DEC-205/NY-ESO-1 Fusion Protein CDX-1401, Poly ICLC, Decitabine, and Nivolumab in Treating Patients With Myelodysplastic Syndrome or Acute Myeloid Leukemia

A Phase 1 Study of DEC205mAb-NY ESO 1 Fusion Protein (CDX-1401) Given With Adjuvant Poly-ICLC in Conjunction With 5-Aza-2'Deoxycytidine (Decitabine) and Nivolumab in Patients With MDS or Low Blast Count AML

This phase I trial studies the side effects of DEC-205/NY-ESO-1 fusion protein CDX-1401, poly ICLC, decitabine, and nivolumab in treating patients with myelodysplastic syndrome or acute myeloid leukemia. DEC-205/NY-ESO-1 fusion protein CDX-1401 is a vaccine that may help the immune system specifically target and kill cancer cells. Poly ICLC may help stimulate the immune system in different ways and stop cancer cells from growing. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as decitabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Monoclonal antibodies, such as nivolumab, may interfere with the ability of cancer cells to grow and spread. Giving DEC-205/NY-ESO-1 fusion protein CDX-1401, poly ICLC, decitabine, and nivolumab may work better in treating patients with myelodysplastic syndrome or acute myeloid leukemia.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia; Myelodysplastic Syndrome; High Risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome; Refractory Anemia; Blasts 30 Percent or Less of Bone Marrow Nucleated Cells
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis; Biological: Nivolumab; Drug: Decitabine; Drug: Poly ICLC; Biological: DEC-205/NY-ESO-1 Fusion Protein CDX-1401

Detailed Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Evaluate the safety of NY-ESO-1 vaccination (Anti-DEC-205-NY-ESO-1 fusion protein + poly-ICLC) given in combination with decitabine 20 mg/m^2 intravenously and nivolumab 3 mg/kg in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or low blast count acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

SECONDRY OBJECTIVES:

I. Assess immune and molecular epigenetic responses following combination therapy with nivolumab, decitabine and NY-ESO-1 fusion protein CDX-1401 (NY-ESO-1) vaccination.

TERTIARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To record the response rate (complete response, partial response and hematological improvement) in MDS or low blast count AML patients treated with the combination in order to provide descriptive characteristics.

II. To record the overall survival (OS), progression free survival (PFS) and time to AML transformation (TTT) (for patients with MDS at diagnosis) enrolled on the study.

OUTLINE:

Patients receive DEC-205/NY-ESO-1 fusion protein CDX-1401 intracutaneously and poly ICLC subcutaneously (SC) on day -14, on day 15 of courses 1-4, and then on day 1 of every 4 courses thereafter. Patients also receive nivolumab intravenously (IV) over 30 minutes on days 1 and 15 and decitabine IV over 1 hour on days 1-5. Courses with nivolumab and decitabine repeat every 4 weeks in the absence of disease progression or unaccepted toxicity.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at 30, 60, 90, and 180 days.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 8
• Phase: Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • Buffalo, New York, United States, 14263
      • Roswell Park Cancer Institute

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Have a confirmed diagnosis of:

  • International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) intermediate-1, intermediate-2 or high-risk MDS including chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) OR
  • Low blast count AML with =< 30% blasts previously classified as refractory anemia with excess blasts in transformation
• Have an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of =< 2
• Hepatic:
• Total bilirubin =< 3 X upper limit of normal (ULN) (except subjects with Gilbert syndrome, who can have total bilirubin up to 3.5 X ULN)
• Aspartate aminotransferase (aspartate transaminase [AST]/serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase [SGOT]) and alanine aminotransferase (alanine transaminase [ALT]/serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase [SGPT]) =< 3 X ULN
• Serum creatinine =< 2.5 X ULN
• Troponin-I =< ULN
• Creatine kinase (CK)-MB =< ULN
• Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) >= ULN (institutional limit)
• Participants of child-bearing potential must agree to use adequate contraceptive methods (e.g., hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry; 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
• Participant or legal representative must understand the investigational nature of this study and sign an Independent Ethics Committee/Institutional Review Board approved written informed consent form prior to receiving any study related procedure
• No prior exposure to Nivolumab
• No prior investigational therapy within 2 weeks prior to study enrollment

Exclusion Criteria:

• We will exclude patients who are eligible for an allogeneic bone marrow transplant at the time of study enrollment; if an enrolled patient subsequently becomes eligible for transplant, they will not be prevented from proceeding to the appropriate clinical treatment indicated
• Subjects with life-threatening illnesses other than MDS, uncontrolled medical conditions or organ system dysfunction which, in the investigator?s opinion, could compromise the subject?s safety, or put the study outcomes at risk
• AML associated with inv(16); t(16;16); t(8;21) or t(15;17)
• Previously untreated MDS with isolated del5q (for which lenalidomide is approved as approved therapy) and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) with rearrangements of the PDGF receptor (for which imatinib is approved therapy) unless they have previously failed these approaches
• Subjects with symptomatic central nervous system (CNS) disease which is not adequately controlled
• Subjects who have received prior radiation therapy for extramedullary disease within 2 weeks of first dose
• Has known immunosuppressive disease (e.g. human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], acquired immunodeficiency syndrome [AIDS] or other immune depressing disease); testing is not required, only to be done for a possible diagnosis which is not confirmed

• 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; in addition, subjects will be excluded for any of the following:

  • Myocardial infarction or arterial or venous thromboembolic events within 6 months prior to baseline or severe or unstable angina, New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III or IV disease
  • Active congestive heart failure (New York Heart Association functional classification III or IV)
  • Documented history of cardiomyopathy with EF < 30%
  • Uncontrolled hypertension (systolic blood pressure [SBP] > 160/diastolic blood pressure [DBP] > 100 despite medical intervention)
  • History of myocarditis of any etiology
• Subjects who have hypersensitivity to decitabine, CDX-1401, poly-ICLC or nivolumab
• History of auto-immune disease (e.g., thyroiditis, lupus), except vitiligo
• Pregnant or nursing female subjects
• Unwilling or unable to follow protocol requirements
• Any condition which in the investigator's opinion deems the participant an unsuitable candidate to receive study drug
• Regular use of immunosuppressant drugs such as steroids (> 20 mg prednisone equivalents), azathioprine, tacrolimus, cyclosporine, etc>. Use is not permitted within 4 weeks before recruitment

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: Treatment (CDX-1401, poly ICLC, decitabine, nivolumab); Patients receive 1mg/1.8mg DEC-205/NY-ESO-1 fusion protein CDX-1401 intracutaneously and poly ICLC SC on day -14, on day 15 of courses 1-4, and then on day 1 of every 4 courses thereafter. Patients also receive 3mg/kg nivolumab IV over 30 minutes on days 1 and 15 and 20 mg/m2 decitabine IV over 1 hour on days 1-5. Courses with nivolumab and decitabine repeat every 4 weeks in the absence of disease progression or unaccepted toxicity.

Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis; Correlative studies; Biological: Nivolumab; Given IV; Other Names: BMS-936558; MDX-1106; NIVO; ONO-4538; Opdivo; Drug: Decitabine; Given IV; Other Names: 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine; Dacogen; Decitabine for Injection; Deoxyazacytidine; Dezocitidine; Drug: Poly ICLC; Given SC; Other Names: Hiltonol; Polyinosinic-Polycytidylic Acid Stabilized with Polylysine and Carboxymethylcellulose; poly-ICLC; Polyriboinosinic-Polyribocytidylic Acid-Polylysine Carboxymethylcellulose; Poly I:Poly C with Poly-L-Lysine Stabilizer; PolyI:PolyC with Poly-L-Lysine Stabilizer; Stabilized Polyriboinosinic/Polyribocytidylic Acid; Biological: DEC-205/NY-ESO-1 Fusion Protein CDX-1401; Given intracutaneously; Other Names: CDX-1401

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Proportion or Participants Experiencing a Dose-limiting Toxicity	Will evaluate the proportion of n=8 evaluable patients in the expansion cohort experiencing a dose-limiting toxicity. Toxicity rates will be described using upper 1-sided 95% Jeffreys binomial confidence intervals.	Up to 180 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Immune Cell Profile	Descriptive statistics will be used to evaluate the Immune cell profile in the peripheral blood and bone marrow following combination therapy using mass cytometry.	Up to 180 days
Peripheral Blood and Bone Marrow Cells Responses	The degree of DNA methylation at CpG sites within the promoter of the tumor antigen NY-ESO-1 was quantified. Results are reported as the percentage of methylated cytosines relative to the total cytosines at the analyzed CpG sites.	Cycle 1- 4 weekly to EOT (up to 180 days from baseline)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Partial Response Rate	Will be assessed by partial response (PR) using results of blood counts on day 1 of each cycle.	Up to 180 days
Hematologic Improvement	Will be assessed by Hematologic Improvement using results of blood counts on day 1 of each cycle	Up to 180 days
Complete Response Rate	Will be assessed by complete response (CR), using results of blood counts on day 1 of each cycle.	Up to 180 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Roswell Park Cancer Institute
• Collaborators: Celldex Therapeutics
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Griffiths, Roswell Park Cancer Institute

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Griffiths EA, Srivastava P, Gomez EC, Matsuzaki J, Odunsi K, Dillon LW, Mukherjee D, Hourigan CS, Peng J, Bandyopadhyay S, Tan K, Attwood KM, Kuechle JB, Singh PK, Wang J, Nemeth MJ. Checkpoint immunotherapy is associated with preferential activation of tumor antigen-specific CD4+ T cells in MDS. Blood Neoplasia. 2025 Apr 25;2(3):100106. doi: 10.1016/j.bneo.2025.100106. eCollection 2025 Aug.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 27, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 27, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): August 25, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 13, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 30, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): December 2, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 27, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 26, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Neoplasms; Chronic Disease; Disease Attributes; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Hematologic Diseases; Leukemia, Myeloid; Myelodysplastic-Myeloproliferative Diseases; Bone Marrow Diseases; Anemia; Leukemia; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Hemic and Lymphatic Diseases; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; Leukemia, Myelomonocytic, Chronic; Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Anemia, Refractory; Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins; Proteins; Organic Chemicals; Heterocyclic Compounds, 1-Ring; Heterocyclic Compounds; Therapeutics; Drug Administration Routes; Drug Therapy; Nucleic Acids, Nucleotides, and Nucleosides; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; Antibodies, Monoclonal; Antibodies; Immunoglobulins; Immunoproteins; Blood Proteins; Serum Globulins; Globulins; Cytidine; Pyrimidine Nucleosides; Pyrimidines; Aza Compounds; Nucleosides; Ribonucleosides; Azacitidine; Decitabine; Nivolumab; Injections; poly ICLC
• Other Study ID Numbers: I 49217 (Other Identifier: Roswell Park Cancer Institute); NCI-2017-02012 (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
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: Yes