Immunotherapy and SBRT Study in Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Cancer



Status:Terminated
Conditions:Cancer, Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer
Therapuetic Areas:Oncology
Healthy:No
Age Range:18 - Any
Updated:2/28/2019
Start Date:April 2015
End Date:July 30, 2016

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An Exploratory Phase 2 Study of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Followed by Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) With Algenpantucel-L (HyperAcute®-Pancreas) Immunotherapy in Subjects With Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Cancer

Unfortunately, despite the best clinical efforts and breakthroughs in biotechnology, most
patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer continue to die from the rapid progression of their
disease. One primary reason for this is that the disease is typically without symptoms until
significant local and/or distant spread has occurred and is often beyond the chance for cure
at the time of the diagnosis. The lack of any treatment to substantially increase long term
survival rates is reflected by the poor outcomes associated with this disease, specifically
time to disease progression and overall survival.

However, another important part of the body is now being looked at as a target for therapy
against this disease - the immune system. Scientists have clearly shown that pancreatic tumor
cells produce a number of defective proteins, or express normal proteins in highly
uncharacteristic ways, as part of this cancer. In some cancers, these abnormalities can cause
an immune response to the cancer cells much in the way one responds to infected tissue. In
progressive cancers however, the immune system fails to effectively identify or respond to
these abnormalities and the cancer cells are not attacked or destroyed for reasons not yet
fully understood. This clinical trial proposes a new way to stimulate the immune system to
recognize pancreatic cancer cells and to stimulate an immune response that destroys or blocks
the growth of the cancer.

This new method of treatment helps the immune system of pancreatic cancer patients to
"identify" the cancerous tissue so that it can be eliminated from the body. As an example,
patients with certain diseases may require an organ transplant to replace a damaged kidney or
heart. After receiving their transplant, these patients receive special drugs because they
are at great danger of having an immune response that destroys or "rejects" the transplanted
organ. This "rejection" occurs when their immune system responds to differences between the
cells of the transplanted organ and their own immune system by attacking the foreign tissue
in the same way as it would attack infected tissue. When the differences between foreign
tissues and the patient's body are even larger, as with the differences between organs from
different species, the rejection is very rapid, highly destructive, and the immunity it
generates is longlasting. This is called hyperacute rejection and the medicine used to
immunize patients in this protocol tries to harness this response to teach a patient's immune
system to fight their pancreatic cancer just as the body would learn to reject a transplanted
organ from an animal.

To do this, Algenpantucel-L immunotherapy contains human pancreatic cancer cells that contain
a mouse gene that marks the cancer cells as foreign to patient's immune systems. The immune
system therefore attacks these cancer cells just as they would attack any truly foreign
tissue, destroying as much as it can. Additionally, the immune system is stimulated to
identify differences (aside from the mouse gene) between these cancer cells and normal human
tissue as foreign. This "education" of the immune system helps treat the patient because
pancreatic cancer cells already present in a treated patient are believed to show some of the
same differences from normal tissue as the modified pancreatic cancer cells in the product.
Due to these similarities, the immune system, once "educated" by the Algenpantucel-L
immunotherapy, identifies the patient's cancer as foreign and attacks.

Historically, external beam radiation has been part of the treatment of pancreatic cancer,
both before and after surgical resection. Recent breakthroughs in technology now allow for
more intensive doses of radiation to be delivered to the body with greater precision. These
newer, more precise radiation treatments, called stereotactic body radiation, deliver more
intensive radiation to a locally advanced tumor and are now being employed in the treatment
of pancreatic cancer. Stereotactic body radiation may increase the chances that surgery will
successfully remove a pancreatic cancer.

In this experimental study, all patients will be given a strong combination of antitumor
chemotherapy while receiving injections of an immunotherapy drug consisting of two types of
pancreatic cancer cells that have been modified to make them more easily recognized and
attacked by the immune system. The investigators propose to test this new treatment paradigm
along with stereotactic body radiation in patients with borderline resectable pancreatic
cancer to demonstrate that treatment with this combination of therapies increases the time
until the tumor progresses as well as overall survival.

This protocol attempts to treat pancreatic cancer using a naturally occurring barrier to
xenotransplantation in humans to increase the efficacy of immunizing subjects against their
pancreatic cancer. In this protocol, the transfer of the murine
alpha(1,3)galactosyltransferase [alpha(1,3)GT] gene to immunotherapy component cells results
in the cell surface expression of alpha(1,3)galactosyl-epitopes (alpha gal) epitopes on
membrane glycoproteins and glycolipids. These epitopes are the major target of the hyperacute
rejection response. This response occurs when organs are transplanted from lower animal donor
species into primates and results in rapid destruction of transplanted tissue and an
augmented response against transplant antigens, including antigens not related to the alpha
gal epitopes. Human hosts have pre-existing anti-alpha-gal antibodies that are thought to
result from chronic immunological stimulation due to exposure to alpha-gal epitopes that are
naturally expressed on normal gut flora and these antibodies may comprise up to 1% of serum
IgG. Opsonization and lysis of the immunotherapy component cells mediated by this antibody is
believed to increase the efficiency of antigen processing by targeting vaccine components to
antigen presenting cells via the Fc gamma receptor.

Inclusion Criteria:

- A histological diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas confirmed by pathology.

- Patients must have borderline resectable pancreatic cancer with no metastatic spread
as determined by a baseline diagnostic CT scan with intravenous contrast (or MRI). CT
should be performed according to a defined pancreas protocol such as triphasic
cross-sectional imaging with thin slices. Optimal multi-phase technique including a
non-contrast phase plus arterial, pancreatic parenchymal and portal venous phase of
contrast enhancement with thin cuts (3mm) throughout the abdomen is preferred. Studies
must be evaluated by a radiologist and/or surgeon and deemed borderline resectable as
defined below:

1. Borderline resectable- Tumors considered borderline resectable are defined as
follows:

2. Venous involvement of the SMV/portal vein demonstrating tumor abutment with
impingement and narrowing of the lumen, encasement of the SMV/portal vein but
without encasement of the nearby arteries, or short-segment venous occlusion
resulting from either tumor thrombus or encasement but with suitable vessel
proximal and distal to the area of vessel involvement, allowing for safe
resection and reconstruction

3. Gastroduodenal artery encasement up to the hepatic artery with either short
segment encasement or direct abutment of the hepatic artery without extension to
the celiac axis.

4. Tumor abutment of the SMA not to exceed greater than 180 degrees of the
circumference of the vessel wall.

- Tumors considered to be unresectable due to local advancement include an absence of
distant metastases as well as:

1. Head: Greater than 180 degrees SMA encasement or any celiac abutment or
unreconstructible SMV/portal occlusion or aortic invasion or encasement.

2. Body: Greater than 180 degrees SMA or celiac encasement or unreconstructible
SMV/portal occlusion or aortic invasion.

3. Tail: SMA or celiac encasement greater than 180 degrees.

4. Nodal status: Involvement of lymph nodes beyond the field of resection should be
considered unresectable due to distant spread and therefore not eligible for this
protocol.

- Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status ≤ 1.

- Serum albumin ≥ 2.0 gm/dL.

- Expected survival ≥ 6 months.

- Adequate organ function including:

1. Marrow: WBC ≥3000/mm^3 and platelets ≥100,000/mm^3.

2. Hepatic: serum total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 mg/dL, ALT (SGPT) and AST (SGOT) ≤3 x upper
limit of normal (ULN) at time of enrollment. If a patient has elevated liver
function tests at the time of initial presentation or develops them during
work-up and they are the result of a mechanical obstruction of biliary drainage
by tumor compression or invasion, a biliary drain may be placed as described in
NCCN Practice Guidelines in Oncology V2.2012. If drainage allows for the liver
function tests to come within inclusion criteria, the patient may be enrolled.

3. Renal: serum creatinine (sCr) ≤2.0 x ULN, or creatinine clearance (Ccr) ≥30
mL/min.

- Patients must have the ability to understand the study, its inherent risks, side
effects and potential benefits and be able to give written informed consent to
participate. Patients may not be consented by a durable power of attorney (DPA).

- All subjects of child producing potential must agree to use contraception or avoidance
of pregnancy measures while enrolled on study and receiving the experimental product,
and for one month after the last immunization.

Exclusion Criteria:

- Age <18-years-old.

- Active metastases.

- Other malignancy within five years, unless the probability of recurrence of the prior
malignancy is <5% as determined by the Principal Investigator based on available
information. Patient's curatively treated for squamous and basal cell carcinoma of the
skin or patients with a history of malignant tumor in the past that have been disease
free for at least five years are also eligible for this study.

- History of organ transplant.

- Current, active immunosuppressive therapy such as cyclosporine, tacrolimus, etc.

- Subjects taking chronic systemic corticosteroid therapy for any reason are not
eligible. Subjects may receive steroids as prophylactic anti-emetics per the
mFOLFIRINOX regimen. Subjects receiving inhaled or topical corticosteroids are
eligible. Subjects who require chronic systemic corticosteroids after beginning
treatment, will be removed from study.

- Significant or uncontrolled congestive heart failure (CHF), myocardial infarction or
significant ventricular arrhythmias within the last six months.

- Patient has active, uncontrolled bacterial, viral, or fungal infection(s) requiring
systemic therapy.

- Autoimmune disease (e.g., systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis
(RA), etc.). Patients with a remote history of asthma or mild active asthma are
eligible.

- Other serious medical conditions that may be expected to limit life expectancy to less
than 2 years (e.g., active liver cirrhosis) or a serious illness in medical opinion of
the clinical investigator.

- Any condition, psychiatric or otherwise, that would preclude informed consent,
consistent follow-up or compliance with any aspect of the study (e.g., untreated
schizophrenia or other significant cognitive impairment, etc.).

- A known history of allergy or hypersensitivity to any of the study drugs or any of
their excipients.

- Pregnant or nursing women due to the unknown effects of immunization on the developing
fetus or newborn infant. (For patients with child bearing potential, a βHCG must be
completed within 14 days of first treatment).

- Known HIV positive.

- Prior treatment with chemotherapy or radiation for pancreatic cancer or prior
treatment with radiation for other diagnoses to expected pancreatic cancer treatment
fields.

- Current grade II or higher peripheral neuropathy.
We found this trial at
4
sites
41 Mall Road
Burlington, Massachusetts 1805
781-744-5100
Principal Investigator: Francis Nugent, MD
Phone: 781-744-2734
Lahey Clinic When Frank Lahey, MD, founded a group practice in 1923, his vision was...
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825 Eastlake Ave E
Seattle, Washington 98109
(206) 288-7222
Principal Investigator: Gabriela Chiorean, MD
Phone: 206-288-7350
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) is a cancer treatment center that...
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Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109
Principal Investigator: Gregory Gan, MD
Phone: 505-925-0751
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Albuquerque, NM
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500 S Preston St
Louisville, Kentucky
(502) 852-5555
Principal Investigator: Prejesh Phillips, MD
Phone: 502-629-3323
University of Louisville The University of Louisville is a state supported research university located in...
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Louisville, KY
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