Sorafenib Tosylate in Treating Patients With Liver Cancer That Cannot Be Removed by Surgery

Granzyme B Production as a Biomarker for the Immunomodulatory Activity of Sorafenib in HCC

This clinical trial studies sorafenib tosylate in treating patients with liver cancer that cannot be removed by surgery. Sorafenib tosylate may block some of the enzymes needed for tumor cell growth. Blocking these enzymes may also help the immune system work better. Granzyme B is a biomarker that can be used to measure how well the immune system is working. A biomarker is a biological molecule found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of a normal or abnormal process, or of a condition or disease. Studying granzyme B levels in patients receiving sorafenib tosylate may help doctors learn more about the effects of sorafenib tosylate on the immune system and may help to predict how well sorafenib tosylate will work in treating patients with liver cancer.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Advanced Adult Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Localized Non-Resectable Adult Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Stage IIIA Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Stage IIIB Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Stage IIIC Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Stage IVA Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Stage IVB Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Stage III Childhood Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Stage IV Childhood Hepatocellular Carcinoma
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis; Drug: Sorafenib Tosylate

Detailed Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To determine whether the proportion of cytotoxic T lymphocytes that are producing granzyme B (denoted pGrzB) as measured ~28-35 days after initiation of sorafenib (sorafenib tosylate) therapy correlates with overall survival, defined as the number of months between the start of sorafenib treatment and death from any cause.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To determine whether higher pGrzB levels will correlate with better sorafenib tolerance, manifested by fewer dose reductions, dose interruptions and adverse events.

II. To determine whether improved immune function may also result in greater recognition of hepatitis viral antigens.

OUTLINE:

Patients receive sorafenib tosylate orally (PO) twice daily (BID). Treatment continues in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

After completion of study, patients are followed up for 30 days or after the 6 month time point if continuing sorafenib tosylate and then periodically thereafter.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 30
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • Buffalo, New York, United States, 14263
      • Roswell Park Cancer Institute

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Subject or legal representative must understand the investigational nature of this study and sign an Independent Ethics Committee/Institutional Review Board approved written informed consent form prior to receiving any study related procedure
• Outpatients with histologically/cytologically documented or radiographically diagnosed unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who are candidates for systemic therapy and for whom a decision to treat with sorafenib has been made; radiographic diagnosis needs typical findings of HCC by a radiographic method, i.e. on multi-dimensional dynamic computed tomography (CT), CT hepatic arteriography (CTHA)/CT arterial portography (CTAP) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Patients must have a life expectancy of at least 8 weeks
• Patients must not have any evidence of bleeding diathesis or active gastrointestinal bleeding

Exclusion Criteria:

• Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements
• Pregnant or nursing female subjects
• Unwilling or unable to follow protocol requirements
• Any condition which in the investigator's opinion deems the subject an unsuitable candidate to receive study drug
• Patients who have had prior anti-angiogenic therapy, including but not limited to sorafenib, brivanib, bevacizumab, or sunitinib; prior treatment with liver directed, ablative or surgical therapies will be permitted as long as there is documented progression justifying the need for starting sorafenib therapy
• No known contraindications to anti-angiogenics such as severe coronary artery disease, recent myocardial infarction or stroke within 6 months, bleeding peptic ulcer or varices within last 3 months, and any other major illness that may jeopardize study treatment or follow up

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Treatment (sorafenib tosylate); Patients receive sorafenib tosylate PO BID. Treatment continues in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.	Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis; Correlative studies; Drug: Sorafenib Tosylate; Given PO; Other Names: BAY 54-9085; Nexavar; BAY 43-9006 Tosylate; sorafenib

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Granzyme B levels	The pGrzB hazard ratio (per 10 percentage point increase) and the associated 95% confidence interval will be estimated using a Cox PH model. Whether pGrzB measurements vary by presence of grade 3+ adverse events (AEs) will be assessed using permutation independent sample t-tests. Descriptive statistics include the pGrzB mean, standard deviations and ranges within AE or patient characteristics.	Up to 35 days
Overall survival (OS)	The hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval for the effect of day ~28-35 pGrzB (in 10 percentage point increments) on OS will be estimated using proportional hazards (PH) models. The pGrzB functional form will be assessed using generalized additive models. Possible confounding from sorafenib dose differences and baseline characteristics will be assessed by including other covariates (or perhaps frailty terms) in the model.	Time between start of first treatment and death, assessed up to 6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Granzyme B level variations by presence of grade 3 or higher AE, characterized using National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events severity grade	These differences will be assessed using permutation independent sample t-tests. For an AE observed in 15 (50%) of the patients and two-sided statistical significance threshold = 0.05, this test has 80% power to detect a 1.0 standard difference in mean pGrzB. 95% confidence limits for the difference in mean pGrzB will also be provided. Descriptive statistics include the pGrzB mean, standard deviations and ranges within AE or patient characteristics.	Up to 30 days

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in granzyme B levels after sorafenib tosylate treatment	The hypotheses of immediate (HI) and sustained improvement (HS) of immune function will be tested using a fixed-sequence procedure. Each hypothesis uses a permutation paired t-test with an upper 1-sided 0.05 significance threshold. HI considers a pGrzB increase between days 0 & ~28-35. If the HI test finds no short-term pGrzB improvement, the HS test will not be done. If HI indicates a short-time pGrzB improvement, HS considers a pGrzB increase between days 0 and 24 weeks (± 1 week). If both tests indicate improvements it will be concluded improved & sustained pGrzB response follows sorafenib.	Baseline to up to 35 days
Proportion of cluster of differentiation (CD)8+ T cells expressing granzyme B		Up to 24 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Roswell Park Cancer Institute
• Collaborators: National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Kalathil SG, Hutson A, Barbi J, Iyer R, Thanavala Y. Augmentation of IFN-gamma+ CD8+ T cell responses correlates with survival of HCC patients on sorafenib therapy. JCI Insight. 2019 Aug 8;4(15):e130116. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.130116. eCollection 2019 Aug 8.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 18, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 19, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): July 19, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 24, 2014
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 24, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): February 26, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 25, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 20, 2022
• Last Verified: July 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Digestive System Diseases; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Site; Adenocarcinoma; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial; Digestive System Neoplasms; Liver Diseases; Carcinoma; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Liver Neoplasms; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Enzyme Inhibitors; Antineoplastic Agents; Protein Kinase Inhibitors; Sorafenib
• Other Study ID Numbers: I 238913 (Other Identifier: Roswell Park Cancer Institute); NCI-2014-00180 (Registry Identifier: CTRP (Clinical Trial Reporting Program))

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No