Exploratory Study of TG02-treatment as Monotherapy or in Combination With Pembrolizumab to Assess Safety and Immune Activation in Patients With Locally Advanced Primary and Recurrent Oncogenic RAS Exon 2 Mutant Colorectal Cancer

A Non-Randomised Open-Label Phase Ib Exploratory Study of TG02-treatment as Monotherapy or in Combination With Pembrolizumab to Assess Safety and Immune Activation in Patients With Locally Advanced Primary and Recurrent Oncogenic RAS Exon 2 Mutant Colorectal Cancer

The purpose of this study is to determine safety and anti-tumor immune activation generated by TG02 and Granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), first as monotherapy (Part I), thereafter in combination with the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Part II), in patients with locally advanced primary and recurrent colorectal cancer scheduled to have surgery.

Part I will include 4-6 patients and Part II will include up to 10 patients. Part I and Part II are separate and independent sequential components of the study. Patients will only be able to participate in either the Part I cohort or Part II cohort.

Main objective of the study is to investigate safety and immune response after TG02-treatment.

Study Overview

• Status: Terminated
• Conditions: Rectal Cancer
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Pembrolizumab; Biological: TG02-treatment

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 6
• Phase: Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Australia
  • Brisbane, Australia
    • Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital (RBWH)
  • Melbourne, Australia
    • Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
• New Zealand
  • Auckland, New Zealand
    • Auckland City Hospital
  • Christchurch, New Zealand
    • Christchurch Hospital

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:

• Patients with locally advanced primary and recurrent colorectal cancer (CRC) (histologically or cytologically confirmed adenocarcinoma), with a confirmed oncogenic KRAS exon 2, codon 12 or 13 mutations, eligible for radical pelvic surgery at time of enrolment.
• Patient is ≥18 years of age and able to consent
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) of 0 or 1

• Patient has adequate organ and bone marrow function within 28 days of study

  • Neutrophil count >1.5 x10^9/L
  • Platelets >100 x10^9/L
  • Hb >90g/L
  • Total bilirubin <1.5 upper limit of normal, ULN
  • ALT and AST <3.0 x ULN
  • Serum creatinine <3 x ULN or Creatinine Clearance ≥ 30ml/min (Cockroft-Gault or Nuclear GFR method)
  • PT and APTT <1.3 x ULN
• The patient is willing to provide study specific pre TG02-treatment biopsy of tumour mass and allow use of archival tumour biopsies. For patients where there are technical reasons a baseline biopsy cannot be performed but who fulfil all the other inclusion criteria, the investigator shall contact the medical monitor to discuss the possibility of including such patient.
• The patient is willing and able to comply with the protocol, and agrees to return to the hospital for study visits and examinations
• Men and women of childbearing potential must use adequate contraception to prevent pregnancy during the study. Adequate contraception is defined in the study as any medically recommended method (or combination of methods) as per standard of care. An adequate contraception includes hormonal contraception with implants or combined oral, transdermal or injectable contraceptives, certain intrauterine devices, bilateral tubal ligation, hysterectomy, or vasectomy of partner. A combination of male condom with either cap, diaphragm or sponge with spermicide are also considered acceptable. For women of childbearing potential a negative pregnancy test needs to be confirmed before inclusion.
• The patient has been fully informed about the study and is willing to participate in the study, and has provided written informed consent form prior to any trial specific screening procedures.

Exclusion Criteria:

• The patient has previously received an anticancer vaccine or immune checkpoint inhibitor, or participated in a trial involving the use of an anticancer vaccine or immune checkpoint inhibitor
• Patients where pre-surgery radiotherapy, chemotherapy or other anti-cancer therapy has not been completed ≥ 2 weeks prior to TG02-treatment
• The patients is receiving anti-cancer therapy for concurrent illness
• The patient has had a prior different malignancy within the last 3 years (excluding adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin cancer, or localised low grade tumours considered cured and not requiring systemic therapy)

• The patient has uncontrolled or significant intercurrent or recent illness including:

  • auto-immune disorder or history of autoimmune disease requiring immunosuppressive treatment.
  • cardiac disorder such as uncontrolled cardiac failure, unstable angina or non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) or myocardial infarction, uncontrolled arrhythmia less than 3 months before screening
  • stroke or thromboembolic event within 3 months of study commencement
  • active or uncontrolled severe infection
  • history of solid organ transplantation or any condition requiring chronic treatment with corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive agents
  • active coagulopathy/bleeding diathesis
  • cirrhosis, chronic active or untreated persistent hepatitis
  • history of adverse reactions to peptide vaccines
• The patient is pregnant or lactating.
• Has received an investigational drug within 4 weeks prior to study drug administration, or unless other has been agreed with the medical monitor
• Is currently receiving any agent with a known effect on the immune system, unless at dose levels that are not immunosuppressive (e.g. prednisone at 10 mg/day or less or as inhaled steroid at doses used for the treatment of asthma)
• Known history of positive tests for HIV/AIDS
• Are planned to receive yellow fever or other live (attenuated) vaccines during the course of study
• For Part II - any contraindication to receiving pembrolizumab:

If using the 50 mg lyophilized powder; hypersensitivity to the active substance (pembrolizumab) or to any of the excipients; L-histidine, L-histidine hydrochloride monohydrate, Sucrose, Polysorbate 80.

If using the 100 mg concentrate; hypersensitivity to the active substance (pembrolizumab) or to any of the excipients; L-histidine, Sucrose, Polysorbate 80

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• 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: TG02-treatment; Part I: The TG02-treatment consists of an intradermal injection of GM-CSF followed by an injection of TG02. The GM-CSF is to be given 15-30 minutes before TG02. TG02-treatment will be administered on Days 1, 8, 15, 22 and 36. If surgery after week 10, TG02-treatment will also be given at week 10 (Day 64). Part II: TG02-treatment will be given as described under Part I. In addition pembrolizumab will be administered.

Drug: Pembrolizumab; Biological: TG02-treatment

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Patients Safety During Study	Safety of TG02-treatment by assessment of laboratory parameters (routine haematology and biochemistry), vital signs and recording of adverse events	From start of study until End of study, which is approximately 4 weeks after surgery and maximum 20 weeks after start of TG02-treatment
Patients' Immune Response Assessed by Delayed Type Hypersensitive (DTH) Test	Number of patients with systemic TG02 specific immune response assessed by a Delayed Type Hypersensitivity (DTH) test	8 weeks
Systemic Immune Response: T-cell Response	Systemic immune response assessed as change in presence of TG02 specific T-cells in peripheral blood	8 weeks
Immunological Activation in Tumour Mass by Assessing Number of Patients With Increased Intra-tumoural Lymphocytes.	Immunological activation in tumour mass by assessing fold changes from baseline of intra-tumoural lymphocytes.	8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change of Immune Suppression Factors e.g. PD-1 and T-reg From Pre to Post Treatment	Number of patients with changes from baseline in immune suppression factors (such as PDL1, Treg and MSDC) from tumour samples collected pre TG02/GMCSF treatment	8 weeks
Change in Pathological Responses and Markers of Apoptosis in Tumour Tissue		8 weeks
Changes in Standard Uptake Values (SUV) Will be Assessed by FDG PET-CT Images		From screening until surgery
Changes in the Tumour Marker Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) Throughout Treatment Will be Assessed by Analysis of Blood Samples to Follow the Evolution of Disease Under Treatment		From screening until surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Targovax ASA

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: September 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 1, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 8, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 13, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): October 14, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 26, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 17, 2021
• Last Verified: June 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: locally recurrent
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Digestive System Diseases; Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Site; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms; Digestive System Neoplasms; Gastrointestinal Diseases; Colonic Diseases; Intestinal Diseases; Intestinal Neoplasms; Rectal Diseases; Colorectal Neoplasms; Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological; Pembrolizumab
• Other Study ID Numbers: CT TG02-01