Evaluation of Denosumab in Combination With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Patients With Unresectable or Metastatic Melanoma (CHARLI)

A Phase Ib/II Trial of Ipilimumab-Nivolumab-Denosumab and Nivolumab-Denosumab in Patients With Unresectable Stage III and IV Melanoma

The purpose of this project is to test the addition of a new treatment called denosumab to standard immunotherapies for patients with metastatic melanoma. Denosumab has been used for many years to help treat cancers such as prostate cancer and breast cancer, but it is not currently used in melanoma. We hope the addition of denosumab to current melanoma therapies will make these treatments work better without adding to the side effects.

Who is it for? You may be eligible to join this study if you are aged 18 years or over and have been diagnosed with metastatic melanoma (melanoma that has spread).

Study details: Nivolumab and ipilimumab are approved treatments for advanced melanoma in Australia and overseas. Patients with metastatic melanoma, who are not enrolled in a study, are commonly prescribed nivolumab alone or the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab as standard care. However, there is limited information on the effectiveness and safety of these treatments in combination with denosumab. Recent melanoma research in animal models has shown that denosumab can make immunotherapies such as ipilimumab and nivolumab work better. Because denosumab has been used in patients with breast and prostate cancer for a long time and is safe, we now want to test the benefits and safety of adding denosumab to immunotherapies in this study.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Melanoma; Melanoma Stage Iv; Melanoma Stage Iii
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Denosumab; Drug: Nivolumab; Drug: Ipilimumab

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 72
• Phase: Phase 2; Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Australia
  • New South Wales
    • Albury, New South Wales, Australia, 2640
      • Border Medical Oncology Research Unit
    • Bendigo, New South Wales, Australia, 3550
      • Bendigo Health
    • Waratah, New South Wales, Australia, 2298
      • Calvary Mater Newcastle
  • Queensland
    • Herston, Queensland, Australia, 4029
      • Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital
  • Tasmania
    • Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 7000
      • Royal Hobart Hospital
  • Victoria
    • Box Hill, Victoria, Australia, 3128
      • Box Hill Hospital
    • Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia, 3084
      • Austin Health
    • Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3000
      • Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
    • Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3004
      • Alfred Health
  • Western Australia
    • Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia, 6009
      • Sir Charles Gairdner 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:

1. Histologically confirmed unresectable or metastatic melanoma as per AJCC 7 staging system.
2. Age ≥ 18 years
3. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1.
4. Patient willing and able to provide written informed consent.
5. Treatment naïve (no prior systemic therapy for unresectable or metastatic melanoma). Note that prior adjuvant or neoadjuvant melanoma therapy (except anti-PD1 and/or anti-CTLA-4 therapy) is permitted if it was completed at least 6 weeks prior to allocation, and all related adverse events have either returned to baseline or resolved.
6. Willing and able to comply with scheduled visits, treatment schedule, laboratory testing, and other requirements of the study.
7. Measurable disease by CT or MRI per RECIST 1.1 criteria.
8. Patients with asymptomatic brain metastasis may be considered for enrollment. These patients can have up to 3 lesions that are ≤ 1.5 cm in diameter. The brain metastasis may be naïve to local therapy or have previously received local therapy (surgery, stereotactic radiotherapy/radiosurgery but not whole brain radiotherapy) and are stable. Asymptomatic from brain metastases at study entry implies that these patients are without corticosteroid, antiepileptics, analgesia or any other treatment for the management of neurological symptoms. Patients with completely resolved neurological symptoms are permitted.
9. At least 2 weeks since the completion of prior therapy, including surgery or radiotherapy.

10. Screening laboratory values must meet the following criteria and should be obtained within 14 days prior to registration

    • WBC ≥ 2000/μL
    • Neutrophils ≥ 1500/μL
    • Platelets ≥ 100 x103/μL
    • Haemoglobin > 9.0 g/dL
    • Serum creatinine ≤ 1.5 x ULN or creatinine clearance (CrCl) ≥ 40 mL/min (if using the Cockcroft-Gault formula below):

    Female CrCl = (140 - age in years) x weight in kg x 0.85 72 x serum creatinine in mg/dL

    Male CrCl = (140 - age in years) x weight in kg x 1.00 72 x serum creatinine in mg/dL

    • AST/ALT ≤ 3 x ULN
    • Total Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 x ULN (except subjects with Gilbert Syndrome, who can have total bilirubin < 3.0 mg/dL)
    • Serum calcium of albumin-adjusted calcium ≥ 2.0 mmol/L

11. Women of childbearing potential (WOCBP) must use appropriate method(s) of contraception. WOCBP should use an adequate method to avoid pregnancy for 23 weeks (30 days plus the time required for nivolumab to undergo five half-lives) after the last dose of investigational drug. Appropriate methods of contraception includes:

    • Intrauterine device with a documented failure rate of less than 1% per year.
    • Vasectomised partner who is sterile prior to the female partner patient's commencement of study treatment and is the sole sexual partner for that female.
    • Double barrier contraception: male condom and occlusive cap (diaphragm or cervical /vault caps).
12. Women of childbearing potential must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test (minimum sensitivity 25 IU/L or equivalent units of HCG) within 72 hours prior to the start of treatment.

13. Men who are sexually active with a WOCBP must use any contraceptive method with a failure rate of less than 1% per year. Men receiving nivolumab and who are sexually active with a WOCBP will be instructed to adhere to contraception for a period of 31 weeks after the last dose of investigational product. Women who are not of childbearing potential (i.e., who are postmenopausal or surgically sterile as well as azoospermic men, do not require contraception. Effective contraception includes:

    • Documented vasectomy and sterility
    • In the partner - intrauterine device with a documented failure rate of less than 1% per year
    • Double barrier contraception: male condom and occlusive cap (diaphragm or cervical/vault caps).
14. Patients must agree to have archival tumour material collected. This can either be from a resected lymph node, primary melanoma, or metastatic site. Where possible, the most recently acquired tumour specimen should be provided. If archival tumour tissue is not available, subjects must consent to allow the acquisition of additional tumour tissue prior to trial entry.
15. Patients enrolled on the biopsy cohort must be agreeable to have serial tumour biopsies during the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Patients are excluded if they have symptomatic, large volume brain metastases and/or any evidence of leptomeningeal disease. Large volume brain metastasis for this study is defined as more than 3 brain metastasis and/or any of the brain metastasis being greater than 1.5 cm in dimension. Note: patients with larger brain metastasis (up to 3 cm) that has been adequately treated with prior surgery or stereotactic radiation are permitted to be enrolled as long as they have adequately recovered from the local therapy.
2. Neurological symptoms from brain metastases present at baseline (resolved neurological symptoms, prior to enrolment, are permitted).
3. Patients with uveal melanoma are excluded.
4. Prior exposure to a CTLA-4 inhibitor (e.g. ipilimumab, tremelimumab), PD-1 inhibitor (e.g. nivolumab, pembrolizumab), PD-L1 inhibitor (e.g. MEDI-4736), PD-L2 inhibitor, or any other antibody or drug specifically targeting T-cell co-stimulation or immune checkpoint pathways.
5. Prior systemic treatment with a BRAF and/or MEK inhibitor
6. Prior treatment with denosumab.
7. Prior malignancy active within the previous 2 years except for locally curable cancers that have been apparently cured, such as basal or squamous cell skin cancer, superficial bladder cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix or breast.
8. Life expectancy of ≤ 6 months.
9. Prior history or current evidence of osteonecrosis/osteomyelitis of the jaw.
10. Active dental or jaw condition, which requires major oral surgery. Patients who have undergone a tooth extraction in less than 4 weeks should be reviewed carefully to ensure they have healed well.
11. Surgery or radiotherapy within less than 2 weeks of Cycle 1 Day 1. Any clinically relevant sequelae from the surgery or radiotherapy must have improved to grade 1 prior to Cycle 1 Day 1.
12. 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.
13. Patients should be excluded if they have an active, known or suspected autoimmune disease. Subjects are permitted to enrol if they have vitiligo, type I diabetes mellitus, residual hypothyroidism due to autoimmune condition only requiring hormone replacement, psoriasis not requiring systemic treatment, or conditions not expected to recur in the absence of an external trigger
14. Patients should be excluded if they have a condition requiring systemic treatment with either corticosteroids (>10 mg daily prednisone equivalents) or other immunosuppressive medications within 14 days of study drug administration. Inhaled or topical steroids and adrenal replacement doses >10 mg daily prednisone equivalents are permitted in the absence of active autoimmune disease.
15. Any investigational drug or other systemic drug therapy for melanoma within 28 days or 5 half-lives from baseline.
16. Pregnant or breastfeeding females.
17. Patients should be excluded if they are positive test for hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBV sAg) or hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid (HCV antibody) indicating acute or chronic infection.
18. Patients should be excluded if they have known history of testing positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or known acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

19. Allergies and Adverse Drug Reaction

    1. History of allergy to study drug components.
    2. History of severe hypersensitivity reaction to any monoclonal antibody.
20. Patients with symptomatic or impending cord compression unless appropriately treated beforehand and clinically stable.
21. For those being registered to Arm B (ipilimumab + nivolumab + denosumab), the use of any vaccines against infectious diseases (e.g. influenza, varicella etc.) within 6 weeks of initiation of study therapy.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
• Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Arm A; Patients in Arm A will receive nivolumab 3 mg/kg intravenously (IV) every 2 weeks for 4 doses and denosumab 120 mg subcutaneously (SC) given D1, D8, D15, D29 (induction phase). Thereafter, nivolumab 480 mg IV and denosumab 120 mg SC every 4 weeks for a total of 24 months (maintenance phase).	Drug: Denosumab; Denosumab is a fully human monoclonal immunoglobulin type 2 (IgG2) antibody that binds with high affinity and specificity to RANK ligand (RANKL) and neutralises the activity of human RANKL, similar to the action of endogenous osteoprotegerin (OPG). Denosumab binding prevents the activation of RANK and inhibits the formation, activation, and survival of osteoclasts. As a consequence, bone resorption and cancer-induced bone destruction are reduced.; Other Names: AMG162; Drug: Nivolumab; Nivolumab is a human monoclonal antibody that targets the programmed death-1 (PD-1) cluster of differentiation 279 (CD279) cell surface membrane receptor. Nivolumab inhibits the interaction of PD-1 with its ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2, resulting in enhanced T-cell proliferation and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) release in vitro.; Other Names: BMS-936558; Opdivo; MDX1106
EXPERIMENTAL: Arm B; Patients in Arm B will receive ipilimumab at 3 mg/kg combined with nivolumab at 1 mg/kg IV every 3 weeks for 4 doses with denosumab 120 mg SC given D1, D8, D15, D29, D57 (induction phase). This will be followed by nivolumab 480 mg IV and denosumab 120 mg SC ever 4 weeks for a total of 24 months (maintenance phase).	Drug: Denosumab; Denosumab is a fully human monoclonal immunoglobulin type 2 (IgG2) antibody that binds with high affinity and specificity to RANK ligand (RANKL) and neutralises the activity of human RANKL, similar to the action of endogenous osteoprotegerin (OPG). Denosumab binding prevents the activation of RANK and inhibits the formation, activation, and survival of osteoclasts. As a consequence, bone resorption and cancer-induced bone destruction are reduced.; Other Names: AMG162; Drug: Nivolumab; Nivolumab is a human monoclonal antibody that targets the programmed death-1 (PD-1) cluster of differentiation 279 (CD279) cell surface membrane receptor. Nivolumab inhibits the interaction of PD-1 with its ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2, resulting in enhanced T-cell proliferation and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) release in vitro.; Other Names: BMS-936558; Opdivo; MDX1106; Drug: Ipilimumab; Ipilimumab is a fully human monoclonal immunoglobulin specific for human cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4), which is expressed on a subset of activated T cells. Ipilimumab is a monoclonal antibody(mAb) that binds to CTLA-4 and blocks the interaction of CTLA-4 with its ligands, cluster of differentiation antigen 80 / cluster of differentiation antigen 86 (CD80 / CD86). Blockade of CTLA-4 has been shown to augment T-cell activation and proliferation, including the activation and proliferation of tumor-infiltrating T-effector cells.; Other Names: BMS-734016; Yervoy; MDX010

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Median Progression-Free Survival	Defined as the time from enrolment to date of disease progression as measured using RECIST 1.1 criteria	Approximately 5 years
Occurrence of Grade 3 and 4 Selected Immune-related Adverse Events (irAEs) of interest	Defined as all irAEs except skin-related toxicity not requiring systemic treatment and laboratory abnormalities not requiring intervention or cessation of treatment with the exception of liver dysfunction and grade 3 thrombocytopenia of greater than 7 days; using National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 4.03.	Approximately 2 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Rate of Grade 3 and 4 irAEs	Description of all adverse events by type, frequency and severity using National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 4.03.	Approximately 2 years
Best Overall Response According to RECIST 1.1	Disease assessment by CT using RECIST v1.1 will be undertaken at Baseline and every 8 weeks (from Week 9) until Week 49 and then every 12 weeks until disease progression.	Approximately 3 years
Progression-Free Survival	Defined as the time from enrolment to date of disease progression as measured using RECIST 1.1 criteria. Assessed at 6 and 12 months post enrolment.	Approximately 5 years
Overall Survival	Defined as the time from enrolment to the time of death. Median overall survival will be assessed at 12 and 24 months post enrolment.	Approximately 5 years
Toxicity Profiles of the Checkpoint-Denosumab Combinations	Description of all adverse events by type, frequency and severity using National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 4.03.	Approximately 2 years
Occurrence of Treatment Discontinuation Due to Toxicity	Number of patients who withdraw from the study due to intolerable adverse reactions	Approximately 2 years

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
To assess the local tumour and systemic immunological responses to both combination treatment regimens (exploratory objective)	As an exploratory objective, this will be done to comprehensively characterise lymphocyte populations residing within the tumour bed and peripheral blood prior to, during and following treatment with RANKL and immune checkpoint inhibition.	Approximately 2 years
To evaluate early FDG (18F-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose fluorodeoxyglucose) PET (positron emission tomography) response as a predictor of clinical benefit	As an exploratory objective, this will be done to assess the predictive and prognostic significance of early changes in FDG-PET to immune checkpoint inhibitors and denosumab in conjunction with conventional CT imaging.	Approximately 2 years
To evaluate longitudinal cellular and molecular changes in archival tumour tissue, fresh tumour biopsies and circulating biomarkers to define mechanisms of activity and resistance	As an exploratory objective, these studies will focus on the mechanism of action of the combination, putative determinants of response and resistance and monitoring of tumour kinetics.	Approximately 3 years
To correlate the makeup and changes in the microbiome with treatment response.	As an exploratory objective, this is an optional assessment that will allow the collection of samples which will be used to assess and characterise the microbiome in order to better understand determinants of sensitivity and resistance to the study treatments.	Approximately 2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Melanoma and Skin Cancer Trials Limited
• Collaborators: Bristol-Myers Squibb; Amgen; Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Australia
• Investigators: Study Chair: A/Prof Shahneen Sandhu, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Australia; Study Chair: Prof. Grant McArthur, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Australia

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): December 7, 2017
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): December 31, 2021
• Study Completion (ANTICIPATED): December 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 11, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 18, 2017
• First Posted (ACTUAL): May 22, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): April 7, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 6, 2022
• Last Verified: April 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Neoplasms; Neuroectodermal Tumors; Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal; Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue; Neuroendocrine Tumors; Nevi and Melanomas; Melanoma; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological; Bone Density Conservation Agents; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors; Nivolumab; Ipilimumab; Denosumab
• Other Study ID Numbers: 01.15

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
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: Yes