SBRT With Combination Ipilimumab/Nivolumab for Metastatic Kidney Cancer (CYTOSHRINK)

Cytoreductive Stereotactic Hypofractionated Radiotherapy With Combination Ipilimumab/Nivolumab for Metastatic Kidney Cancer

This trial will evaluate the addition of cytoreductive stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to standard of care combination ipilimumab and nivolumab (I/N) versus I/N alone for the treatment of metastatic kidney cancer.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Ipilimumab/ Nivolumab; Radiation: SBRT + Ipilimumab/Nivolumab

Detailed Description

This is a multi-centre, open label, phase II randomized clinical trial evaluating SBRT as upfront cytoreductive therapy to the primary renal mass along with combination I/N therapy in patients with intermediate/poor risk mRCC who are not candidates for cytoreductive nephrectomy. Eligible and consenting, newly diagnosed and histologically confirmed intermediate/poor risk mRCC patients based on IMDC criteria with primary disease in-situ will be randomized in a 2:1 fashion to either induction I/N followed by SBRT prior to the second cycle (experimental arm) versus I/N alone (standard arm). Patients will be stratified based on IMDC criteria (intermediate 1-2 versus poor 3-6).

• Standard Arm: induction ipilimumab 1 mg/kg combined with nivolumab 3 mg/kg (I/N) every 3 weeks for cycles 1-4 followed by maintenance treatment with nivolumab 240mg every 2 weeks or 480mg every 4 weeks until disease progression (as determined by RECIST 1.1), intolerance, or patient/physician decision to stop treatment.
• Experimental Arm: induction ipilimumab 1 mg/kg combined with nivolumab 3 mg/kg (I/N) every 3 weeks for one cycle, followed by SBRT to the primary disease in-situ, prior to cycle 2-4 of I/N. Patients randomized to SBRT will undergo radiation planning during the first cycle of I/N to their primary kidney mass, and then the radiation will be delivered between cycles 1 and 2 to a dose of 30-40 Gy in 5 fractions every other day over 1.5 weeks. Approximately one week following completion of SBRT, patients will start cycle 2 of I/N as per standard of care. The total time elapsed between the start of cycle 1 and 2 of I/N should be no more than 6 weeks. After completion of up to four cycles of I/N, patients will proceed to standard of care maintenance treatment with nivolumab 240mg every 2 weeks or 480mg every 4 weeks until disease progression (as determined by RECIST 1.1), intolerance, or patient/physician decision to stop treatment.

During treatment (standard and experimental arm) participants will be assessed for radiation toxicity and the occurrence of adverse events. Following treatment, participants will be assessed at a clinic visit every 3 months, for a period of 1 year. Progression free survival will be assessed by CT scan (chest; abdomen and pelvis), which is performed after the final I/N treatment and every 3 months as per standard of care. Participants will be followed for one additional year, seen at 18 and 24 months to assess survival. The planned sample size is 78 study participants.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 66
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Australia
  • Melbourne, Australia, 3000
    • Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
• Canada
  • Alberta
    • Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 1Z2
      • Cross Cancer Institute
  • Ontario
    • Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
      • Juravinski Cancer Centre
    • Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, N2G1G3
      • Grand River Regional Cancer Centre
    • London, Ontario, Canada, N2G1G3
      • London Regional Cancer Centre
    • Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1H8L6
      • The Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre
    • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4N3M5
      • Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre- Odette Cancer Centre

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Biopsy proven renal cell carcinoma of any histology.
2. Imaging proven metastatic disease based on CT or MRI within 10 weeks of screening.
3. Intermediate/poor risk disease based on IMDC criteria (see Appendix II).
4. Primary kidney lesion amenable to SBRT.
5. Eligible for standard of care delivery of ipilimumab and nivolumab (I/N) according to approved product monograph.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. A maximum primary renal lesion size of 20 cm or greater.
2. Candidate for cytoreductive nephrectomy, unless a patient has refused cytoreductive nephrectomy (in this case, a discussion of cytoreductive nephrectomy and patient refusal must be documented).
3. Treatment with prior systemic therapy in the adjuvant or metastatic setting for renal cell carcinoma.
4. Previous abdominal radiation precluding SBRT.
5. Kanofsky Performance (KPS) score below 60 (see Appendix III).
6. History of auto-immune disorder precluding treatment with ipilimumab or nivolumab.
7. History of ataxia telangiectasia or other radiation sensitivity disorders.
8. Chronic corticosteroid use or other chronic immune suppressive therapy. (Participants are permitted the use of topical, ocular, intra-articular, intranasal, and inhalational corticosteroids (with minimal systemic absorption). Adrenal replacement steroid doses of prednisone ≤ 10 mg daily are permitted).
9. Use of medicinal herbal preparations (not including medical cannabis) unless prescribed by a treating physician.
10. Inability to lie flat for at least 30 minutes without moving.
11. Pregnant or lactating women.
12. Geographic inaccessibility for follow-up.
13. Inability to provide informed consent.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Standard of Care I/N alone; induction ipilimumab 1 mg/kg combined with nivolumab 3 mg/kg (I/N) every 3 weeks for cycles 1-4 followed by maintenance treatment with nivolumab 240mg every 2 weeks or 480mg every 4 weeks until disease progression (as determined by RECIST 1.1), intolerance, or patient/physician decision to stop treatment.	Drug: Ipilimumab/ Nivolumab; induction ipilimumab 1 mg/kg combined with nivolumab 3 mg/kg (I/N) every 3 weeks for cycles 1-4 followed by maintenance treatment with nivolumab 240mg every 2 weeks or 480mg every 4 weeks until disease progression; Other Names: Yervoy/Opdivo
Experimental: Standard of Care I/N plus primary disease SBRT; induction ipilimumab 1 mg/kg combined with nivolumab 3 mg/kg (I/N) every 3 weeks for one cycle, followed by SBRT to the primary disease in-situ, prior to cycle 2-4 of I/N. Patients randomized to SBRT will undergo radiation planning during the first cycle of I/N to their primary kidney mass, and then the radiation will be delivered between cycles 1 and 2 to a dose of 30-40 Gy in 5 fractions every other day over 1.5 weeks. Approximately one week following completion of SBRT, patients will start cycle 2 of immunotherapy as per standard of care. The total time elapsed between the start of cycle 1 and 2 of I/N should be no more than 6 weeks. After completion of up to four cycles of I/N, patients will proceed to standard of care maintenance treatment with nivolumab 240mg every 2 weeks or 480mg every 4 weeks until disease progression (as determined by RECIST 1.1), intolerance, or patient/physician decision to stop treatment.	Radiation: SBRT + Ipilimumab/Nivolumab; SBRT to the primary disease in-situ, prior to cycle 2-4 of I/N. Patients randomized to SBRT will undergo radiation planning during the first cycle of I/N to their primary kidney mass, and then the radiation will be delivered between cycles 1 and 2 to a dose of 30-40 Gy in 5 fractions every other day over 1.5 weeks.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Progression free survival (PFS)	The primary outcome of this study is the hazard ratio for progression-free survival (PFS), defined from the date of randomization until the date of progression (PFS truncated at subsequent systemic therapy) as determined by RECIST 1.1, or death due to any cause, whichever comes first. All attempts will be made to follow-up patients for the primary outcome measure for at least one year, even if a patient stops treatment. Patients who do not have a primary outcome event at the time of analysis will be censored on the last date the patient can be confirmed as alive and progression-free.	2 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Subject safety	Incidence and attribution of deaths	Date of randomization until 1year post treatment
Overall Survival	• Overall survival, defined from the date of randomization to the date of death due to any cause. Patients with no known death date at the time of analysis will be censored on the last date they are confirmed alive.	2 years
Objective response rate	• Objective response rate, which is defined as the proportion of randomized subjects who achieve a best response of complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) using the RECIST 1.1 criteria.	1 year
Quality of Life: EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire	• Quality of life, which will be evaluated using the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire.	1 year
Subject safety	Number of Adverse Events and Serious Adverse Events using NCI CTCAE v5.0	1 Year
Ipilimumab/ Nivolumab drug tolerability	Ipilimumab/Nivolumab treatment discontinuation rates	From the date of randomization until date of first documented disease progression up to 1 year.
Ipilimumab/ Nivolumab drug tolerability	Number of doses of Ipilimumab/Nivolumab combination treatment	From the date of randomization until date of first documented disease progression, up to 1 year.
Ipilimumab/ Nivolumab drug tolerability	Number of Nivolumab maintenance doses	From the date of randomization until date of first documented disease progression, up to 1 year.
Ipilimumab/ Nivolumab drug tolerability	Time to treatment discontinuation from the date of randomization	From the date of randomization until date of first documented disease progression, up to 1 year.

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Exploratory Outcomes: Evaluation of baseline and changes during treatment in blood immune signatures	Changes in blood immune signatures through interrogation of circulating blood biomarkers.	1 year
Exploratory Outcomes: Evaluation of baseline and changes during treatment in stool microbiome	Changes in stool microbiome using 16S RNA.	1 year
Correlation with blood or stool immune signatures	Tumor tissue analysis using immunohistochemistry	1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Ontario Clinical Oncology Group (OCOG)
• Collaborators: Bristol-Myers Squibb
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Aly-Khan Lalani, MD, Juravinski Cancer Centre

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 29, 2020
• Primary Completion (Estimated): April 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): April 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 9, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 12, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): September 16, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 3, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 30, 2025
• Last Verified: July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Nivolumab; Ipilimumab; SBRT
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Urogenital Diseases; Urogenital Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Male Urogenital Diseases; Kidney Diseases; Urologic Diseases; Female Urogenital Diseases; Female Urogenital Diseases and Pregnancy Complications; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial; Adenocarcinoma; Urologic Neoplasms; Carcinoma; Carcinoma, Renal Cell; Kidney Neoplasms; Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors; Antineoplastic Agents; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Nivolumab; Ipilimumab
• Other Study ID Numbers: OCOG-2019-CYTOSHRINK; CA209-7DR (Other Grant/Funding Number: BMS)

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: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No