. The use of dexamethasone as an anti-emetic is not permitted. Corticosteroid therapy can be used as a premedication for transfusion in patients known to have a history of transfusion reactions or for treatment of an unexpected transfusion reaction (hydrocortisone 2 mg/kg or less or an equivalent dose of an alternative corticosteroids). The use of steroids during protocol therapy other than the study-required prophylactic dexamethasone doses requires clear justification and documentation of use for a life-threatening condition * The following are also prohibited while on study treatment ** Strong CYP3A4 inducers. Because the lists of these agents are constantly changing, it is important to regularly consult a frequently-updated list such as http://medicine.iupui.edu/clinpharm/ddis/; medical reference texts such as the Physicians’ Desk Reference may also provide this information ** Diazepam ** Chemotherapeutic agents other than the study drugs
• Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to: * ongoing or active infection * psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements
• Pregnancy or breast-feeding: Pregnant or breast-feeding woman will not be entered on this study due to risks of fetal and teratogenic adverse events as seen in animal/human studies with gemcitabine and docetaxel
• HIV infection: HIV-positive patients on combination antiretroviral therapy are ineligible because of the potential for pharmacokinetic interactions with the study medications. In addition, these patients are at increased risk of lethal infections when treated with marrow-suppressive therapy. Appropriate studies will be undertaken in patients receiving combination antiretroviral therapy when indicated
• Patients who in the opinion of the investigator may not be able to comply with the safety monitoring requirements of the study are not eligible