Pravastatin Intervention to Delay Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence

December 31, 2020 updated by: Shehnaz Hussain, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is a major health concern in the United States, particularly among people with liver cirrhosis. Out of every 100 patients with liver cancer, only 18 will survive 5 years or more. While locoregional therapies are utilized in an effort to combat this disease, the recurrence rate of HCC after these therapies are high.

Statins are widely used drugs that lower cholesterol levels. Some studies have suggested that statins lower risk of HCC recurrence, but this possibility has not been studied thoroughly in a clinical trial. This study will examine the effects of pravastatin, a type of statin, on time to HCC recurrence in patients with early stage HCC. It is possible that pravastatin in combination with locoregional therapies may delay or protect against HCC recurrence.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

To date, there has been a scarcity of clinical trials evaluating the effectiveness of adjuvant therapies in patients with early stage HCC, although it is widely considered an area of highly unmet need.

The objective of this randomized double-blinded, placebo-controlled Phase II trial is to examine the effects of pravastatin use versus placebo after 12 months of treatment on hepatocellular cancer (HCC) recurrence in 130 patients with liver cirrhosis, HCC meeting Milan Criteria or OPTN tumor downstaging criteria for tumor burden, and initial locoregional therapy (LRT) with adequate response.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

1

Phase

  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90048
        • Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age ≥18 years
  • Confirmed diagnosis of liver cirrhosis (Child-Pugh A or B) assessed by the presence of clinical signs, symptoms, body imaging, or liver biopsy
  • Diagnosis of HCC falling within one of the following criteria prior to LRT. Criteria fulfillment will be confirmed by the Imaging Charter and MedQIA.

    1. One lesion ≤ 5 cm or two to three lesions, each ≤ 3 cm.
    2. One lesion > 5 cm and ≤ 8 cm.
    3. Two or three lesions, of which at least one is > 3 cm and all are ≤ 5 cm each. The sum of all diameters must be ≤ 8 cm.
    4. Four or five lesions, each < 3 cm. The sum of all diameters must be ≤ 8 cm.
  • Initiation of LRT (according to clinical judgement) within 24 months prior to Screening Visit, with adequate response as determined by Imaging Charter and MedQIA.
  • ECOG performance status ≤1 (Karnofsky ≥70%; see Appendix A)
  • AST (SGOT) & ALT (SGPT) ≤5 × institutional ULN
  • AFP < 400 ng/mL
  • Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document and medical release
  • Agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation; for women who are able to become pregnant.
  • Willing and able to comply with trial protocol and follow-up

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Current use of statin medication or statin use within 12 months of Screening visit.
  • Current systemic use of medications known to interact with statins and potentially increase toxicity, including (e.g., gemfibrozil, cyclosporine, clarithromycin, colchicine, niacin and fibrates).
  • History of adverse effects, intolerance, or allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to pravastatin (i.e., other statin medications)
  • Current use of any other investigational agents
  • Women who are pregnant. Women who are able to become pregnant must have a confirmed negative pregnancy test prior to enrollment.
  • Women who are breastfeeding. It is not known whether pravastatin is excreted into human milk; however, a small amount of another drug in this class does pass into breast milk. Because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with pravastatin, breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with pravastatin.
  • Prior liver transplant
  • MELD score ≥30.
  • History of chronic myopathy
  • Active malignancy within the past 5 years (excluding HCC, basal/squamous cell skin cancer, or prostate cancer with a Gleason score 6 or less)
  • Known HIV infection
  • Hemophilia
  • Concurrent illness which in the opinion of the investigators would compromise either the patient or the integrity of the data
  • Concurrent excessive alcohol consumption (average alcohol consumption of more than 5 drinks per day)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: PREVENTION
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: TRIPLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Pravastatin Pill
Daily pravastatin (40mg)
statin
Other Names:
  • statin
PLACEBO_COMPARATOR: Placebo Oral Tablet
Placebo
placebo
Other Names:
  • placebo

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Time to Recurrence
Time Frame: 12 months from baseline

Mean difference in time (in months) from baseline (study visit 1) to first hepatocellular cancer (HCC) recurrence or HCC death within 12 months following treatment initiation for subjects randomized to pravastatin versus subjects randomized to placebo.

- HCC recurrence will be confirmed by central expert independent radiographic review.

12 months from baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Recurrence Free Survival
Time Frame: 12 months from baseline

Mean difference in time (in months) from baseline (study visit 1) to first occurrence of a documented hepatocellular cancer (HCC) recurrence within 12 months following treatment initiation for subjects randomized to pravastatin versus subjects randomized to placebo.

- HCC recurrence will be confirmed by central expert independent radiographic review.

12 months from baseline
Overall Survival
Time Frame: 12 months from baseline
Mean difference in time (in months) from baseline (study visit 1) to death (for any reason) within 12 months following treatment initiation for subjects randomized to pravastatin versus subjects randomized to placebo.
12 months from baseline
Waitlist Drop-off
Time Frame: 12 months from baseline
Mean difference in time from baseline (study visit 1) to liver transplant waitlist drop-off within 12 months following treatment initiation for subjects randomized to pravastatin versus subjects randomized to placebo.
12 months from baseline
Change in Liver Stiffness
Time Frame: 12 months from baseline
Mean difference in mean change in liver stiffness (as measured by MRE or FibroScan) between baseline (study visit 1) and 12 months (study visit 6) for subjects randomized to pravastatin versus subjects randomized to placebo.
12 months from baseline
Change in Liver Fat Fraction
Time Frame: 12 months from baseline
Mean difference in within-person change in liver fat fraction (as measured by MRE) between baseline (study visit 1) and 12 months (study visit 6) for subjects randomized to pravastatin versus subjects randomized to placebo.
12 months from baseline
Change in Serum Biomarkers of Monocyte/Macrophage and Stellate Cell Activation
Time Frame: 12 months from baseline
Mean difference in serum biomarkers including cytokines, chemokines, soluble receptors, and proteins (eg. IL6, TNFα, sTNFRII, IL18BP, sCD163, IL10, IL17, IL-8, CCL17, TGFβ) from baseline (study visit 1) to 12 months (study visit 6) for subjects randomized to pravastatin versus subjects randomized to placebo.
12 months from baseline
Levels of Liver Tissue Markers Related to HCC
Time Frame: 12 months from baseline
Mean difference in liver tissue markers related to HCC including those in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway (eg. β-catenin, glutamine synthetase) from baseline (study visit 1) to 12 months (study visit 6) for subjects randomized to pravastatin versus subjects randomized to placebo.
12 months from baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Collaborators

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Shehnaz Hussain, PhD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

September 27, 2018

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

December 4, 2018

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

March 5, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 13, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 13, 2017

First Posted (ACTUAL)

July 17, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

January 22, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 31, 2020

Last Verified

December 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IIT2017-08-HUSSAIN-STATLV
  • 1R01CA218486-01 (NIH)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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