Nivolumab and Ibrutinib in Treating Patients With Relapsed, Refractory, or High-Risk Untreated Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma, or Richter Transformation

Sponsor
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (Other)
Overall Status
Completed
CT.gov ID
NCT02420912
Collaborator
National Cancer Institute (NCI) (NIH)
72
1
3
79.9
0.9

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

This phase II trial studies how well nivolumab and ibrutinib work when given together in treating patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, small lymphocytic lymphoma, or Richter transformation that has come back after a period of improvement (relapsed), does not respond to treatment (refractory), or is at high risk of spreading and has not been treated. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as niolumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Ibrutinib may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Giving nivolumab together with ibrutinib may kill more cancer cells.

Detailed Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
  1. To determine the efficacy (response rate) of nivolumab in combination with ibrutinib in patients with relapsed/refractory or high-risk untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

  2. Determine the response rate (complete response [CR]/complete response with incomplete marrow recovery [CRi]) by 2008 International Workshop on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (IWCLL) criteria. (Cohort I) III. Determine the conversion rate from partial response (PR) to CR/CRi by 2008 IWCLL criteria. (Cohort II) IV. Determine the response rate (CR/CRi). (Cohort III)

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
  1. To determine the safety of nivolumab in combination with ibrutinib in patients with relapsed, refractory or high-risk untreated CLL/Richter transformation (RT).

  2. To determine the progression-free survival of patients with relapsed, refractory or high-risk untreated CLL/RT treated with nivolumab in combination with ibrutinib.

  3. To determine the overall survival of patients with relapsed, refractory or high-risk untreated CLL/RT treated with nivolumab in combination with ibrutinib.

EXPLORATORY OBJECTIVES:
  1. To study immunological and molecular changes in peripheral blood, lymph node, and bone marrow in response to nivolumab and ibrutinib therapy.

OUTLINE: Patients are assigned to 1 of 3 treatment cohorts.

COHORT I (NO CURRENT IBRUTINIB TREATMENT): Patients receive nivolumab intravenously (IV) over 1 hour on days 1 and 15 and ibrutinib orally (PO) once daily (QD) on days 1-28 of courses 2-24. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 24 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

COHORT II (IBRUTINIB TREATMENT > 9 MONTHS): Patients receive nivolumab as in Cohort I and continue previous ibrutinib treatment.

COHORT III (RICHTER TRANSFORMATION): Patients receive nivolumab and ibrutinib as in cohort I. Ibrutinib may be given earlier than course 2 in case of worsening disease after discussion with study principal investigator. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 24 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity

  • Note: After 3 cycles of treatment, nivolumab administration may be decreased to once every 4 weeks in all cohorts, in consultation with the study principal investigator.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up monthly for 1 year.

Study Design

Study Type:
Interventional
Anticipated Enrollment :
72 participants
Allocation:
Non-Randomized
Intervention Model:
Parallel Assignment
Masking:
None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose:
Treatment
Official Title:
Nivolumab Combined With Ibrutinib for Relapsed, Refractory or High-Risk Untreated Patients With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)
Actual Study Start Date :
Jun 19, 2015
Actual Primary Completion Date :
Feb 14, 2022
Actual Study Completion Date :
Feb 14, 2022

Arms and Interventions

Arm Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Cohort I (nivolumab, ibrutinib)

Patients receive nivolumab IV over 1 hour on days 1 and 15 and ibrutinib PO QD on days 1-28 of courses 2-24. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 24 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Drug: Ibrutinib
Given PO
Other Names:
  • BTK Inhibitor PCI-32765
  • CRA-032765
  • Imbruvica
  • PCI-32765
  • Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis
    Correlative studies

    Biological: Nivolumab
    Given IV
    Other Names:
  • BMS-936558
  • MDX-1106
  • NIVO
  • ONO-4538
  • Opdivo
  • Experimental: Cohort II (nivolumab, previous ibrutinib)

    Patients receive nivolumab as in Cohort I and continue previous ibrutinib treatment.

    Drug: Ibrutinib
    Given PO
    Other Names:
  • BTK Inhibitor PCI-32765
  • CRA-032765
  • Imbruvica
  • PCI-32765
  • Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis
    Correlative studies

    Biological: Nivolumab
    Given IV
    Other Names:
  • BMS-936558
  • MDX-1106
  • NIVO
  • ONO-4538
  • Opdivo
  • Experimental: Cohort III (nivolumab, ibrutinib)

    Patients receive nivolumab and ibrutinib as in cohort I. Ibrutinib may be given earlier than course 2 in case of worsening disease after discussion with study principal investigator. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 24 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

    Drug: Ibrutinib
    Given PO
    Other Names:
  • BTK Inhibitor PCI-32765
  • CRA-032765
  • Imbruvica
  • PCI-32765
  • Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis
    Correlative studies

    Biological: Nivolumab
    Given IV
    Other Names:
  • BMS-936558
  • MDX-1106
  • NIVO
  • ONO-4538
  • Opdivo
  • Outcome Measures

    Primary Outcome Measures

    1. Best response (BR) defined as complete response (CR) or complete response with incomplete marrow recovery (CRi) that occurs during the first 12 months of treatment (Cohort I and Cohort III) [Up to 12 months]

      A target BR rate of 20% and a BR rate of 5% or lower will be considered not desirable. Summary statistics will be provided for continuous variables. The best response rate for Cohort 1 and conversion rate for Cohort 2 will be estimated along with the exact 95% confidence interval.

    2. Conversion rate defined as the conversion from partial response (PR) to CR/CRi that occurs during the first 12 months of treatment (Cohort II) [Up to 12 months]

      A target conversion rate of 20% and a conversion rate of 5% or lower will be considered not desirable. Summary statistics will be provided for continuous variables. The best response rate for Cohort 1 and conversion rate for Cohort 2 will be estimated along with the exact 95% confidence interval.

    Secondary Outcome Measures

    1. Incidence of toxicity defined as any grade 3 or higher non-hematological toxicity at least possibly related to treatment graded according to National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.0 [Up to 1 year]

      Standard reporting guidelines for adverse events will be followed. Safety data will be summarized by category, severity and frequency. The proportion of patients with adverse events will be estimated, along with the Bayesian 95% credible interval.

    2. Overall survival (OS) [Up to 1 year]

      Kaplan-Meier method will be used to assess the OS and progression-free survival (PFS) probabilities.

    3. Progression-free survival (PFS) [Up to 1 year]

      Kaplan-Meier method will be used to assess the OS and PFS probabilities.

    Other Outcome Measures

    1. Change in biomarkers [Baseline up to 1 year]

      Assessed through fitting linear or non-linear mixed effect models. Descriptive statistics including plots, mean, median & standard deviations will be used to summarize data. T-test & analysis of variance will be used to compare outcome measures across patient characteristics. Dunnett's & Tukey's test that properly adjust for multiplicity in multiple tests will be implemented. Pair-wise comparisons will be performed using pre- & post-therapy samples from each patient. The chi-square test or Fisher's exact test will be used to test the association between two categorical variables.

    Eligibility Criteria

    Criteria

    Ages Eligible for Study:
    18 Years and Older
    Sexes Eligible for Study:
    All
    Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
    No
    Inclusion Criteria:
    • Patients will have a diagnosis of CLL or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), refractory to or relapsed after at least one prior standard therapy or untreated with deletion (del)(17p) by fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) (high-risk cytogenetics) and have an indication for treatment by IWCLL 2008 criteria (Cohort 1) OR have been on ibrutinib for at least 9 months with measurable persistent disease (absolute lymphocyte count [ALC] > 4 K/muL, any lymph node > 1.5 cm by computed tomography [CT] scan, or > 30% lymphocytes on bone marrow aspirate differential) (Cohort 2), OR patients will have a diagnosis of RT, refractory to and/or relapsed after at least one prior standard therapy or untreated with del(17p) by FISH (high-risk cytogenetics) (Cohort 3)

    • Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status =< 2

    • Total bilirubin =< 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN); for patients with Gilbert's disease, total bilirubin up to =< 3 x ULN is allowed provided normal direct bilirubin

    • Serum creatinine =< 1.5 x ULN

    • Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) =< 3 x ULN

    • Females of childbearing potential must have a negative serum or urine beta human chorionic gonadotrophin (beta-hCG) pregnancy test result within 24 hours prior to the first dose of treatment and must agree to use an effective contraception method during the study and for 23 weeks following the last dose of the study drugs; females of non-childbearing potential are those who are postmenopausal greater than 1 year or who have had a bilateral tubal ligation or hysterectomy; males who have partners of childbearing potential must agree to use an effective contraceptive method during the study and for 31 weeks following the last dose of study drugs

    • Patients or their legally authorized representative must provide written informed consent

    Exclusion Criteria:
    • History of another primary invasive malignancy that has not been definitively treated or in remission for at least 2 years; patients with non-melanoma skin cancers or with carcinomas in situ are eligible regardless of the time from diagnosis (including concomitant diagnoses); if patients have another malignancy that was treated within the last 2 years, such patients may be enrolled if the likelihood of requiring systemic therapy for this other malignancy within 2 years is less than 10%, as determined by an expert in that particular malignancy at MD Anderson Cancer Center and after consultation with the principal investigator

    • Any major surgery, radiotherapy, cytotoxic chemotherapy, biologic therapy, immunotherapy, immunomodulatory drugs, experimental therapy within 4 weeks prior to the first dose of the study drugs; Note: prior therapy with anti cluster of differentiation (CD)20 monoclonal antibody, anti CD52 monoclonal antibody, and lenalidomide are allowed; for oral targeted therapies (such as idelalisib, venetoclax), a washout of 3 days is allowed

    • Significant cardiovascular disease such as uncontrolled or symptomatic arrhythmias, congestive heart failure, or myocardial infarction within 2 months of screening, or any class 3 or 4 cardiac disease as defined by the New York Heart Association functional classification

    • History of stroke or cerebral hemorrhage within 2 month

    • Patients who have uncontrolled hypertension (defined as sustained systolic blood pressure >= 160 mmHg or diastolic >= 100 mmHg)

    • Known evidence of active cerebral/meningeal CLL; patients may have history of central nervous system (CNS) leukemic involvement if definitively treated with prior therapy and no evidence of active disease at the time of registration

    • Active, uncontrolled autoimmune hemolytic anemia or immune thrombocytopenia requiring steroid therapy

    • Patients with autoimmune diseases are excluded: patients with a history of inflammatory bowel disease (including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis) are excluded from this study as are patients with a history of autoimmune disease (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, systemic progressive sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Wegener's granulomatosis)

    • Patients with previous allogeneic stem cell transplant (SCT) within 6 months or with active acute or chronic graft-versus host disease are excluded; patients must be off immunosuppression for graft-versus host disease (GVHD) for at least 30 days before cycle 1 day 1

    • Patients with organ allografts (such as renal transplant) are excluded

    • History of interstitial lung disease or pneumonitis

    • Patients who are on high dose steroid (> 10 mg daily of prednisone or equivalent) or immune suppression medications; Note: patients on high-dose steroids (doses > 10mg/day of prednisone or equivalent) or immune suppression medications are eligible provided these drugs are discontinued at least 3 days prior to starting on the study drugs

    • Patients with uncontrolled active infection (viral, bacterial, and fungal) are not eligible

    • Current or chronic hepatitis B or C infection, or known seropositivity for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

    • Patient is pregnant or breast-feeding

    • Concurrent use of investigational therapeutic agent

    • Malabsorption syndrome or other condition that precludes enteral route of administration

    • Concomitant use of warfarin or other vitamin K antagonists

    • Requires treatment with a strong cytochrome P450 (CYP) family 3, subfamily A (3A) inhibitor

    • Other severe acute or chronic medical or psychiatric condition or laboratory abnormality that in the opinion of the investigator may increase the risk associated with study participation or investigational product administration or may interfere with the interpretation of study results and/or would make the patient inappropriate for enrollment into this study

    Contacts and Locations

    Locations

    Site City State Country Postal Code
    1 M D Anderson Cancer Center Houston Texas United States 77030

    Sponsors and Collaborators

    • M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
    • National Cancer Institute (NCI)

    Investigators

    • Principal Investigator: Nitin Jain, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

    Study Documents (Full-Text)

    None provided.

    More Information

    Additional Information:

    Publications

    None provided.
    Responsible Party:
    M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
    ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
    NCT02420912
    Other Study ID Numbers:
    • 2014-0931
    • NCI-2015-00844
    • 2014-0931
    • P30CA016672
    First Posted:
    Apr 20, 2015
    Last Update Posted:
    Mar 7, 2022
    Last Verified:
    Mar 1, 2022
    Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product:
    Yes
    Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product:
    No
    Additional relevant MeSH terms:

    Study Results

    No Results Posted as of Mar 7, 2022