A Pilot Study of Autologous T-Cell Transplantation With Vaccine Driven Expansion of Anti-Tumor Effectors After Cytoreductive Therapy in Metastatic Pediatric Sarcomas

This is a single arm study.

The tumor specimen is analyzed for the presence of a fusion protein which corresponds to available peptides. Patients undergo T cell harvest 10 days after an initial priming peptide-pulsed antigen presenting cell (APC) vaccine is performed.

Fresh APCs are utilized for initial priming vaccination. All subsequent vaccinations will use cryopreserved APCs. Minimum number of APCs administered per vaccination is 100,000/kg and maximum is 100,000,000/kg.

Patients undergo cytoreductive therapy for the treatment of their particular malignancy. This therapy usually consists of multiagent chemotherapy in the context of a separate protocol.

Following chemotherapy, infusion of harvested T cells followed by infusion of peptide-pulsed APC vaccinations occurs every 6 weeks for a total of 3 post-priming vaccinations. Influenza vaccine is administered by intramuscular injection concurrent to peptide-pulsed APC vaccines.

Interleukin -2 (IL-2) is administered as a continuous intravenous (IV) infusion for 4 days/week for 3 successive weeks starting on the same day as T cell /peptide-pulsed infusions.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Rhabdomyosarcoma; Ewing's Sarcoma
• Intervention / Treatment: Biological: therapeutic autologous dendritic cells; Drug: indinavir sulfate; Procedure: peripheral blood stem cell transplantation

Detailed Description

Eradication of low tumor burdens can occur in vivo when T-cell mediated responses are generated against specific tumor antigens. The Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT) and alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (AR) display several features which make them candidate diseases for trials of such immunotherapy. First, intensive cytotoxic chemotherapy is generally able to eradicate bulk disease in patients with metastatic disease, but tumor relapse eventually occurs in nearly all patients. Second, tumor-specific chromosomal translocations resulting in the production of novel fusion proteins have been identified in the great majority of these tumors. Peptides derived from these fusion proteins have been shown to function as tumor antigens for cytolytic T cells in animal studies. Third, studies of immune reconstitution after intensive cytotoxic therapy have provided evidence that antigen-specific T cells can be generated in vivo when the adoptive transfer of peripheral T cells and antigen are provided during the period of T cell regeneration. This process can be augmented in murine models by the use of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) active protease inhibitor, indinavir, potentially through inhibition of programmed cell death in expanding T cells. Merging these concepts, this protocol will attempt to eradicate minimal residual disease in pediatric patients with metastatic ESFT and AR via vaccination with tumor-specific peptides undertaken concomitant with autologous T cell transplantation and indinavir.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 42
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Maryland
    • Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20892
      • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 5 years to 35 years (ADULT, CHILD)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

• INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Patients with fusion protein bearing, metastatic malignancies of the following histologic subtypes are eligible for evaluation for treatment on this protocol: alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (AR), and Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT) which includes classical, atypical and extraosseous Ewing's sarcoma, peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors, peripheral neuroepithelioma, primitive sarcoma of bone, and ectomesenchymoma. Eligibility will not be confirmed until the presence of a tumor-specific fusion protein is documented by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) which corresponds to one of the tumor-specific peptides available for vaccination.

Patients with Stage IV or metastatic disease are eligible to be enrolled on study at the time of initial presentation with tumor, prior to any cytoreductive therapy.

Alternatively, patients who have recurrent disease, but who have been remotely treated (completed all antineoplastic therapy greater than or equal to one year prior to enrollment for patients who are greater than 5 years of age, or completed all antineoplastic therapy greater than 6 months prior to enrollment for patients who are less than or equal to 5 years of age), are also eligible for enrollment prior to any subsequent cytoreductive therapy.

Patients who have received cytoreductive therapy for Stage IV or metastatic disease may be enrolled at the time of completion of cytoreductive therapy if an apheresis specimen is available which was collected and processed prior to cytotoxic therapy according to the guidelines described in the protocol Section 3.2.2.

Such products will have been obtained by apheresis at the Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health (NIH), with informed consent administered as per protocol 98-C-37, 97-C-0050 or as described on standard government request form 2626 for invasive procedures.

Patients must be less than or equal to 35 years at the time of initial diagnosis of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma or ESFT, weight greater than 10 kg at the time of apheresis. Patients between 10-15 kg must be approved by the apheresis unit in the Department of Transfusion Medicine (DTM) prior to enrollment on the protocol.

All patients or their legal guardians must give written informed consent indicating their understanding of the investigational nature and risks of the study.

Patients must have adequate renal function (serum creatinine (Cr) less than 1.5 mg/dl or creatinine clearance (Cr Cl), greater than 60 ml/min./1.73 m^2 and liver function (transaminases less than 3 times normal, bilirubin less than 2.0 mg/dl). Patients will not be excluded based upon abnormal hepatic function which is related to hepatic involvement by tumor.

For remotely treated patients, a CD4 count of greater than or equal to 400 cells/mm^3 is required.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Women who are pregnant or lactating.

Patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection due to confounding effects on immune function.

Patients with hepatitis B or hepatitis C infection will be excluded due to the untoward risks to personnel working with blood specimens.

Patients who require daily oral corticosteroid therapy for any underlying disease will be excluded.

Topical or inhaled corticosteroids are permitted.

Patients who are allergic to eggs, egg products, or thimerosal, or have a history of Guillain-Barre syndrome may be enrolled on study but are ineligible to receive the influenza vaccine.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
• Allocation: NA
• Interventional Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

EXPERIMENTAL: Peptide vaccine/autologous T cell transplant/indinavir therapy; Patients receive oral indinavir sulfate 350 mg/m^2 administered every 8 hours; maximum dose i.e. 800 mg every 8 hours; peptide pulsed dendritic cells 1 x 10^6 injection; harvested autologous T cells (minimum dose 1 x 10^6/kg will be thawed rapidly in 37 degree water bath and infused sequentially over 5-15 minutes.

Biological: therapeutic autologous dendritic cells; 3 syringes containing 1 x 10^6peptide pulsed dendritic cells; Drug: indinavir sulfate; Oral dose, 350 mg/m^2 administered every 8 hours. Maximum dose is 800 mg every 8 hours.; Other Names: Crixivan; Procedure: peripheral blood stem cell transplantation; Harvested autologous T cells, minimum dose 1 x 10^6/kg will be thawed rapidly in 37 degree water bath and infused sequentially over 5-15 minutes.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants With an Immune Response to Tumor-specific and Non-tumor Specific Peptides During a Period of Immune Reconstitution	Immune response was defined as a percent specific lysis of >10% following challenge with peptide pulsed targets, or interferon gamma production following challenge with peptide pulsed targets >2-fold that found with no-peptide controls or a proliferation index >3.0. Tumor specific peptides: Ewings sarcoma Type 1: EF-1 (EWS/FLI-1)*SSSYGQQN/PSYDSVRRGA,Ewing's Sarcoma Type 2: EF-2 (EWS/FLI-2)* SSSYGQ/QSSLLAYNT, Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma: PXFK (PAX3/FKHR)† TIGNGLSPQ/NSIRHNLSL. Non-tumor specific peptide:HPV16E7 MLDLQPETT-MET-9-THR. See protocol link module for additional information re: peptides.	20 weeks post vaccination
The Percent of Patients Who Recover CD4 Counts Within 6 Months of Completion of Chemotherapy	CD4 counts were measured from peripheral blood using standard flow cytometric techniques at the following timepoints: 2 months post-chemotherapy, 4 months post-chemotherapy and 6 months post-chemotherapy. To be eligible for evaluation for this endpoint, patient much have been <10 years of age and sustained a CD4 count of <300 cells/mcl upon completion of standard therapy. Recovery was defined as a CD4 count > 500 cells/mcl at any timepoint within 6 months of completing chemotherapy.	2 to 6 months
Number of Participants With an Immune Response to the Translocation Breakpoint Peptide	Immune responses were measured following 3 sequential influenza vaccines during the same period as the peptide-pulsed dendritic cell vaccines.	5 years
Number of Participants With an Immune Response to Non-Tumor-specific Peptide E7	Immune response was defined as a percent specific lysis of >10% following challenge with peptide pulsed targets, or interferon gamma production following challenge with peptide pulsed targets >2-fold that found with no-peptide controls or a proliferation index >3.0.	5 years
Number of Participants With an Immune Response to Tumor-Specific Peptides at the Time of Presentation	Immune response was defined as a percent specific lysis of >10% following challenge with tumor peptide pulsed targets, or interferon gamma production following challenge with tumor peptide pulsed targets >2-fold that found with no-peptide controls or a proliferation index >3.0 to tumor peptide targets.Tumor specific peptides: Ewings sarcoma Type 1: EF-1 (EWS/FLI-1)*SSSYGQQN/PSYDSVRRGA,Ewing's Sarcoma Type 2: EF-2 (EWS/FLI-2)* SSSYGQ/QSSLLAYNT, Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma: PXFK (PAX3/FKHR)† TIGNGLSPQ/NSIRHNLSL. See protocol link module for additional information re: peptides.	Once per enrollment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants With Adverse Events	Here are the number of participants with adverse events. For the detailed list of adverse events see the adverse event module.	5 years
Percentage of Participants Overall Survival	Overall survival is defined as the time between the first day of treatment to the day of death.	5 years
Percent of Participants: Event Free Survival	Event free survival is calculated from the date of diagnosis for patients enrolled with newly diagnosed metastatic disease and from the date of the last recurrence detection before enrollment on this study for patients with recurrent disease.	5 years
Median Overall Survival	Overall survival is defined as the time between the first day of treatment to the day of death.	5.4 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Crystal Mackall, M.D., National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Yanuck M, Carbone DP, Pendleton CD, Tsukui T, Winter SF, Minna JD, Berzofsky JA. A mutant p53 tumor suppressor protein is a target for peptide-induced CD8+ cytotoxic T-cells. Cancer Res. 1993 Jul 15;53(14):3257-61.
• Mackall CL, Bare CV, Granger LA, Sharrow SO, Titus JA, Gress RE. Thymic-independent T cell regeneration occurs via antigen-driven expansion of peripheral T cells resulting in a repertoire that is limited in diversity and prone to skewing. J Immunol. 1996 Jun 15;156(12):4609-16.
• Mackall CL, Fleisher TA, Brown MR, Andrich MP, Chen CC, Feuerstein IM, Horowitz ME, Magrath IT, Shad AT, Steinberg SM, et al. Age, thymopoiesis, and CD4+ T-lymphocyte regeneration after intensive chemotherapy. N Engl J Med. 1995 Jan 19;332(3):143-9. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199501193320303.
• Zhang H, Chua KS, Guimond M, Kapoor V, Brown MV, Fleisher TA, Long LM, Bernstein D, Hill BJ, Douek DC, Berzofsky JA, Carter CS, Read EJ, Helman LJ, Mackall CL. Lymphopenia and interleukin-2 therapy alter homeostasis of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells. Nat Med. 2005 Nov;11(11):1238-43. doi: 10.1038/nm1312. Epub 2005 Oct 16.
• Mackall CL, Rhee EH, Read EJ, Khuu HM, Leitman SF, Bernstein D, Tesso M, Long LM, Grindler D, Merino M, Kopp W, Tsokos M, Berzofsky JA, Helman LJ. A pilot study of consolidative immunotherapy in patients with high-risk pediatric sarcomas. Clin Cancer Res. 2008 Aug 1;14(15):4850-8. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-07-4065.

Helpful Links

• NIH Clinical Center Detailed Web Page

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: December 1, 1996
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): September 1, 2008
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): September 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 3, 1999
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 3, 1999
• First Posted (ESTIMATE): November 4, 1999

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE): June 15, 2012
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 12, 2012
• Last Verified: June 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Immunotherapy; Rhabdomyosarcoma; Interleukin-2; Ewing's Sarcoma; Tumor Vaccine
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neoplasms, Connective and Soft Tissue; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Neoplasms; Osteosarcoma; Neoplasms, Bone Tissue; Neoplasms, Connective Tissue; Neoplasms, Muscle Tissue; Myosarcoma; Sarcoma; Sarcoma, Ewing; Rhabdomyosarcoma; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Anti-Infective Agents; Antiviral Agents; Enzyme Inhibitors; Anti-HIV Agents; Anti-Retroviral Agents; Protease Inhibitors; HIV Protease Inhibitors; Viral Protease Inhibitors; Indinavir
• Other Study ID Numbers: 970052; 97-C-0052