INFORM2 Study Uses Nivolumab and Entinostat in Children and Adolescents With High-risk Refractory Malignancies

Solid Tumor Clinical Trial

Official title: INFORM2 Exploratory Multinational Phase I/II Combination Study of Nivolumab and Entinostat in Children and Adolescents With Refractory High-risk Malignancies (INFORM2-NivEnt)

Status Recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

The aim of this trial is to determine preliminary activity of the combination treatment with nivolumab and entinostat in children and adolescents with high risk refractory/relapsed/progressive tumors harboring a high mutational load, focal MYC(N) amplification or ATRT-MYC subgroup as well as tumors with high tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) or a tertiary lymphoid structure (TLS).

Clinical Trial Description

Compared to adult cancers, most pediatric cancers carry a relatively low mutational burden. HDAC inhibition (HDACi) modifies T-cell regulation and can augment response to checkpoint inhibition by reducing the number of myeloid-derived suppressor cells and creating an immunogenic tumor microenvironment including induction of MHCI and neo-antigens. In vitro and in vivo models showed enhanced anti-tumor activity of the combination of checkpoint inhibition and HDACi compared to either agent alone. This provides a strong rationale to combine these drug classes. Checkpoint inhibition results in activation of tumor-associated T cells. It is now becoming increasingly evident that patients with tumors with a high number of tumor infiltrating T cells at baseline show an increased response rate. Additionally, recent clinical data on immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) for melanoma patients detected tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) as indicators of an activated adaptive immune response. Their presence has been linked to objective treatment responses in patients with different cancer entities receiving ICI.

Furthermore, MYC- or NMYC-driven (referred to as MYC(N)) malignancies like very high-risk medulloblastomas or very high-risk neuroblastomas still have a dismal outcome. MYC is not only reported to upregulate PD-L1 and thereby a possible biomarker for checkpoint inhibition but also very compelling recent preclinical data strongly suggests that HDAC inhibitors are active against MYC amplified medulloblastoma in vitro and in vivo. In NMYC amplified neuroblastoma cell lines similar observations were made in vitro. In addition, it has been shown recently that the molecular MYC subgroup of atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors (ATRT) exhibit a strong T-cell infiltrate in contrast to the SHH-ATRT subtype and are considered immunological "hot" tumors. Taken together, our results suggest that MYC(N)-driven tumors depend on HDAC and we hypothesize that MYC(N) status can serve as a biomarker for response prediction to a combinatorial treatment of checkpoint inhibition and HDAC inhibition.

Pediatric patients aged 2-21 years with refractory/relapsed/progressive high-risk malignancies with a high mutational load (group A), with MYC(N) amplification or from the ATRT-MYC subgroup (group C) as well as patients with high TILs and/or TLS positive (group E) are eligible for this trial. Phase I determines the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) for the combination of the HDACi entinostat and the checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab for the age groups 6-11 and 12-21 years, respectively. Phase II investigates activity in 3 groups A, C, E for patients in the two age cohorts 2-11 and 12-21 years. The duration of treatment is 12 cycles (1 cycle = 28 days), preceded by 1 priming week.

In addition, a comprehensive accompanying research program investigates PD biomarkers for immune checkpoint and HDAC inhibition.

Clinical trials investigating the combination of nivolumab and entinostat in children have not been reported so far. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Central Nervous System Neoplasms
• CNS Tumor
• Neoplasms
• Solid Tumor

• NCT number: NCT03838042
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University Hospital Heidelberg
• Contact: Venukah Schäfer
• Phone: +496221 56 7267
• Email: venukah.schaefer@kitz-heidelberg.de
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: Phase 1/Phase 2
• Start date: May 26, 2020
• Completion date: June 30, 2027