Pembrolizumab, Standard Chemotherapy, Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes, and High- or Low-Dose Aldesleukin in Treating Patients With Metastatic Melanoma

Phase II Study of MK-3475 in Conjunction With Lymphodepletion, TIL, and High or Low Dose IL-2 in Patients With Metastatic Melanoma

This randomized phase II trial studies how well giving pembrolizumab with standard chemotherapy, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), and aldesleukin works in treating patients with melanoma that has spread to other areas of the body. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as cyclophosphamide and fludarabine phosphate, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Giving an infusion of TIL, or white blood cells, may help stimulate the immune system to help kill more cells. Aldesleukin may also stimulate the white blood cells to kill melanoma cells. Giving pembrolizumab together with standard chemotherapy, TIL, and high- or low-dose aldesleukin may help stop the melanoma from spreading.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Metastatic Melanoma; Stage IV Cutaneous Melanoma AJCC v6 and v7; Stage IIIC Cutaneous Melanoma AJCC v7; Stage IIIB Cutaneous Melanoma AJCC v7
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis; Other: Quality-of-Life Assessment; Biological: Pembrolizumab; Drug: Cyclophosphamide; Drug: Fludarabine Phosphate; Biological: Aldesleukin; Biological: Therapeutic Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes

Detailed Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Evaluate the overall response rates of pembrolizumab (MK-3475) combined with lymphodepletion, TIL and high or low dose aldesleukin (interleukin-2) therapy in patients with metastatic melanoma.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Comparison of progression free survival between the treatment arms. II. Comparison of overall survival between the treatment arms. III. Comparison of deep tumor responses (defined as over 60% reduction in tumor burden) between the treatment arms as per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) criteria.

IV. Number of complete responses in both treatment arms. V. Safety evaluations by Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version (v) 4.

EXPLORATORY OBJECTIVES:

I. Identification of biomarkers predictive of treatment response or failure through immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, gene expression changes as assessed by NanoString codeset, neo-antigen identification and complementary determining region (CDR)3 sequencing from blood and tumor samples acquired from baseline and on-treatment samples.

OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms.

ARM I: Patients receive standard lymphodepleting chemotherapy comprising of cyclophosphamide intravenously (IV) over 2 hours on days -7 and -6 followed by fludarabine phosphate IV piggyback (IVPB) over 15-30 minutes on days -5 to -1. Patients also receive therapeutic tumor infiltrating lymphocytes IV over 15-60 minutes on day 0 followed by high-dose aldesleukin IV over 15 minutes every 8-16 hours for up to 15 doses on days 1-5. Beginning between 21-28 days after TIL infusion, patients receive maintenance therapy comprising of pembrolizumab IV over 30 minutes every 21 days for up to 2 years in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

ARM II: Patients receive standard lymphodepleting chemotherapy comprising of cyclophosphamide, fludarabine phosphate, and therapeutic tumor infiltrating lymphocytes as in Arm I, followed approximately 6 hours later by low-dose aldesleukin subcutaneously (SC) once per day (QD) for 14 days. Patients also receive pembrolizumab as in Arm I.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 3 months.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 18
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
      • M D Anderson Cancer Center

Participation Criteria

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:

• TURNSTILE I - SCREENING:
• Patients must have metastatic melanoma or stage III in-transit, subcutaneous, or regional nodal disease
• Patients must have a lesion amenable to resection for the generation of TIL on MD Anderson protocol 2004-0069
• Patients must receive a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/computed tomography (CT)/positron emission tomography (PET) of the brain within 6 months of signing informed consent; if new central nervous system (CNS) lesions are present, patient must have definitive treatment (including surgery or radiation); principal investigator (PI) or his designee should make final determination regarding enrollment
• Clinical performance status of Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) 0 - 1 within 30 days of signing informed consent
• Patients previously treated with immunotherapy, targeted therapy, or no therapy (treatment naive) will be eligible
• Patients receiving cytotoxic agents will be evaluated by the PI or his designee for eligibility suitability
• Patients with a negative pregnancy test (urine or serum) must be documented within 14 days of screening for women of childbearing potential (WOCBP); a WOCBP has not undergone a hysterectomy or who has not been naturally postmenopausal for at least 12 consecutive months (i.e. who has not had menses at any time in the preceding 12 consecutive months)
• TURNSTILE II - TREATMENT:
• Patients must sign the treatment consent document before Turnstile II screening procedures; before the treatment starts and at each visit, the patient will be asked to complete two quality of life questionnaires; It should take about 15 minutes to complete the questionnaires (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy General [FACT-G], FACT-Melanoma); patients must fulfill all of the following criteria to be eligible for Turnstile II of the study
• Patients must have adequate TIL that were previously harvested and then cryopreserved on MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) protocol 2004-0069
• Patients who have had prior therapy (BRAF inhibitors, ipilimumab, anti PD-1 antibody or anti PD-L1 antibody) or treatment naive patients are eligible as long as toxicity from therapy is grade =< 1 or at baseline
• Patients must have at least one biopsiable measurable metastatic melanoma, lesion > 1 cm and must be amenable to undergoing serial biopsies through the course of therapy; this lesion must not be documented as one of the target lesions
• Patients may have central nervous system (CNS) metastases which have been treated and are radiographically stable for at least 4 weeks
• Patients of both genders must practice birth control for four months after receiving the preparative regimen (lymphodepletion) and continue to practice birth control throughout the study; patients must have a documented negative pregnancy test (urine or serum) for women who have menstruated in the past 12 months and without sterilization surgery
• Unless surgically sterile by bilateral tubal ligation or vasectomy of partner(s), or if the patient is post-menopausal, the patient agrees to continue to use a barrier method of contraception throughout the study such as: condom, diaphragm, hormonal, intrauterine device (IUD), or sponge plus spermicide; abstinence is an acceptable form of birth control
• Pregnancy testing will be performed within 14 days of screening for women of childbearing potential (WOCBP); a WOCBP has not undergone a hysterectomy or who has not been naturally postmenopausal for at least 12 consecutive months (i.e. who has not had menses at any time in the preceding 12 consecutive months)
• Clinical performance status of ECOG 0-1 within 30 days of signing informed consent
• A stress cardiac test (stress thallium, stress multi-gated acquisition scan [MUGA], dobutamine echocardiogram or other stress test that will rule out cardiac ischemia) within 1 month of lymphodepletion
• 12-lead electrocardiogram (EKG) showing no active ischemia and corrected QT (QTc) interval less than 480 msec
• Pulmonary function tests (forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1] > 65% or forced vital capacity [FVC] > 65% of predicted) within 1 month of lymphodepletion
• Have measurable disease based on RECIST 1.1 and immune related response (irRC) criteria
• Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) >= 1,500 /mcL (within 10 days of treatment initiation)
• Platelets >= 100,000 /mcL (within 10 days of treatment initiation)
• Hemoglobin >= 9 g/dL or >= 5.6 mmol/L (within 10 days of treatment initiation)
• Serum creatinine OR measured or calculated creatinine clearance (glomerular filtration rate [GFR] can also be used in place of creatinine or creatinine clearance [CrCl]) =< 1.5 X upper limit of normal (ULN) OR >= 60 mL/min for subject with creatinine levels > 1.5 X institutional ULN (within 10 days of treatment initiation)
• Serum total bilirubin =< 1.5 X ULN (within 10 days of treatment initiation) OR
• Direct bilirubin =< ULN for subjects with total bilirubin levels > 1.5 ULN (within 10 days of treatment initiation)
• Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase [SGOT]) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase [SGPT]) =< 2.5 X ULN or =< 5 X ULN for subjects with liver metastases (within 10 days of treatment initiation)
• International normalized ratio (INR) or prothrombin time (PT)/activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) =< 1.5 X ULN unless subject is receiving anticoagulant therapy as long as PT or PTT is within therapeutic range of intended use of anticoagulants =< 1.5 X ULN unless subject is receiving anticoagulant therapy as long as PT or PTT is within therapeutic range of intended use of anticoagulants

Exclusion Criteria:

• TURNSTILE I - SCREENING
• Active systemic infections requiring intravenous antibiotics, coagulation disorders or other major medical illnesses of the cardiovascular, respiratory or immune system; PI or his designee shall make the final determination regarding appropriateness of enrollment
• Primary immunodeficiency and need for chronic steroid therapy, exception: patients on chronic physiological dose of steroid equivalent to prednisone < 10 mg/day is allowed
• Patients who are pregnant or nursing
• Presence of a significant psychiatric disease, which in the opinion of the principal investigator or his designee, would prevent adequate informed consent
• TURNSTILE II - TREATMENT
• Is currently participating in or has participated in a study of an investigational agent or using an investigational device within 4 weeks of the first dose of treatment
• Has a diagnosis of immunodeficiency or is receiving systemic steroid therapy or any other form of immunosuppressive therapy within 7 days prior to initiation of lymphodepletion; exception: patients on chronic physiologic dose of steroid equivalent to prednisone < 10 mg/day is allowed
• Has not recovered (i.e., =< grade 1 or at baseline) from adverse events due to investigational or standard agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier

• Has had prior chemotherapy, targeted small molecule therapy, or radiation therapy within 2 weeks prior to lymphodepletion or who has not recovered (i.e., =< grade 1 or at baseline) from adverse events due to a previously administered agent

  • Note: subjects with =< grade 2 neuropathy, alopecia, hypophysitis stable on physiologic dose of steroid equivalent to prednisone < 10 mg/day, hypothyroidism stable on hormone replacement are an exception to this criterion and may qualify for the study
  • Note: if subject received major surgery, they must have recovered adequately from the toxicity and/or complications from the intervention prior to starting therapy
• Has a known additional malignancy that is progressing or requires active treatment; exceptions include basal cell carcinoma of the skin, squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, or in situ cervical cancer that has undergone potentially curative therapy
• Has known active central nervous system (CNS) metastases and/or carcinomatous meningitis; subjects with previously treated brain metastases may participate provided they are stable (without evidence of progression by imaging for at least four weeks prior to the first dose of trial treatment and any neurologic symptoms have returned to baseline), have no evidence of new or enlarging brain metastases, and are not using steroids for at least 7 days prior to initiation of lymphodepletion
• Has an active autoimmune disease requiring systemic treatment within the past 3 months or a documented history of clinically severe autoimmune disease; subjects with vitiligo or resolved childhood asthma/atopy would be an exception to this rule; subjects that require intermittent use of bronchodilators or local steroid injections would not be excluded from the study; subjects with hypothyroidism stable on hormone replacement or Sjogren's syndrome will not be excluded from the study; subjects with hypophysitis stable on physiologic dose of steroid will not be excluded from the study
• Has evidence of interstitial lung disease or has a history of non-infectious pneumonitis that required steroids or current pneumonitis
• Has an active infection requiring systemic therapy
• Has known psychiatric or substance abuse disorders that would interfere with cooperation with the requirements of the trial
• Is pregnant or breastfeeding, or expecting to conceive or father children within the projected duration of the trial, starting with the pre-screening or screening visit through 120 days after the last dose of trial treatment
• Has a known history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (HIV 1/2 antibodies)
• Has known active hepatitis B (e.g., hepatitis B virus HBsAg surface protein antigen [HBsAg] reactive) or hepatitis C (e.g., hepatitis C virus [HCV] ribonucleic acid [RNA] [qualitative] is detected)
• Has received a live vaccine within 30 days prior to the first dose of trial treatment
• Any active systemic infections requiring intravenous antibiotics, coagulation disorders or other major medical illnesses of the cardiovascular, respiratory or immune system, such as abnormal stress thallium or comparable test, myocardial infarction, cardiac arrhythmias, obstructive or restrictive pulmonary disease; PI or his designee shall make the final determination regarding appropriateness of enrollment

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Arm I (pembrolizumab, high-dose aldesleukin); Patients receive standard lymphodepleting chemotherapy comprising cyclophosphamide IV over 2 hours on days -7 and -6 followed by fludarabine phosphate IVPB over 15-30 minutes on days -5 to -1. Patients also receive therapeutic tumor infiltrating lymphocytes IV over 15-60 minutes on day 0 followed by high-dose aldesleukin IV over 15 minutes every 8-16 hours for up to 15 doses on days 1-5. Beginning between 21-28 days after TIL infusion, patients receive maintenance therapy comprising pembrolizumab IV over 30 minutes every 21 days for up to 2 years in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.	Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis; Correlative studies; Other: Quality-of-Life Assessment; Ancillary studies; Other Names: Quality of Life Assessment; Biological: Pembrolizumab; Given IV; Other Names: Keytruda; MK-3475; Lambrolizumab; SCH 900475; Drug: Cyclophosphamide; Given IV; Other Names: Cytoxan; CTX; (-)-Cyclophosphamide; 2H-1,3,2-Oxazaphosphorine, 2-[bis(2-chloroethyl)amino]tetrahydro-, 2-oxide, monohydrate; Carloxan; Ciclofosfamida; Ciclofosfamide; Cicloxal; Clafen; Claphene; CP monohydrate; CYCLO-cell; Cycloblastin; Cycloblastine; Cyclophospham; Cyclophosphamid monohydrate; Cyclophosphamidum; Cyclophosphan; Cyclophosphane; Cyclophosphanum; Cyclostin; Cyclostine; Cytophosphan; Cytophosphane; Fosfaseron; Genoxal; Genuxal; Ledoxina; Mitoxan; Neosar; Revimmune; Syklofosfamid; WR- 138719; Drug: Fludarabine Phosphate; Given IVPB; Other Names: 2-F-ara-AMP; Beneflur; Fludara; 9H-Purin-6-amine, 2-fluoro-9-(5-O-phosphono-.beta.-D-arabinofuranosyl)-; SH T 586; Biological: Aldesleukin; Given IV or SC; Other Names: Proleukin; 125-L-Serine-2-133-interleukin 2; r-serHuIL-2; Recombinant Human IL-2; Recombinant Human Interleukin-2; Biological: Therapeutic Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes; Given IV; Other Names: Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes
Experimental: Arm II (pembrolizumab, low-dose aldesleukin); Patients receive standard lymphodepleting chemotherapy comprising cyclophosphamide and fludarabine phosphate and therapeutic tumor infiltrating lymphocytes as in Arm I, followed approximately 6 hours later by low-dose aldesleukin SC for 14 days. Patients also receive pembrolizumab as in Arm I.	Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis; Correlative studies; Other: Quality-of-Life Assessment; Ancillary studies; Other Names: Quality of Life Assessment; Biological: Pembrolizumab; Given IV; Other Names: Keytruda; MK-3475; Lambrolizumab; SCH 900475; Drug: Cyclophosphamide; Given IV; Other Names: Cytoxan; CTX; (-)-Cyclophosphamide; 2H-1,3,2-Oxazaphosphorine, 2-[bis(2-chloroethyl)amino]tetrahydro-, 2-oxide, monohydrate; Carloxan; Ciclofosfamida; Ciclofosfamide; Cicloxal; Clafen; Claphene; CP monohydrate; CYCLO-cell; Cycloblastin; Cycloblastine; Cyclophospham; Cyclophosphamid monohydrate; Cyclophosphamidum; Cyclophosphan; Cyclophosphane; Cyclophosphanum; Cyclostin; Cyclostine; Cytophosphan; Cytophosphane; Fosfaseron; Genoxal; Genuxal; Ledoxina; Mitoxan; Neosar; Revimmune; Syklofosfamid; WR- 138719; Drug: Fludarabine Phosphate; Given IVPB; Other Names: 2-F-ara-AMP; Beneflur; Fludara; 9H-Purin-6-amine, 2-fluoro-9-(5-O-phosphono-.beta.-D-arabinofuranosyl)-; SH T 586; Biological: Aldesleukin; Given IV or SC; Other Names: Proleukin; 125-L-Serine-2-133-interleukin 2; r-serHuIL-2; Recombinant Human IL-2; Recombinant Human Interleukin-2; Biological: Therapeutic Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes; Given IV; Other Names: Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Overall response rate in each arm	The overall response rate will be computed separately by arm and presented with exact 95% confidence intervals. The overall response rate will be compared between the two treatment arms by using Fisher's exact test. The association between overall response rate and the same covariates will be assessed by using logistic regression.	Up to 5 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Overall survival	The method of Kaplan and Meier will be used to estimate the distributions of overall survival and distributions will be compared between arms by using the log-rank test. Cox regression analysis will be used to assess the association between disease and clinical covariates of interest and overall survival.	Up to 5 years
Progression-free survival	The method of Kaplan and Meier will be used to estimate the distributions of progression-free survival, and distributions will be compared between arms by using the log-rank test. Cox regression analysis will be used to assess the association between disease and clinical covariates of interest and progression-free survival.	Up to 5 years
Change in blood and tumor biomarkers	A generalized linear mixed model approach to account for intra-patient correlation will be used to measure blood and tumor biomarkers collected over time.	Baseline to up to 5 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
• Collaborators: National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Website

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 7, 2015
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 12, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): October 12, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 14, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 14, 2015
• First Posted (Estimate): July 16, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 24, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 22, 2023
• Last Verified: March 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Skin Diseases; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Site; Neuroectodermal Tumors; Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal; Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue; Neuroendocrine Tumors; Nevi and Melanomas; Melanoma; Skin Neoplasms; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Anti-Infective Agents; Peripheral Nervous System Agents; Antiviral Agents; Anti-HIV Agents; Anti-Retroviral Agents; Analgesics; Sensory System Agents; Analgesics, Non-Narcotic; Antirheumatic Agents; Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; Antimetabolites; Antineoplastic Agents; Immunosuppressive Agents; Immunologic Factors; Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating; Alkylating Agents; Myeloablative Agonists; Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological; Aldesleukin; Cyclophosphamide; Pembrolizumab; Fludarabine; Fludarabine phosphate; Interleukin-2
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2014-0922 (Other Identifier: M D Anderson Cancer Center); NCI-2015-01395 (Registry Identifier: CTRP (Clinical Trial Reporting Program))

Drug and device information, study documents

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