Clinical Trial Details
— Status: Completed
Administrative data
NCT number |
NCT00863122 |
Other study ID # |
J0867 |
Secondary ID |
NA_00020841 |
Status |
Completed |
Phase |
Early Phase 1
|
First received |
|
Last updated |
|
Start date |
June 2009 |
Est. completion date |
August 2014 |
Study information
Verified date |
December 2020 |
Source |
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins |
Contact |
n/a |
Is FDA regulated |
No |
Health authority |
|
Study type |
Interventional
|
Clinical Trial Summary
Tumors can grow on the auditory nerves and can cause hearing loss. A common type of tumor
that does this is a vestibular schwannoma (VS), or acoustic neuroma. These tumors are not
cancerous. Most often, people have only one VS. Occasionally, people have more than one VS
and may have a condition called neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2).
Because VS can cause hearing loss, many people with VS will have treatment to preserve their
hearing. This treatment usually involves surgery or radiation therapy. There are risks to
these procedures, and sometimes they do not work to prevent hearing loss. Because surgery and
radiation have risks and are not able to help everyone with VS, other methods of treatment
are being explored. One area of exploration is looking to see if there is a drug that can be
taken that might prevent the VS from growing larger and causing hearing loss, and might
possibly even cause the VS to shrink in size.
This study is exploring whether a drug that is approved by the FDA and is currently used to
treat breast cancer might also work to treat VS. This study will measure the amount of drug
that travels from the bloodstream and arrives at the tumor. This drug is safe and has few
side effects. If this drug is shown to reach the tumor, it might be used in the future to
treat VS without needing surgery or radiation.
This study is recruiting people who are having surgery for VS. If you are going to have
surgery to treat a VS, you may be eligible to participate.
Description:
Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) is a rare autosomal dominant genetic disorder with an
incidence of approximately 1/40,000. The most common tumor type in NF2 is vestibular
schwannoma and the majority of NF2 patients develop progressive hearing loss in adolescence
or young adulthood due to bilateral vestibular schwannoma (VS). In addition to hearing loss,
VS can cause significant morbidity, and in some cases mortality, due to brain stem
compression.
Currently, the only accepted modality for treatment of VS in patients with NF2 is surgical
resection. Although surgical resection is effective at tumor reduction, it is often
associated with morbid complications such as hearing loss, facial palsy, CSF leaks, chronic
headache and infection. In addition, the tumors often recur after surgery. Radiation therapy
(RT) has been proposed as an alternative, however, its safety in the NF2 population has not
been established and there is concern about long term efficacy. For a distinct population of
NF2 patients, surgery and RT at not feasible and no additional therapy is currently
available. Hence, a systemic therapy is needed.
Sporadic VS are common with roughly 3,000 new cases per year in the United States and a
growing incidence in recent years. These tumors cause unilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and
vertigo. The primary treatment modality for these tumors is surgical resection or
radiosurgery. Surgery is associated with the same complications listed above for NF2-related
VS. Hence, RT is often offered in place of surgery. Although considered safe in sporadic VS,
it may not have good long term efficacy and may complicate future procedures. Again, a
systemic therapy that could control tumor progression obviating the need for an invasive
procedure is needed.
As the understanding of tumor molecular biology continues to advance, there are an increasing
number of attractive targets for VS growth inhibition. EGFR and ErbB2 have been identified as
important targets for VS. In a study of 21 sporadic and 17 NF2-related VS samples, both EGFR
and ErbB2 were found to be upregulated in the majority of tumors. In addition, an anti-ErbB2
monoclonal antibody reduced schwannoma cell proliferation in vitro. Collectively, this data
suggests that abnormal signaling via EGFR and ErbB2 is a major contributor to tumor growth
and progression in both sporadic and NF2-related VS, and that inhibition of this signaling
pathway can result in decreased tumor growth. Although agents targeting these pathways are
commercially available, there is little pre-clinical data to assist in prioritizing which
agents to advance to clinical trials. Given the relative rarity of the disorder and the
enormous patient, financial and time commitments an efficacy study requires, there is a need
to carefully select agents for testing that have the best chance of success.
In this trial, we propose to assess the delivery of lapatinib, a commercially available
inhibitor of ErbB2 and EGFR, to VS via tissue sampling at the time of clinically indicated
surgery. Demonstrating that lapatinib reaches meaningful intratumoral concentrations is
important data to recommend this drug above other small molecule inhibitors for efficacy
trials for VS. The primary objective is to determine the steady state concentration of
lapatinib in VS in patients with NF2 and in patients with sporadic VS. Patient who are
planning to have surgical resection of their tumor for clinical indications will be given
lapatinib for 15 days prior to resection. At the time of resection, VS tissue will be
assessed for drug concentration and molecular markers of drug activity.
Demonstrating that lapatinib reaches meaningful concentrations within VS would support
selecting this agent for investigation in efficacy studies for VS, and tissue-based molecular
studies will provide corollary information about the behavior of VS in general and about
lapatinib specifically in VS tissue. This may further our understanding of the
pathophysiology of VS, the similarities and differences between NF2-related and sporadic VS,
and inform the design of subsequent efficacy trials.