Nivolumab in Eliminating Minimal Residual Disease and Preventing Relapse in Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission After Chemotherapy

Sponsor
National Cancer Institute (NCI) (NIH)
Overall Status
Active, not recruiting
CT.gov ID
NCT02275533
Collaborator
(none)
82
46
2
87.2
1.8
0

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

This phase II trial studies how well nivolumab works in eliminating any remaining cancer cells and preventing cancer from returning in patients with acute myeloid leukemia that had a decrease in or disappearance of signs and symptoms of cancer after receiving chemotherapy. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as nivolumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread.

Condition or Disease Intervention/Treatment Phase
  • Other: Clinical Observation
  • Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis
  • Biological: Nivolumab
Phase 2

Detailed Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:
  1. To evaluate and compare the progression free survival rate after randomization in the two treatment arms (nivolumab versus [vs.] observation).
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
  1. To determine and compare the overall survival rates in the two arms. II. To determine and compare the incidence of non-relapse mortality in the two arms.

  2. To evaluate the toxicities of nivolumab as maintenance.

EXPLORATORY OBJECTIVES:
  1. To analyze programmed cell death (PD)-ligand (L)1 expression on acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells from peripheral blood and/or bone marrow samples at diagnosis if available and at the time of study enrollment.

  2. To monitor AML minimal residual disease (MRD) by Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) at enrollment and at subsequent defined time points in the nivolumab-treated and control groups.

  3. To perform an exploratory analysis on the frequencies, absolute numbers and subsets of T cells (including regulatory T cells) in the nivolumab-treated and control groups with an emphasis on activation markers.

  4. To perform deep sequencing of T cell receptor (TCR)-alpha and TCR-beta chains on polyclonal T cells at baseline and at subsequent time points in the nivolumab and control groups.

OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

ARM I: Patients receive nivolumab intravenously (IV) over 60 minutes once every 2 weeks. Treatment repeats every 2 weeks for 46 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

ARM II: Patients undergo standard of care clinical observation for up to 2 years. Upon disease relapse, patients may cross-over to Arm I.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up periodically for 2 years, every 6 months for 1 year, and then yearly thereafter.

Study Design

Study Type:
Interventional
Anticipated Enrollment :
82 participants
Allocation:
Randomized
Intervention Model:
Crossover Assignment
Masking:
None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose:
Treatment
Official Title:
Randomized Phase II Study to Assess the Role of Nivolumab as Single Agent to Eliminate Minimal Residual Disease and Maintain Remission in Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) Patients After Chemotherapy (REMAIN TRIAL)
Actual Study Start Date :
May 27, 2015
Anticipated Primary Completion Date :
Aug 31, 2022
Anticipated Study Completion Date :
Aug 31, 2022

Arms and Interventions

Arm Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Arm I (nivolumab)

Patients receive nivolumab IV over 60 minutes once every 2 weeks. Treatment repeats every 2 weeks for 46 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis
Correlative studies

Biological: Nivolumab
Given IV
Other Names:
  • BMS-936558
  • CMAB819
  • MDX-1106
  • NIVO
  • Nivolumab Biosimilar CMAB819
  • ONO-4538
  • Opdivo
  • Active Comparator: Arm II (observation)

    Patients undergo standard of care clinical observation for up to 2 years. Upon disease relapse, patients may cross-over to Arm I.

    Other: Clinical Observation
    Undergo standard of care clinical observation
    Other Names:
  • observation
  • Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis
    Correlative studies

    Outcome Measures

    Primary Outcome Measures

    1. Progression free survival (PFS) [Time from randomization to disease relapse or death from any cause, assessed up to 2 years post-treatment]

      Kaplan-Meier plots will be used to estimate PFS in each arm and a stratified log rank test will be performed to compare the two groups. In addition, Cox proportional hazards models will be fit to provide estimates of the hazard ratio (HR) and associated 95% confidence interval (CIs), both unadjusted and adjusted for baseline covariates. Descriptive, subset analysis of PFS will be performed for minimal residual disease (MRD) positive patients.

    Secondary Outcome Measures

    1. Overall survival (OS) [Time from randomization to the date of death from any cause, assessed up to 2 years post-treatment]

      For overall survival, Kaplan-Meier plots will be generated for each treatment arm and the curves will be compared using a log rank test. Kaplan-Meier estimates with 95% CI will be summarized every 6 months using Greenwood's formula for the standard error of the Kaplan-Meier estimate. In addition to the Kaplan-Meier estimates, Cox proportional hazards models will be fit to estimate HRs and to assess and adjust for the effects of covariates. Descriptive, subset analysis of OS will be performed for MRD negative patients.

    2. Non-relapse mortality (NRM) [Duration between the date of randomization and the date of patient death due to reasons other than relapse, assessed up to 2 years post-treatment]

      NRM will be analyzed using competing risks models with deaths due to relapse as a competing risk. Cumulative incidence curves will be generated and treatment effects summarized using the sub-distribution hazard ratio with and without adjustment for covariates

    3. Incidence of adverse effects of nivolumab [Up to 100 days post-treatment]

      Will be assessed using National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 5.0. Summary tables for adverse events (AEs) will include only AEs that started or worsened after randomization. The incidence of treatment-related adverse events (new or worsening from baseline after randomization) will be summarized by system organ class and/ or preferred term, severity (based on CTCAE grades), type of adverse event, and relation to study treatment by treatment group. Toxicity rates will be compared between the two treatment arms via chi-squares or Fisher's exact tests.

    Eligibility Criteria

    Criteria

    Ages Eligible for Study:
    18 Years and Older
    Sexes Eligible for Study:
    All
    Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
    No
    Inclusion Criteria:
    • AML patients in first complete remission (CR) (CR1) or first complete remission with incomplete blood count recovery (CRi) after induction and consolidation chemotherapy; except young (< 60 years) AML patients in European LeukemiaNet favorable group; (Since young AML patients in the European LeukemiaNet favorable group have excellent 2 year progression free survival [PFS] at around 64%, further maintenance therapy might ot provide additional benefit; thus the current trial will exclude young favorable group AML patients), patients could receive any cycle consolidation or no consolidation per the discretion by the treating physician

    • Within 60 days after bone marrow biopsy confirmed remission after the patients recover from their last course of chemotherapy, the goal will be to consent the eligible patient prior to the remission confirmation bone marrow biopsy at the end of the planned chemotherapy); ideally, the research samples will be collected during the bone marrow biopsy, and the patient will be enrolled to the study within 2 weeks of the bone marrow biopsy; if there is delay to enroll the patient after the bone marrow biopsy and research sample collection, it is ok not to repeat bone marrow biopsy within 4 weeks, after the last bone marrow biopsy, if there is no sign of disease relapse; a repeat bone marrow biopsy should be done if the delay of enrollment is more than 4 weeks after the last bone marrow biopsy; patients with confirmed remission within 60 days after the last bone marrow biopsy, without research samples collection, should have a repeat bone marrow biopsy conducted within two weeks prior to enrolling on the study

    • Patient is not a candidate for stem cell transplant due to advanced age or co-morbidities; or the enrollee does not have donor available; or the enrollee declines stem cell transplant due to personal belief; or stem cell transplant is not standard of care based on the risk category of disease

    • Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG)/Karnofsky performance status of 0 or 1 (Karnofsky >= 70%)

    • Life expectancy of greater than 6 months

    • Leukocytes >= 1,500/mcL

    • Absolute neutrophil count >= 1,000/mcL

    • Platelets >= 50,000/mcL or recovery to the baseline count

    • Total bilirubin =< 1.5 x institutional upper limit of normal (ULN) (except patients with Gilbert syndrome, who can have total bilirubin < 3.0 mg/dL)

    • Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase [SGOT])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase [SGPT]) =< 2.5 x ULN

    • Amylase and lipase =< 1.5 x ULN without any symptoms of pancreatitis

    • Serum creatinine =< 1.5 x ULN OR creatinine clearance (CrCl) >= 50 mL/min (if using the Cockcroft-Gault formula)

    • The effects of nivolumab on the developing human fetus are unknown; for this reason, women of child-bearing potential (WOCBP) and men 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; WOCBP should use an adequate method to avoid pregnancy for 23 weeks after the last dose of investigational drug nivolumab; women of childbearing potential must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test (minimum sensitivity 25 IU/L or equivalent units of human chorionic gonadotropin [HCG]) within 24 hours prior to the start of nivolumab; women must not be breastfeeding; men who are sexually active with WOCBP must use any contraceptive method with a failure rate of less than 1% per year; 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; women who are not of childbearing potential (i.e., who are postmenopausal or surgically sterile as well as azoospermic men) do not require contraception

    • Women of childbearing potential (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

    • 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

    • Should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while she or her partner is participating in this study, she (or the participating partner) should inform the treating physician immediately

    • Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document

    Exclusion Criteria:
    • Patients who have had chemotherapy or radiotherapy within 4 weeks (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin C) prior to entering the study or those who have not recovered from adverse events (AEs) due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier

    • Patients who are receiving any other investigational agents

    • Patients should be excluded if they have had prior treatment with an anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), anti-programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1), anti-PD-L2, anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) antibody, or any other antibody or drug specifically targeting T-cell co-stimulation or immune checkpoint pathways

    • Patients with known central nervous system (CNS) involvement may be excluded because of poor prognosis and concerns regarding progressive neurologic dysfunction that would confound the evaluation of neurologic and other adverse events; however, if CNS disease is cleared before the treatment with nivolumab, patients could be allowed if no permanent CNS damage

    • History of severe hypersensitivity reaction to any monoclonal antibody

    • Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements

    • Pregnant women are excluded from this study because nivolumab is an agent with the potential for teratogenic or abortifacient effects; because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with nivolumab, breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with nivolumab

    • Patients with known history of testing positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or known acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) might be enrolled if the viral load by PCR is undetectable with/without active treatment and absolute lymphocyte count >= 350/ul

    • Patients with a positive test for hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBV sAg) or hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid (hepatitis C virus [HCV] antibody) indicating acute or chronic infection might be enrolled if the viral load by PCR is undetectable with/without active treatment

    • Patients with active autoimmune disease or history of autoimmune disease that might recur should be excluded; these include but are not limited to patients with a history of immune related neurologic disease, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune (demyelinating) neuropathy, Guillain-Barre syndrome, myasthenia gravis; systemic autoimmune disease such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), connective tissue diseases, scleroderma, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, hepatitis; and patients with a history of toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), Stevens-Johnson syndrome, or phospholipid syndrome should be excluded because of the risk of recurrence or exacerbation of disease; patients with vitiligo, endocrine deficiencies including thyroiditis managed with replacement hormones including physiologic corticosteroids are eligible; patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other arthropathies, Sjögren's syndrome and psoriasis controlled with topical medication and patients with positive serology, such as antinuclear antibodies (ANA), anti-thyroid antibodies should be evaluated for the presence of target organ involvement and potential need for systemic treatment but should otherwise be eligible

    • Patients are permitted to enroll if they have vitiligo, type I diabetes mellitus, residual hypothyroidism due to autoimmune condition only requiring hormone replacement, psoriasis not requiring systemic treatment, or conditions not expected to recur in the absence of an external trigger (precipitating event)

    • Patients should be excluded if they have a condition requiring systemic treatment with either corticosteroids (> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents) or other immunosuppressive medications within 14 days of study drug administration; inhaled or topical steroids and adrenal replacement doses =< 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents are permitted in the absence of active autoimmune disease; patients are permitted to use topical, ocular, intra-articular, intranasal, and inhalational corticosteroids (with minimal systemic absorption); physiologic replacement doses of systemic corticosteroids are permitted, even if =< 10 mg/day prednisone equivalents; a brief course of corticosteroids for prophylaxis (e.g., contrast dye allergy) or for treatment of non-autoimmune conditions (e.g., delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction caused by contact allergen) is permitted

    • Patients who have had evidence of active or acute diverticulitis, intra-abdominal abscess, gastrointestinal (GI) obstruction and abdominal carcinomatosis should be evaluated for the potential need for additional treatment before coming on study

    Contacts and Locations

    Locations

    Site City State Country Postal Code
    1 University of Alabama at Birmingham Cancer Center Birmingham Alabama United States 35233
    2 Banner University Medical Center - Tucson Tucson Arizona United States 85719
    3 University of Arizona Cancer Center-North Campus Tucson Arizona United States 85719
    4 City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center Duarte California United States 91010
    5 UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center La Jolla California United States 92093
    6 Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center Los Angeles California United States 90033
    7 USC / Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center Los Angeles California United States 90033
    8 University of California Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center Sacramento California United States 95817
    9 Smilow Cancer Center/Yale-New Haven Hospital New Haven Connecticut United States 06510
    10 Yale University New Haven Connecticut United States 06520
    11 MedStar Georgetown University Hospital Washington District of Columbia United States 20007
    12 Moffitt Cancer Center-International Plaza Tampa Florida United States 33607
    13 Moffitt Cancer Center Tampa Florida United States 33612
    14 University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center Chicago Illinois United States 60637
    15 Decatur Memorial Hospital Decatur Illinois United States 62526
    16 UC Comprehensive Cancer Center at Silver Cross New Lenox Illinois United States 60451
    17 University of Chicago Medicine-Orland Park Orland Park Illinois United States 60462
    18 Illinois CancerCare-Peoria Peoria Illinois United States 61615
    19 Indiana University/Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center Indianapolis Indiana United States 46202
    20 University of Kansas Clinical Research Center Fairway Kansas United States 66205
    21 University of Kansas Cancer Center Kansas City Kansas United States 66160
    22 University of Kansas Hospital-Westwood Cancer Center Westwood Kansas United States 66205
    23 University of Kentucky/Markey Cancer Center Lexington Kentucky United States 40536
    24 University of Maryland/Greenebaum Cancer Center Baltimore Maryland United States 21201
    25 National Institutes of Health Clinical Center Bethesda Maryland United States 20892
    26 NCI - Center for Cancer Research Bethesda Maryland United States 20892
    27 Wayne State University/Karmanos Cancer Institute Detroit Michigan United States 48201
    28 Weisberg Cancer Treatment Center Farmington Hills Michigan United States 48334
    29 University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha Nebraska United States 68198
    30 Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center Lebanon New Hampshire United States 03756
    31 Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital New Brunswick New Jersey United States 08903
    32 Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey New Brunswick New Jersey United States 08903
    33 Montefiore Medical Center-Einstein Campus Bronx New York United States 10461
    34 Montefiore Medical Center - Moses Campus Bronx New York United States 10467
    35 Roswell Park Cancer Institute Buffalo New York United States 14263
    36 Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone New York New York United States 10016
    37 Case Western Reserve University Cleveland Ohio United States 44106
    38 Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center Hershey Pennsylvania United States 17033-0850
    39 Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Philadelphia Pennsylvania United States 19107
    40 UT Southwestern/Simmons Cancer Center-Dallas Dallas Texas United States 75390
    41 Baylor College of Medicine/Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center Houston Texas United States 77030
    42 Ben Taub General Hospital Houston Texas United States 77030
    43 Huntsman Cancer Institute/University of Utah Salt Lake City Utah United States 84112
    44 Virginia Commonwealth University/Massey Cancer Center Richmond Virginia United States 23298
    45 University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center Madison Wisconsin United States 53792
    46 University Health Network-Princess Margaret Hospital Toronto Ontario Canada M5G 2M9

    Sponsors and Collaborators

    • National Cancer Institute (NCI)

    Investigators

    • Principal Investigator: Hongtao Liu, University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center EDDOP

    Study Documents (Full-Text)

    None provided.

    More Information

    Publications

    None provided.
    Responsible Party:
    National Cancer Institute (NCI)
    ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
    NCT02275533
    Other Study ID Numbers:
    • NCI-2014-02167
    • NCI-2014-02167
    • CIRB 15-0185
    • CVCIRB 15-0185
    • 9706
    • 9706
    • N01CM00071
    • P30CA014599
    • UM1CA186644
    • UM1CA186686
    • UM1CA186689
    • UM1CA186691
    • UM1CA186712
    • UM1CA186717
    • ZIABC011078
    First Posted:
    Oct 27, 2014
    Last Update Posted:
    Jul 28, 2022
    Last Verified:
    Mar 1, 2022
    Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:
    Undecided
    Plan to Share IPD:
    Undecided
    Additional relevant MeSH terms:

    Study Results

    No Results Posted as of Jul 28, 2022