Pembrolizumab and All-Trans Retinoic Acid Combination Treatment of Advanced Melanoma

Pembrolizumab and All-Trans Retinoic Acid in Combination Treatment of Advanced Melanoma

This is a Phase I/Ib investigator-initiated open label of the combination of VESANOID and pembrolizumab treatment.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Stage IV Melanoma; Advanced Melanoma; Stage III Melanoma
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Pembrolizumab with All-Trans Retinoic Acid

Detailed Description

Primary Objective

• To identify the MTD and RP2D of the combination of pembrolizumab and ATRA.

Secondary Objective:

• Describe the safety and toxicity of combined treatment with pembrolizumab and all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) [brand name VESANOID] in melanoma patients.
• To assess the anti-tumor activity in terms of a). The reduction in MDSC (immunosuppressive myeloid -derived suppressor cells) frequency and suppressive function (measured as a continuous variable)in peripheral blood of advanced melanoma patients undergoing pembrolizumab and VESANOID combination therapy. b). progression free survival.

Exploratory Objective

• To determine the clinical outcomes with tumor-specific T cell responses.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 26
• Phase: Phase 2; Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Colorado
    • Aurora, Colorado, United States, 80045
      • University of Colorado Denver
    • Fort Collins, Colorado, United States, 80528
      • Poudre Valley Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 100 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Diagnosis of advanced melanoma (unresectable Stage III or Stage IV Melanoma).
2. Planned standard treatment with pembrolizumab.
3. Be willing and able to provide written informed consent for the trial.
4. State willingness to comply with all study procedures and be available for the duration of the trial.
5. Be ≥ 18 years of age on day of signing informed consent.
6. Have a performance status of 0 or 1 on the ECOG Performance Scale.
7. Demonstrate adequate organ function as defined in Table 1 of the protocol.
8. Female subject of childbearing potential should have a negative urine or serum pregnancy within 72 hours prior to receiving the first dose of study medication. If the urine test is positive or cannot be confirmed as negative, a serum pregnancy test will be required.

9. Female subjects of childbearing potential (Section 6.5.2 - Contraception) must be willing to use an adequate method of contraception as outlined in Section 6.5.2 of the protocol - Contraception, for the course of the study through 120 days after the last dose of study medication.

   Note: Abstinence is acceptable if this is the usual lifestyle and preferred contraception for the subject.

10. Male subjects of childbearing potential (Section 6.5.2- Contraception) must agree to use an adequate method of contraception as outlined in Section 6.5.2 of the protocol - Contraception, starting with the first dose of study therapy through 120 days after the last dose of study therapy.

Note: Abstinence is acceptable if this is the usual lifestyle and preferred contraception for the subject.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Is currently participating and receiving study therapy or has participated in a study of an investigational agent and received study therapy or used an investigational device within 4 weeks of the first dose of treatment.
2. Has a diagnosis of immunodeficiency or is receiving systemic steroid therapy or any other form of immunosuppressive therapy within 7 days prior to the first dose of trial treatment.
3. Has a known history of active TB (Bacillus Tuberculosis).
4. Hypersensitivity to pembrolizumab or any of its excipients.
5. Has had a prior anti-cancer monoclonal antibody (mAb) within 4 weeks prior to study Day 1 or who has not recovered (i.e., ≤ Grade 1 or at baseline) from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier.

6. Has had prior chemotherapy, targeted small molecule therapy, or radiation therapy within 2 weeks prior to study Day 1 or who has not recovered (i.e., ≤ Grade 1 or at baseline) from adverse events due to a previously administered agent. Subjects with chronic conditions such as vision changes from plaque radiation therapy for ocular melanoma or prior hearing loss that is not reasonably expected to be exacerbated by the investigational product may be included.

   Note: Subjects with ≤ Grade 2 neuropathy 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.

7. Has a known additional malignancy that is progressing or requires active treatment. Exceptions include basal cell carcinoma of the skin or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin that has undergone potentially curative therapy or in situ cervical cancer.
8. Has active autoimmune disease that has required systemic treatment in the past 2 years (i.e. with use of disease modifying agents, corticosteroids or immunosuppressive drugs). Replacement therapy (e.g., thyroxine, insulin, or physiologic corticosteroid replacement therapy for adrenal or pituitary insufficiency, etc.) is not considered a form of systemic treatment.
9. Has known history of, or any evidence of active, non-infectious pneumonitis.
10. Has an active infection requiring systemic therapy.
11. Has a history or current evidence of any condition, therapy, or laboratory abnormality that might confound the results of the trial, interfere with the subject's participation for the full duration of the trial, or is not in the best interest of the subject to participate, in the opinion of the treating investigator.
12. Has known psychiatric or substance abuse disorders that would interfere with cooperation with the requirements of the trial.
13. 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.
14. Has received prior therapy with an anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1, or anti-PD-L2 agent.
15. Has a known history of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) (HIV 1/2 antibodies).
16. Has known active Hepatitis B (e.g., HBsAg reactive) or Hepatitis C (e.g., HCV RNA [qualitative] is detected).
17. Has received a live vaccine within 30 days of planned start of study therapy. Note: Seasonal influenza vaccines for injection are generally inactivated flu vaccines and are allowed; however, intranasal influenza vaccines (e.g., Flu-Mist®) are live attenuated vaccines, and are not allowed.
18. Has known sensitivity to retinoic acid derivatives.
19. Has a medical history of allogenic stem cell transplant or received a solid organ transplant.

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: Pembrolizumab with All-Trans Retinoic Acid; Patients will receive pembrolizumab infusions every three weeks. Patients will also receive 3 days of all-trans retinoic acid treatment surrounding each of the first 4 infusions of pembrolizumab, beginning one day prior to the infusion (a total of 12 days of all-trans retinoic acid).	Drug: Pembrolizumab with All-Trans Retinoic Acid; All the patients will receive 200mg Q3W pembrolizumab treatment plus the supplemental treatment of 150 mg/m2 All-Trans Retinoic Acid orally for 3 days surrounding each of the first four infusions of pembrolizumab; Other Names: Keytruda; VESANOID

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Maximally Tolerated Dose (MTD) and the Recommended Phase 2 Dose (RP2D) of Pembrolizumab	MTD is defined as the highest dose level with no more than 3 DLTs reported in 6 DLT-evaluable subjects. A target toxicity rate of approximately 33% of all 24 patients will be used to establish the RP2D. This is one part of the pembrolizumab-ATRA combination treatment.	21 days from first dose of combined treatment
Maximally Tolerated Dose (MTD) and the Recommended Phase 2 Dose (RP2D) of All-Trans Retinoic Acid	MTD is defined as the highest dose level with no more than 3 DLT reported in 6 DLT-evaluable subjects. A target toxicity rate of approximately 33% of all 24 patients will be used to establish the RP2D. This dose is one part of the pembrolizumab-ATRA combination treatment.	21 days from first dose of combined treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Patients With a Dose-Limiting Toxicity (DLT) for the Combined Treatment of Pembrolizumab and All-Trans Retinoic Acid	Toxicity is evaluated according to NCI CTCAE Version 4.0. A dose limiting toxicity (DLT) is defined as any grade 3 or higher adverse event related to VESNOID (the all-trans retinoic acid) and/or pembrolizumab.	2 years
Progression Free Survival	Progression free survival was calculated from treatment start date to data cutoff date.	up to 36 months
Percent Change in Anti-Tumor Activity	Anti-tumor activity will be determined by the percent change in MDSC (immunosuppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells) frequency in peripheral blood of advanced melanoma patients undergoing the combined treatment of pembrolizumab and All-Trans Retinoic Acid (ATRA). Pre-treatment levels will be compared to post-treatment levels, where post-treatment means 4-6 weeks after stopping ATRA. MDSCs include CD45+, CD3-, CD19-, CD56-, CD11b+, CD33+, and HLA-DR-/low. In the original protocol, suppressive function was included as part of this outcome measure to assess anti-tumor activity. However, this analysis could not be performed because the decrease in concentration of MDSCs after treatment resulted in inadequate data for the planned assays.	Pre-treatment (0-30 days before first ATRA administration) and post-treatment (84-130 days after first ATRA administration)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The anti-tumor activity for each patient	Anti-tumor activity will be determined by the reduction in MDSC (immunosuppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells) frequency and suppressive function (measured as a continuous variable) in peripheral blood of advanced melanoma patients undergoing the combined treatment of pembrolizumab and All-Trans Retinoic Acid	5 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Colorado, Denver
• Collaborators: Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Martin McCarter, MD, University of Colorado, Denver

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Tobin RP, Cogswell DT, Cates VM, Davis DM, Borgers JSW, Van Gulick RJ, Katsnelson E, Couts KL, Jordan KR, Gao D, Davila E, Medina TM, Lewis KD, Gonzalez R, McFarland RW, Robinson WA, McCarter MD. Targeting MDSC Differentiation Using ATRA: A Phase I/II Clinical Trial Combining Pembrolizumab and All-Trans Retinoic Acid for Metastatic Melanoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2023 Apr 3;29(7):1209-1219. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-2495.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 31, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 20, 2022
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 23, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 26, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): June 27, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 19, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 13, 2023
• Last Verified: October 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Pembrolizumab; All-Trans Retinoic Acid
• 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; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological; Dermatologic Agents; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors; Keratolytic Agents; Pembrolizumab; Tretinoin
• Other Study ID Numbers: 16-1080.cc; PMID 36378549 (Other Identifier: PubMed)

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.: No