Standard of Care Alone or in Combination With Ad-CEA Vaccine and Avelumab in People With Previously Untreated Metastatic Colorectal Cancer QUILT-2.004

A Randomized Phase II Trial of Standard of Care Alone or in Combination With Ad-CEA Vaccine and Avelumab in Patients With Previously Untreated Metastatic or Unresectable Colorectal Cancer

Background:

Colorectal cancer is a common cancer in the Unites States (U.S.) It causes the second most cancer-related deaths. The drug avelumab and vaccine Ad-CEA together help the immune system fight cancer.

Objective:

To test if avelumab and Ad-CEA plus standard therapy treats colorectal cancer that has spread to other sites better than standard therapy alone.

Eligibility:

People ages 18 and older with untreated colorectal cancer that has spread in the body

Design:

Participants will be screened with:

Test to see if their cancer has a certain deficiency

Blood, urine, and heart tests

Scans

Medical history

Physical exam

Tumor sample. This can be from a previous procedure.

A small group of participants will get Ad-CEA and avelumab plus standard therapy. This is leucovorin calcium (folinic acid), fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) plus bevacizumab for up to 24 weeks then capecitabine plus bevacizumab.

The others will have treatment in 2-week cycles. They will be Arm A or B:

Arm A: FOLFOX and bevacizumab by intravenous (IV) days 1 and 2 for 12 cycles. After that, capecitabine by mouth twice a day and bevacizumab by IV on day 1.

Arm B: Ad-CEA injection every 2-12 weeks. Avelumab by IV on day 1 of each cycle. FOLFOX and bevacizumab by IV days 2 and 3 for 12 cycles. Then, capecitabine by mouth twice a day and bevacizumab through IV on day 2.

Participants will repeat screening tests during the study.

Participants will be treated until their disease gets worse or they have bad side effects. Arm A participants can join Arm B. They will have a visit 4 5 weeks after they stop therapy.

Study Overview

• Status: Terminated
• Conditions: Colorectal Neoplasms; Colorectal Cancer; Colorectal Tumors; Colorectal Carcinoma; Colorectal Adenocarcinoma
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Bevacizumab; Drug: 5-Fluorouracil (FU); Drug: Leucovorin; Drug: Oxaliplatin; Drug: Capecitabine; Drug: 5-Fluorouracil (FU); Drug: Avelumab; Biological: Ad-CEA vaccine

Detailed Description

Background

• Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth most common cancer diagnosis in the United States and accounts for the second most cancer-related deaths.
• Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is a transmembrane protein that was first identified for its role in the maintenance of self-tolerance and prevention of autoimmunity. Blockade of the interaction between PD-L1 on tumor cells and PD-1 on T cells is expected to reverse T cell suppression within tumors. These agents are dependent on underlying T cell activation against the tumor cell to be effective.
• Avelumab is a fully human immunoglobulin G 1 (IgG1) anti-PDL1 antibody that selectively binds to PD-L1 and competitively blocks its interaction with PD-1.
• In ongoing phase 1 trials of avelumab, the agent has been well tolerated and has shown clinical activity.
• Clinical trials with anti-PD-1/L1 agents in colorectal cancer have resulted in minimal activity in patients who do not have mismatch repair deficiency (MMR-D).
• Therapeutic cancer vaccines targeting overexpressed proteins offer a potential method to activate T cells against tumors.
• A novel adenovirus-based, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)-targeting vaccine has demonstrated cytolytic T cell responses in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.
• Standard of care agents in first line metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) have properties been associated with improved immune response via immunologic cell death and immunogenic modulation.

Primary Objective

-To determine if there is an improvement progression free survival among patients with metastatic colorectal cancer lacking a mismatch repair deficiency who are treated with standard of care + anti- PDL1 monoclonal antibody + Ad-CEA therapeutic cancer vaccine compared with standard of care alone.

Eligibility

• Subject's age 18 and older with previously untreated pathologically confirmed metastatic or unresectable colorectal cancer; prior adjuvant therapy is acceptable.
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status less than or equal to 2.
• Normal organ and bone marrow function.
• Subjects with active autoimmune diseases requiring treatment and subjects requiring system steroids (except for physiologic doses for steroid replacement) are not allowed.
• Tumor sample and whole blood sample must be available for proteomics, genomics and transcriptomics analyses.
• Subjects with metastatic or unresectable colorectal cancer with mismatch repair deficiency (MMR-D or microsatellite instability (MSI)-High) will not be eligible.

Design

• This is a randomized, multicenter phase II clinical trial designed to evaluate the potential improvement in progression free survival (PFS) when Avelumab and Ad-CEA vaccine are used in combination with standard of care therapy in metastatic or unresectable colorectal cancer when compared with standard of care alone (FOLFOX-A).
• A lead in cohort, comprising the first 6 evaluable subjects enrolled, will be treated with avelumab + Ad- CEA vaccine + standard of care in order to assess the safety of the combination.
• If no more than 1 subject in the lead in cohort experiences a dose limiting toxicity attributable to the investigational new drug (IND) agents, 70 evaluable subjects will be randomized on a 1:1 basis to receive either Avelumab + Ad-CEA vaccine + standard of care (Arm B) or standard of care alone (Arm A).
• Standard of care therapy consists of 6 - 12 two-week cycles of bevacizumab + FOLFOX (5-FU, leucovorin, oxaliplatin) followed by two-week cycles of bevacizumab + capecitabine until disease progression.
• Subjects assigned to Arm A that have progressive disease will be offered Avelumab + Ad-CEA vaccine in combination with a standard chemotherapy regimen.
• Kaplan-Meier curves and a two-tailed log-rank test will be the primary analysis methods.
• The accrual ceiling for the study is set at 97.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 30
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • District of Columbia
    • Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 20007
      • Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center
  • Maryland
    • Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20892
      • National Institutes of Health Clinical 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:
• Subjects must have previously untreated metastatic or unresectable colorectal cancer and have no contraindications to treatment with the standard of care regimen as determined by the investigator. Prior adjuvant therapy for surgically resectable disease (including oligometastatic disease) is acceptable (including immunotherapy) but must have been completed at least 6 months prior to enrollment.
• Patients should not be eligible for potentially curative surgical intervention in the case of oligometastatic disease at the time of enrollment or must have actively refused after explicit discussion of potential benefit of this intervention with multidisciplinary team.
• Histologically confirmed colorectal cancer
• Patients must have measurable disease by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) criteria.
• Age greater than or equal to 18 years. Because safety data is not known with this agent in patients less than 18 years old, children are excluded from this study.
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status less than or equal to 2.

• Patients must have normal organ and marrow function as defined below:

  • Creatinine clearance (per Institutional standard or 24-hour urine) greater than or equal to 30 mL/min.
  • Adequate hepatic function defined by a total bilirubin level less than or equal to 1.5 the upper limit of normal range (ULN), an aspartate aminotransferase (AST), level less than or equal to 2.5 ULN, and an alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level less than or equal to 2.5 ULN or, for subjects with documented metastatic disease to the liver, AST and ALT levels less than or equal to 5 ULN.
  • Hematological eligibility parameters (within16 days of enrollment):
  • Granulocyte count greater than or equal to 1,500/mm^3
  • Platelet count greater than or equal to 100,000/mm^3
  • Hemoglobin greater than or equal to 9 g/dL
• The effects of Ad-CEA vaccine and Avelumab on the developing human fetus are unknown. For this reason and because Ad-CEA vaccine and Avelumab as well as other therapeutic agents used in this trial are known to be teratogenic, women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation and for a period of 4 months after the last treatment with avelumab or 6 months after the last administration of bevacizumab, whichever occurs later. Should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while she or her partner is participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately.
• Ability of subject to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

• Metastatic or unresectable colorectal cancer with mismatch repair deficiency (MMR-D or microsatellite instability (MSI)-High).
• Concurrent treatment for cancer except agents specified within the treatment protocol.
• Prior surgery or gastrointestinal perforation within 28 days of enrollment.
• Persisting toxicity related to prior therapy (National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v4.03 Grade > 1); however, alopecia, sensory neuropathy Grade <=2, or other Grade <=2 AEs not constituting a safety risk based on investigator's judgment are acceptable.
• Known history of testing positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or known acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
• Hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection at screening (positive HBV surface antigen or HCV RNA if anti-HCV antibody screening test positive)
• Any significant disease that, in the opinion of the investigator, may impair the patient's tolerance of study treatment.
• Active autoimmune disease that might deteriorate when receiving an immuno-stimulatory agent. Patients with diabetes type I, vitiligo, psoriasis, or hypo- or hyperthyroid diseases not requiring immunosuppressive treatment are eligible.
• Current use of immunosuppressive medication, EXCEPT for the following: a. intranasal, inhaled, topical steroids, or local steroid injection (e.g., intra-articular injection); b. Systemic corticosteroids at physiologic doses less than or equal to 10 mg/day of prednisone or equivalent; c. Steroids as premedication for hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., computed tomography (CT) scan premedication).
• Patients who are receiving any other investigational agents within 28 days before start of study treatment.
• Prior organ transplantation including allogenic stem-cell transplantation.
• Subjects with active central nervous system (CNS) metastases causing clinical symptoms or metastases that require therapeutic intervention are excluded. Subjects with a history of treated CNS metastases (by surgery or radiation therapy) are not eligible unless they have fully recovered from treatment, demonstrated no progression for at least 2 months, and do not require continued steroid therapy. Subjects with CNS metastases incidentally detected during Screening which do not cause clinical symptoms and for which standard of care suggests no therapeutic intervention is needed are eligible.
• Active infection, requiring systemic therapy,
• Clinically significant (i.e., active) cardiovascular disease: cerebral vascular accident/stroke (< 3 months prior to enrollment), myocardial infarction (< 3 months prior to enrollment), unstable angina, congestive heart failure (greater than or equal to New York Heart Association Classification Class II), or uncontrolled arrhythmias.
• Other severe acute or chronic medical conditions including immune colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, immune pneumonitis, pulmonary fibrosis or psychiatric conditions including recent (within the past year) or active suicidal ideation or behavior; or laboratory abnormalities that may increase the risk associated with study participation or study treatment administration or may interfere with the interpretation of study results and, in the judgment of the investigator, would make the patient inappropriate for entry into this study.
• Pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers are excluded due to unknown impact on embryos or infants.
• Known alcohol or drug abuse.
• Known prior severe hypersensitivity to investigational product or any component in its formulations, including known severe hypersensitivity reactions to monoclonal antibodies (NCI CTCAE v4.03 Grade greater than or equal to 3).
• Patients with a known hypersensitivity/allergy to any of the standard of care agents used in this study or related compounds (e.g., platinum compounds) are excluded.
• Prior history of hypertensive emergency or hypertensive encephalopathy (for those expected to receive bevacizumab.
• Serious, non-healing wound, active ulcer, or untreated bone fracture, including tumor related pathological fracture.
• Evidence of bleeding diathesis or significant coagulopathy (in the absence of therapeutic anticoagulation).
• Patients being treated with medications with drug-drug interactions with study agents will require evaluation by to determine if full doses of all study treatments can be given safely. Significant drug-drug interactions will need to be addressed prior to enrollment. Alternatively, the patient will not be eligible.
• Vaccination within 4 weeks of the first dose of avelumab and while on trials is prohibited except for administration of inactivated vaccines.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: SEQUENTIAL
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Standard of Care (SOC) - Arm A; Participants will receive leucovorin calcium (folinic acid), fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX)- + bevacizumab + for up to 12 2-week cycles followed by maintenance therapy with bevacizumab + capecitabine until disease progression.	Drug: Bevacizumab; 5mg/kg intravenous (IV) over 30-90 min on day 1 (Arm A) or 2 (Arm B). Part of the standard of care therapy.; Other Names: Avastin; Drug: 5-Fluorouracil (FU); 400mg/m^2 (only Arm A) intravenous (IV) bolus on day 1. Part of the standard of care therapy.; Other Names: Tolak; Drug: Leucovorin; 400mg/m^2 intravenous (IV) over 2 hours on day 1 (Arm A) or Day 2 (Arm B). Part of the standard of care therapy.; Other Names: folinic acid; Drug: Oxaliplatin; 85mg/m^2 (Arm A) or 68mg/m^2 (Arm B) intravenous (IV) over 2 hours on day 1 (Arm A) or Day 2 (Arm B). Part of the standard of care therapy.; Other Names: Eloxatin; Drug: Capecitabine; 625 mg/m^2 twice a day by mouth. Part of the standard of care therapy.; Other Names: Xeloda; Drug: 5-Fluorouracil (FU); 2400 mg/m^2 (Arm A and B) intravenous (IV) over 46 hours (+/-2 hours) to start on Day 1 (ARM A) or Day 2 (Arm B). Part of the standard of care therapy.; Other Names: Tolak
Experimental: Standard of Care (SOC) - Arm B + Lead in; Participants will receive leucovorin calcium (folinic acid), fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX)- + bevacizumab + avelumab + Ad-CEA vaccine (given weeks 0,2,4,8,12,16 and then every 12 weeks) for up to 12 2-week cycles followed by maintenance therapy with bevacizumab + capecitabine + avelumab + Ad-CEA vaccine (following the every 12-week dosing schedule) until disease progression.	Drug: Bevacizumab; 5mg/kg intravenous (IV) over 30-90 min on day 1 (Arm A) or 2 (Arm B). Part of the standard of care therapy.; Other Names: Avastin; Drug: 5-Fluorouracil (FU); 400mg/m^2 (only Arm A) intravenous (IV) bolus on day 1. Part of the standard of care therapy.; Other Names: Tolak; Drug: Leucovorin; 400mg/m^2 intravenous (IV) over 2 hours on day 1 (Arm A) or Day 2 (Arm B). Part of the standard of care therapy.; Other Names: folinic acid; Drug: Oxaliplatin; 85mg/m^2 (Arm A) or 68mg/m^2 (Arm B) intravenous (IV) over 2 hours on day 1 (Arm A) or Day 2 (Arm B). Part of the standard of care therapy.; Other Names: Eloxatin; Drug: Capecitabine; 625 mg/m^2 twice a day by mouth. Part of the standard of care therapy.; Other Names: Xeloda; Drug: 5-Fluorouracil (FU); 2400 mg/m^2 (Arm A and B) intravenous (IV) over 46 hours (+/-2 hours) to start on Day 1 (ARM A) or Day 2 (Arm B). Part of the standard of care therapy.; Other Names: Tolak; Drug: Avelumab; 10 mg/kg intravenous (IV) over 30-60 min on Day 1; Other Names: Bavencio; Biological: Ad-CEA vaccine; Subcutaneous injection in the thigh prior to Avelumab on Day 1 of cycles 1, 2 3, 5, 7, 9; every 6 cycles thereafter.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Progression Free Survival Between the Standard of Care (SOC) Arm A, and Standard of Care (SOC) Arm B + lead-in	Progression free survival is defined as the duration of time from start of treatment to time of progression or death, whichever occurs first. Progression was measured by the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) and is defined as at least a 20% increase in the sum of the diameters of target lesions, taking as reference the smallest sum on study. The appearance of one or more new lesions is also considered progressions.	Up to 1.5 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants That Are Hospitalized Because of Adverse Events Attributed to Disease Progression	Participants hospitalized because of adverse events measured by the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v5.0 attributed to disease progression. Progression was measured by the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) and is defined as at least a 20% increase in the sum of the diameters of target lesions, taking as reference the smallest sum on study. The appearance of one or more new lesions is also considered progressions.	Up to 51.5 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants With Serious and Non-serious Adverse Events Assessed by the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE v5.0)	Here is the number of participants with serious and non-serious adverse events assessed by the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE v5.0). A non-serious adverse event is any untoward medical occurrence. A serious adverse event is an adverse event or suspected adverse reaction that results in death, a life-threatening adverse drug experience, hospitalization, disruption of the ability to conduct normal life functions, congenital anomaly/birth defect or important medical events that jeopardize the patient or subject and may require medical or surgical intervention to prevent one of the previous outcomes mentioned.	Date treatment consent signed to date off study, approximately 33 months and 20 days for Arm A and 51 months and 7 days for Arm B.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Herbst RS, Soria JC, Kowanetz M, Fine GD, Hamid O, Gordon MS, Sosman JA, McDermott DF, Powderly JD, Gettinger SN, Kohrt HE, Horn L, Lawrence DP, Rost S, Leabman M, Xiao Y, Mokatrin A, Koeppen H, Hegde PS, Mellman I, Chen DS, Hodi FS. Predictive correlates of response to the anti-PD-L1 antibody MPDL3280A in cancer patients. Nature. 2014 Nov 27;515(7528):563-7. doi: 10.1038/nature14011.
• Morse MA, Chaudhry A, Gabitzsch ES, Hobeika AC, Osada T, Clay TM, Amalfitano A, Burnett BK, Devi GR, Hsu DS, Xu Y, Balcaitis S, Dua R, Nguyen S, Balint JP Jr, Jones FR, Lyerly HK. Novel adenoviral vector induces T-cell responses despite anti-adenoviral neutralizing antibodies in colorectal cancer patients. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2013 Aug;62(8):1293-301. doi: 10.1007/s00262-013-1400-3. Epub 2013 Apr 30.
• Balint JP, Gabitzsch ES, Rice A, Latchman Y, Xu Y, Messerschmidt GL, Chaudhry A, Morse MA, Jones FR. Extended evaluation of a phase 1/2 trial on dosing, safety, immunogenicity, and overall survival after immunizations with an advanced-generation Ad5 [E1-, E2b-]-CEA(6D) vaccine in late-stage colorectal cancer. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2015 Aug;64(8):977-87. doi: 10.1007/s00262-015-1706-4. Epub 2015 May 9.

Helpful Links

• NIH Clinical Center Detailed Web Page

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 5, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 25, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): August 25, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 10, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 10, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): February 13, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 20, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 10, 2021
• Last Verified: December 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Progression Free Survival; Mismatch Repair Deficiency; Therapeutic Cancer Vaccine; Anti-PDL1 Antibody; Adenovirus Based, CEA-Targeting Vaccine
• 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; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; Antimetabolites; Antineoplastic Agents; Immunosuppressive Agents; Immunologic Factors; Protective Agents; Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological; Angiogenesis Inhibitors; Angiogenesis Modulating Agents; Growth Substances; Growth Inhibitors; Micronutrients; Vitamins; Antidotes; Vitamin B Complex; Fluorouracil; Capecitabine; Oxaliplatin; Bevacizumab; Leucovorin; Avelumab
• Other Study ID Numbers: 170057; 17-C-0057

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