Gemcitabine Hydrochloride, Paclitaxel Albumin-Stabilized Nanoparticle Formulation, Metformin Hydrochloride, and a Standardized Dietary Supplement in Treating Patients With Pancreatic Cancer That Cannot be Removed by Surgery

Sponsor
City of Hope Medical Center (Other)
Overall Status
Active, not recruiting
CT.gov ID
NCT02336087
Collaborator
National Cancer Institute (NCI) (NIH)
21
4
1
83.5
5.3
0.1

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

This pilot phase I trial studies the side effects of gemcitabine hydrochloride, nab-paclitaxel, metformin hydrochloride, and a standardized dietary supplement in treating patients with pancreatic cancer that cannot be removed by surgery. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as gemcitabine hydrochloride and paclitaxel albumin-stabilized nanoparticle formulation, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Metformin hydrochloride, used for diabetes, may also help kill cancer cells. Dietary supplements (curcumin, vitamin D, vitamin K2, vitamin K1, B-6, high selenium broccoli sprouts, epigallocatechin gallate, L-carnitine, garlic extract, genistein, zinc amino chelate, mixed toxopherols, ascorbic acid, D-limonene) can block different targets in the cancer cell simultaneously and may slow down cancer growth. Giving gemcitabine hydrochloride, paclitaxel albumin-stabilized nanoparticle formulation, and metformin hydrochloride with a dietary supplement may work better in treating patients with pancreatic cancer that cannot be removed by surgery.

Condition or Disease Intervention/Treatment Phase
  • Drug: Gemcitabine Hydrochloride
  • Drug: Paclitaxel Albumin-Stabilized Nanoparticle Formulation
  • Drug: Metformin Hydrochloride
  • Dietary Supplement: Therapeutic Dietary Intervention
  • Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis
  • Other: Quality-of-Life Assessment
Phase 1

Detailed Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
  1. To assess the compliance, toxicity and feasibility of administering gemcitabine hydrochloride (gemcitabine), nab-paclitaxel (abraxane), metformin hydrochloride (metformin), and the dietary supplement (DS).
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
  1. To assess the response rate associated with this combination therapy in pancreatic cancer patients.

  2. To assess the progression-free survival and overall survival of all patients who start protocol therapy, and describe the outcomes based on measures of compliance during the lead-in week, and compliance with supplement during chemotherapy.

  3. To collect and analyze peripheral blood and pre-treatment biopsy samples for an exploratory analysis of biological correlatives.

  4. To assess quality of life utilizing the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) questionnaire.

OUTLINE:

Patients receive gemcitabine hydrochloride and paclitaxel albumin-stabilized nanoparticle formulation intravenously (IV) on days 1, 8, and 15. Patients also receive metformin hydrochloride orally (PO) twice daily (BID) starting day -6 and dietary supplement PO BID starting day -3. Cycles repeat every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 6 months.

Study Design

Study Type:
Interventional
Actual Enrollment :
21 participants
Allocation:
N/A
Intervention Model:
Single Group Assignment
Masking:
None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose:
Treatment
Official Title:
A Pilot Study of Gemcitabine, Abraxane, Metformin and a Standardized Dietary Supplement (DS) in Patients With Unresectable Pancreatic Cancer
Actual Study Start Date :
Jan 14, 2016
Actual Primary Completion Date :
Oct 4, 2020
Anticipated Study Completion Date :
Dec 31, 2022

Arms and Interventions

Arm Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Treatment (gemcitabine, Abraxane, metformin, DS)

Patients receive gemcitabine hydrochloride and paclitaxel albumin-stabilized nanoparticle formulation IV on days 1, 8, and 15. Patients also receive metformin hydrochloride PO BID starting day -6 and dietary supplement PO BID starting day -3. Cycles repeat every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Drug: Gemcitabine Hydrochloride
Given IV
Other Names:
  • dFdC
  • dFdCyd
  • Drug: Paclitaxel Albumin-Stabilized Nanoparticle Formulation
    Given IV
    Other Names:
  • ABI 007
  • ABI-007
  • Abraxane
  • Drug: Metformin Hydrochloride
    Given PO
    Other Names:
  • Glucophage
  • Metformin HCl
  • Dietary Supplement: Therapeutic Dietary Intervention
    Given PO

    Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis
    Correlative studies

    Other: Quality-of-Life Assessment
    Ancillary studies
    Other Names:
  • Quality of Life Assessment
  • Outcome Measures

    Primary Outcome Measures

    1. Feasibility of the combination of gemcitabine hydrochloride, paclitaxel albumin-stabilized nanoparticle formulation, metformin hydrochloride, and a dietary supplement [Up to 24 months]

      Feasibility is defined at 1 or fewer patients experiencing a dose limiting toxicity within the first 6 patients.

    2. Compliance of the combination of gemcitabine hydrochloride, paclitaxel albumin-stabilized nanoparticle formulation, metformin hydrochloride, and a dietary supplement (percent of patients who are fully compliant) [Up to 24 months]

      The percent of patients who are fully compliant in the first week will be estimated with a 95% confidence interval. The compliance will be measured similarly for each course prior to study treatment discontinuation. The impact of less than full compliance (both during the lead-in period and during chemotherapy) on the biomarkers and outcome, and qualitatively study patient reasons and specific supplement patterns related to non-compliance will be explored.

    3. Toxicity of the combination of gemcitabine hydrochloride, paclitaxel albumin-stabilized nanoparticle formulation, metformin hydrochloride, and a dietary supplement (National Cancer Institute Common Terminology for Adverse Events criteria version 4) [Up to 24 months]

      Summarized using the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology for Adverse Events criteria version 4. Tables will summarize the highest grade per patient that is possibly related to treatment, and the number of patients requiring dose modifications will also be presented.

    Secondary Outcome Measures

    1. Progression-free survival [Up to 24 months]

      Evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier methods.

    2. Overall survival [Up to 24 months]

      Evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier methods.

    3. Time to treatment failure [Up to 24 months]

      Evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier methods.

    Other Outcome Measures

    1. Analysis of biological correlates (Peripheral blood will be evaluated) [Up to 24 months]

      Peripheral blood will be evaluated. Standard descriptive methods will be used to summarize the baseline levels and the changes from baseline (i.e. after treatment) in order to examine whether observed patterns are consistent with hypothesized patterns.

    2. Quality of life, assessed using the FACT-G questionnaire [Up to 24 months]

      Standard descriptive methods will be used to summarize the baseline levels and the changes from baseline (i.e. after treatment) in order to examine whether observed patterns are consistent with hypothesized patterns.

    Eligibility Criteria

    Criteria

    Ages Eligible for Study:
    18 Years and Older
    Sexes Eligible for Study:
    All
    Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
    No
    Inclusion Criteria:
    • Patients must have a histologic diagnosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma

    • Patient must have unresectable disease

    • Patients must not have received prior chemotherapy except for the following circumstances; gemcitabine and capecitabine chemotherapy given in the adjuvant setting is allowed if the recurrence is greater than 6 months from the completion of chemotherapy; radiation sensitizing doses of 5-fluororuracil or capecitabine are allowed as part of adjuvant treatment and recurrence must be documented greater than 6 months from the completion of adjuvant therapy

    • Computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan must be obtained within 4 weeks prior to study entry

    • Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-2

    • Absolute neutrophil count > 1,500/mcl

    • Platelet count > 100,000/mcl

    • Creatinine < 1.4 mg/dl and/or a measured creatinine clearance > 60 cc/min

    • Bilirubin < 1.4 mg/dl

    • Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) no greater than 3.0 times the upper limit of normal

    • Patients currently being treated for severe infections or who are recovering from major surgery or other intercurrent illnesses are ineligible until recovery is deemed complete by the investigator

    • Patients must not be pregnant or nursing; women and men of reproductive potential must have agreed to use an effective contraceptive method

    • All patients must be informed of the investigational nature of this study and must sign and give written informed consent in accordance with institutional and federal guidelines

    • Patients must be able to swallow pills and must not have malabsorption problems or ongoing nausea and vomiting that would affect oral treatment

    • No other prior malignancy is allowed except for the following: adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer, in situ cervical cancer, adequately treated stage I or II cancer from which the patient is currently in complete remission, or any other cancer from which the patient has been disease free for five years

    • Patients currently taking metformin will be eligible

    • Patients allergic to eggs are not eligible

    • Patients taking additional dietary/herbal supplements (excluding Senekot) outside of this protocol and refusing to stop are not eligible

    • Patients requiring warfarin are not eligible

    Contacts and Locations

    Locations

    Site City State Country Postal Code
    1 City of Hope Medical Center Duarte California United States 91010
    2 City of Hope Rancho Cucamonga Rancho Cucamonga California United States 91730
    3 City of Hope South Pasadena South Pasadena California United States 91030
    4 City of Hope West Covina West Covina California United States 91790

    Sponsors and Collaborators

    • City of Hope Medical Center
    • National Cancer Institute (NCI)

    Investigators

    • Principal Investigator: Vincent Chung, City of Hope Medical Center

    Study Documents (Full-Text)

    None provided.

    More Information

    Publications

    None provided.
    Responsible Party:
    City of Hope Medical Center
    ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
    NCT02336087
    Other Study ID Numbers:
    • 14122
    • NCI-2014-02612
    • 14122
    First Posted:
    Jan 12, 2015
    Last Update Posted:
    Mar 18, 2022
    Last Verified:
    Mar 1, 2022

    Study Results

    No Results Posted as of Mar 18, 2022