A Phase Ib Study of ISF35 in Combination With Chemotherapy (FCR) in Subjects With Relapsed, Refractory, and/or 17p- CLL

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Clinical Trial

Official title:

A Phase 1b Study of Repeated Doses of Autologous CLL B Cells Transduced to Express Chimeric CD154 (ISF35) in Combination With Fludarabine, Cyclophosphamide and Rituximab (FCR) in Subjects With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00772486
• Other study ID #: CLL-35-104
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 1
• Start date: September 2008
• Est. completion date: April 2013

Study information

• Verified date: November 2010
• Source: Memgen, Inc.
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The study is a Phase 1b open label, non-randomized, single institution clinical trial that is designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of three repeat infusions of ISF35 followed by a standard regimen of three cycles of fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab (FCR) in subjects with refractory, resistant, and/or 17p- CLL.

Description:

ISF35 has already been used in two Phase I clinical trials. The trials demonstrated that ISF35 treatment is well tolerated and patients did not experience any significant or unexpected adverse events. Patients reported flu-like symptoms from ISF35, which disappeared within one to three days. The trials also showed that ISF35 stimulates the immune system to act against CLL cells and sensitize leukemic cells to subsequent treatment. Repeat infusions of ISF35 administered as a single agent to subjects with CLL resulted in durable reductions in circulating and lymph-node bound leukemic cells. Furthermore, CLL patients with 17p deletion responded to standard courses of FCR after receiving ISF35 and achieved durable remissions. ISF35 is an abbreviation for Immune Stimulatory Factor 35, an offspring of technology discovered by Dr. Thomas J. Kipps, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Medicine and Deputy Director for Research,UCSD Moores Cancer Center.

Other known NCT identifiers

• NCT00796016

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 13
• Est. completion date: April 2013
• Est. primary completion date: April 2011
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

1. Subjects must have a diagnosis of B cell CLL including:

• Lymphocytosis of monoclonal B-cells co-expressing = one B-cell marker (CD19, CD20, or CD23) and CD5 in peripheral blood or lymph node AND
• Bone marrow with = 30% mononuclear cells having the CLL/SLL phenotype

2. Measurable disease, and at least one of the IWCLL 2008 Guidelines "Indications for

Treatment" as follows:

• Evidence of progressive marrow failure as manifested by the development of, or worsening of, anemia and/or thrombocytopenia.
• Massive (i.e., >6 cm below the left costal margin) or progressive or asymptomatic splenomegaly.
• Massive nodes (i.e., >10 cm in longest diameter) or progressive or symptomatic lymphadenopathy.
• Progressive lymphocytosis with an increase of >50% over a 2-month period, or lymphocyte doubling time (LDT) of less than 6 months. LDT can be obtained by linear regression extrapolation of absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC) obtained at intervals of two weeks over an observation period of 2-3 months; patients with initial blood lymphocyte counts of less than 30,000 per microliter may require a longer observation period to determine the LDT. Also, factors contributing to lymphocytosis or lymphadenopathy other than CLL (e.g, infections) should be excluded.
• Autoimmune anemia and/or thrombocytopenia poorly responsive to corticosteroids or other standard therapy.
• A minimum of any one of the following disease-related symptoms must be present:
• Unintentional weight loss =10% within the previous 6 months.
• Significant fatigue (i.e., ECOG PS 2 or worse; cannot work or unable to perform usual activities).
• Fevers of greater than 100.5 degrees F or 38.0 degrees C for 2 or more weeks without other evidence of infection.
• Night sweats for more than 1 month without evidence of infection. Hypogammaglobulinemia or monoclonal or oligoclonal paraproteinemia does not by itself constitute a basis to initiate treatment.

3. Subjects must have CLL that is documented to be resistant or refractory to standard chemotherapy regimens containing alkylating agents and/or purine analogues.

Chemotherapy refractory or resistant is defined as the following:

• CLL progression during treatment (2 cycles) with chemotherapy; OR
• Failure to achieve a PR or CR after at least 2 cycles of chemotherapy; OR
• No response to treatment or stable disease after at least 2 cycles of chemotherapy; OR
• Disease progression within 6 months of treatment with chemotherapy; OR
• CLL with cytogenetic changes documenting the loss of the short arm of chromosome 17 (17p-) associated with the loss of p53.

4. Subjects must be age 18 years or older

5. For men and women of child-bearing potential, use of effective barrier contraceptive methods during the study and for one month following treatment

6. Subjects must have ECOG performance scale of = 2

7. Subjects must have adequate hematologic, renal, hepatic, and coagulation function

defined as:

• Adequate hematologic function:

i) Platelet count = 50,000/µL; AND ii) Hemoglobin = 10 g/dL (may be supported by erythropoietin or transfusion); AND

• Adequate renal function:

i) Calculated creatinine clearance = 30 mL/min/1.73 m^2; OR ii) Serum creatinine = 2 times upper limit of normal; AND

• Adequate hepatic function:

i) Total bilirubin = 2.5 times upper limit of normal; AND ii) ALT = 2.5 times upper limit of normal; AND

• Adequate coagulation tests:

i) Prothrombin time international normalized ratio (INR) = 1.5; AND ii) Partial thromboplastin time = 1.5 times upper limit of normal

8. Ability to understand the requirements of the study, provide written informed consent and authorization of use and disclosure of protected health information, and agree to abide by the study restrictions and return for the required assessments Exclusion Criteria

1. Presence of > 55% prolymphocytes or Richter's transformation

2. Chemotherapy (e.g., purine analogues, alkylating agents, or corticosteroids), antibody therapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy, or participation in any investigational drug treatment within 4 weeks of enrollment into protocol or at any time during the study

3. Ongoing toxicity from prior anti-neoplastic therapy

4. Untreated autoimmune hemolytic anemia or immune thrombocytopenia

5. Active symptomatic fungal, bacterial and/or viral infection including active HIV or viral (A, B or C) hepatitis

6. Positive serologies for HIV1,2 or HTLV I,II

7. CMV disease with positive DNA PCR

8. Syphilis with positive VDRL

9. Acute Hepatitis A and C with positive serologies, and Hepatitis B, acutely or chronically infected based on CDC criteria

10. Any illness or condition that in opinion of the investigator may affect safety of treatment or evaluation of any study's endpoints

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
• Leukemia
• Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell
• Leukemia, Lymphoid

Intervention

Biological:
• ISF35
Subjects participating in this study will receive a course of three infusions of 3x10^8 ISF35-transduced cells at periods of not less than 14 days apart followed by a standard regimen of three cycles of fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab (FCR) at monthly intervals.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center	San Diego	California

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Memgen, LLC	The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, University of California, San Diego

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (26)

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Byrd JC, Rai K, Peterson BL, Appelbaum FR, Morrison VA, Kolitz JE, Shepherd L, Hines JD, Schiffer CA, Larson RA. Addition of rituximab to fludarabine may prolong progression-free survival and overall survival in patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia: an updated retrospective comparative analysis of CALGB 9712 and CALGB 9011. Blood. 2005 Jan 1;105(1):49-53. Epub 2004 May 11. — View Citation

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Cantwell MJ, Sharma S, Friedmann T, Kipps TJ. Adenovirus vector infection of chronic lymphocytic leukemia B cells. Blood. 1996 Dec 15;88(12):4676-83. — View Citation

Castro JE, Cantwell MJ, Prussak CE, Bole J, Wierda WG, Kipps TJ. Long-term follow up of chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients treated with CD40-ligand (CD154) gene therapy. Blood. 2003;102:Abstract 1790.

Cheson BD, Bennett JM, Rai KR, Grever MR, Kay NE, Schiffer CA, Oken MM, Keating MJ, Boldt DH, Kempin SJ, et al. Guidelines for clinical protocols for chronic lymphocytic leukemia: recommendations of the National Cancer Institute-sponsored working group. Am J Hematol. 1988 Nov;29(3):152-63. — View Citation

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Chu P, Deforce D, Pedersen IM, Kim Y, Kitada S, Reed JC, Kipps TJ. Latent sensitivity to Fas-mediated apoptosis after CD40 ligation may explain activity of CD154 gene therapy in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Mar 19;99(6):3854-9. Epub 2002 Mar 12. — View Citation

Dicker F, Kater AP, Fukuda T, Kipps TJ. Fas-ligand (CD178) and TRAIL synergistically induce apoptosis of CD40-activated chronic lymphocytic leukemia B cells. Blood. 2005 Apr 15;105(8):3193-8. Epub 2004 Aug 31. — View Citation

Döhner H, Stilgenbauer S, Benner A, Leupolt E, Kröber A, Bullinger L, Döhner K, Bentz M, Lichter P. Genomic aberrations and survival in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. N Engl J Med. 2000 Dec 28;343(26):1910-6. — View Citation

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Hallek M, Cheson BD, Catovsky D, Caligaris-Cappio F, Dighiero G, Döhner H, Hillmen P, Keating MJ, Montserrat E, Rai KR, Kipps TJ; International Workshop on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia: a report from the International Workshop on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia updating the National Cancer Institute-Working Group 1996 guidelines. Blood. 2008 Jun 15;111(12):5446-56. doi: 10.1182/blood-2007-06-093906. Epub 2008 Jan 23. Erratum in: Blood. 2008 Dec 15;112(13):5259. — View Citation

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Keating MJ, O'Brien S, Albitar M, Lerner S, Plunkett W, Giles F, Andreeff M, Cortes J, Faderl S, Thomas D, Koller C, Wierda W, Detry MA, Lynn A, Kantarjian H. Early results of a chemoimmunotherapy regimen of fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab as initial therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. J Clin Oncol. 2005 Jun 20;23(18):4079-88. Epub 2005 Mar 14. — View Citation

Kipps TJ. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia and related diseases. In: Beutler E, Lichtman MA, Coller BS, Kipps TJ, Seligsohn U, eds. Williams Hematology (ed 6). New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.; 2001:1163-1194.

Lin TS, Lucas MS, Byrd JC. Rituximab in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Semin Oncol. 2003 Aug;30(4):483-92. Review. — View Citation

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O'Brien SM, Kantarjian H, Thomas DA, Giles FJ, Freireich EJ, Cortes J, Lerner S, Keating MJ. Rituximab dose-escalation trial in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. J Clin Oncol. 2001 Apr 15;19(8):2165-70. — View Citation

Perz J, Topaly J, Fruehauf S, Hensel M, Ho AD. Level of CD 20-expression and efficacy of rituximab treatment in patients with resistant or relapsing B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia and B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Leuk Lymphoma. 2002 Jan;43(1):149-51. — View Citation

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Rozman C, Montserrat E. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia. N Engl J Med. 1995 Oct 19;333(16):1052-7. Review. Erratum in: N Engl J Med 1995 Nov 30;333(22):1515. — View Citation

Wierda W, O'Brien S, Wen S, Faderl S, Garcia-Manero G, Thomas D, Do KA, Cortes J, Koller C, Beran M, Ferrajoli A, Giles F, Lerner S, Albitar M, Kantarjian H, Keating M. Chemoimmunotherapy with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab for relapsed and refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia. J Clin Oncol. 2005 Jun 20;23(18):4070-8. Epub 2005 Mar 14. — View Citation

Wierda WG, Cantwell MJ, Woods SJ, Rassenti LZ, Prussak CE, Kipps TJ. CD40-ligand (CD154) gene therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Blood. 2000 Nov 1;96(9):2917-24. — View Citation

* Note: There are 26 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Assess toxicity, tolerability, and safety of repeat administration of three infusions of 3x10^8 ISF35 given intravenously in combination with a standard course of three treatments of fludarabine, rituximab and cyclophosphamide (FCR).		Duration of the Trial
Secondary	Explore the anti-leukemia activity of the repeat administration of ISF35 and FCR by evaluating reduction in leukemia count, reduction in lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly, improvement in bone marrow function, and response duration.		Duration of the Trial
Secondary	Assess induction of B and T cell anti-leukemia immune responses, antibody production against autologous CLL B cells, changes in bystander leukemia cell phenotype, and expression of genes and proteins related to apoptosis		Duration of the Trial

External Links

•   LLS, Memgen Collaborate on CLL Clinical Trial