Lenvatinib (LEN) in Combination With Pembrolizumab (KEYtruda) in Subjects With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Non-clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (The LENKYN Trial)

A Single Arm, Multicenter, Phase 2 Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of Lenvatinib (LEN) in Combination With Pembrolizumab (KEYtruda) in Subjects With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Non-clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (The LENKYN Trial)

This is a single-arm, multicenter, phase 2 study of lenvatinib in combination with pembrolizumab (lenvatinib 20 mg/day + pembrolizumab 200mg q3weeks) in subjects with unresectable advanced or metastatic non-clear cell renal carcinoma who have not received any chemotherapy for advanced disease.

Study Overview

• Status: Terminated
• Conditions: Renal Cell Carcinoma
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Lenvatinib; Drug: Pembrolizumab; Procedure: Research blood collection

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 11
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Palo Alto, California, United States, 94306
      • Stanford Cancer Center
  • Missouri
    • Saint Louis, Missouri, United States, 63110
      • Washington University School of Medicine

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Locally advanced or metastatic histologically confirmed nccRCC (2, 7). Must have one of the following subtypes of nccRCC:

  • papillary RCC
  • chromophobe RCC
  • TFE-3/B translocation RCC
  • SDHB-loss RCC
  • TSC1-loss RCC
  • sarcomatoid RCC without clear cell component
  • unclassified RCC
• Has not received any prior lines of systemic therapy except adjuvant or neoadjuvant treatments.

• Radiologically measurable disease meeting the following criteria:

  • At least 1 lesion of ≥ 10 mm in the longest diameter for a non-lymph node or ≥ 15 mm in the short axis diameter for a lymph node which is serially measurable according to iRECIST (Section 12) using computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
  • Lesions that have had external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) or locoregional therapies such as radiofrequency (RF) ablation must show evidence of subsequent progressive disease (substantial size increase of ≥20%) to be deemed a target lesion. Patients who received EBRT must be at least 2 weeks out from last RT treatment.
• At least 18 years of age.
• Karnofsky performance status ≥ 70%
• Blood pressure (BP) ≤ 150/90 mmHg at screening with or without antihypertensive medications and no change in antihypertensive medications within 1 week prior to Cycle 1 Day 1.
• Adequate renal function defined as creatinine <1.5 x ULN or calculated creatinine clearance ≥40 mL/min per the Cockcroft and Gault formula with creatinine levels >1.5 x ULN.

• Adequate bone marrow function:

  • Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≥1500/mm3 (≥1.5 x 103/L)
  • Platelets ≥100,000/mm3 (≥100 x 109/L)
  • Hemoglobin ≥9.0 g/dL
• Adequate blood coagulation function as evidenced by an International Normalized Ratio (INR) ≤1.5

• Adequate liver function as evidenced by:

  • bilirubin ≤1.5 times the upper limit of normal (ULN)
  • alkaline phosphatase (ALP) ≤3×ULN (in the case of liver metastases ≤5×ULN)
  • alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ≤3×ULN (in the case of liver metastases ≤5×ULN)
  • aspartate aminotransferase (AST) ≤3×ULN (in the case of liver metastases ≤5×ULN).

In case ALP is >3×ULN (in the absence of liver metastases) or >5×ULN (in the presence of liver metastases) AND the subject also is known to have bone metastases, the liver specific ALP isoenzyme must be separated from the total and used to assess the liver function instead of the total ALP.

• Subjects with known brain metastases will be eligible if they have completed the primary brain therapy (such as whole brain radiotherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, or complete surgical resection) and if they have remained clinically stable, asymptomatic, and off steroids for at least 2 months before starting study treatment.
• All females of childbearing potential must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test (minimum sensitivity 25 IU/L or equivalent units of beta-human chorionic gonadotropin [β-hCG]) at the screening visit. Females of childbearing potential* must agree to use a highly effective method of contraception for the entire study period and for 120 days after study discontinuation
• Male subjects who are partners of women of childbearing potential must follow one of the methods of contraception described in Section 6.5 beginning at least 1 menstrual cycle prior to starting study drugs, throughout the entire study period, and for 120 days after the last dose of study drug, unless the male subjects are totally sexually abstinent or have undergone a successful vasectomy with confirmed azoospermia or unless the female partners have been sterilized surgically or are otherwise proven sterile.
• Archival tumor tissue from within 3 months (preferred) or up to 6 months (acceptable) must be available prior to the first dose of study drug for biomarker analysis. If no biopsy has been performed in the prior 6 months, a standard of care biopsy is requested if safe and feasible. In the case tissue cannot be provided, patients can be enrolled upon consultation and agreement by the trial PI.

Note: In case of submitting unstained cut slides, freshly cut slides should be submitted to the testing laboratory within 14 days from when the slides are cut.

-Ability to understand and willingness to sign an IRB approved written informed consent document (or that of legally authorized representative, if applicable).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Predominant clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC)
• Uncontrolled or untreated brain metastasis
• Major surgery performed within 4 weeks prior to the first dose of study drugs or scheduled for major surgery during the study. Subjects must have recovered adequately from any toxicity and/or complications from major surgery prior to starting therapy.
• Subjects having >1+ proteinuria on urinalysis will undergo 24-h urine collection for quantitative assessment of proteinuria. Subjects with urine protein ≥1 g/24-hour will be ineligible.
• Gastrointestinal malabsorption, gastrointestinal anastomosis, or any other condition that might affect the absorption of lenvatinib.
• New York Heart Association congestive heart failure of grade II or above, unstable angina, myocardial infarction within the past 6 months, or serious cardiac arrhythmia associated with significant cardiovascular impairment within the past 6 months.
• Prolongation of QTc interval to >480 msec.
• Active hemoptysis (bright red blood of at least 0.5 teaspoon) within 3 weeks prior to the first dose of study drug.
• Active infection (any infection requiring systemic treatment).
• Subject is known to be positive for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B, or Hepatitis C
• Serious nonhealing wound, ulcer, or bone fracture.
• Known intolerance to either of the study drugs (or any of the excipients).
• History of organ allograft (subject has had an allogenic tissue/solid organ transplant) or allogeneic stem cell transplant (subject has received blood-forming stem cells from a donor).
• Biologic response modifiers (e.g., granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) within 4 weeks before study entry. Chronic erythropoietin therapy is permitted provided that no dose adjustments were made within 2 months before first dose of study treatment.
• Any medical or other condition which, in the opinion of the investigator, would preclude participation in a clinical trial.
• 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. If the required urine pregnancy test is positive (or cannot be confirmed as negative) within 72 hours prior to start of treatment, a serum pregnancy test will be required.
• Excluding the primary tumor leading to enrollment in this study, any other active malignancy (except for definitively treated melanoma in-situ, basal or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, or carcinoma in-situ of the bladder or cervix) within the past 36 months.
• 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 study treatment. The use of up to 10 mg/day of prednisone or equivalent is approved and does not exclude the patient from the trial.
• Active autoimmune disease that has required systemic treatment in past 2 years (i.e., with use of disease modifying agents, > 10 mg of prednisone per day, 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. The use of up to 10 mg/day of prednisone or equivalent is approved and does not exclude the patient from the trial.
• Has a history of (non-infectious) pneumonitis/interstitial lung disease that required maintenance steroids (>10 mg of prednisone) or current pneumonitis/interstitial lung disease.
• Has received a live-virus vaccination or live-attenuated vaccine within 30 days of planned treatment start. Administration of killed vaccines is allowed.

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: Lenvatinib + Pembrolizumab; Lenvatinib 20 mg/day will be administered orally on a daily basis and pembrolizumab 200 mg will be infused once every 3 weeks.; Subjects may be treated with pembrolizumab for a maximum of 35 cycles or approximately 2 years, but treatment with lenvatinib can continue beyond 2 years if the subject does not meet other treatment discontinuation criteria.	Drug: Lenvatinib; Lenvatinib will be provided by Merck.; Other Names: Lenvima; Lenvanix; Drug: Pembrolizumab; Merck will provide pembrolizumab; Other Names: Keytruda; MK-3475; Procedure: Research blood collection; -Within 2 weeks prior to first dose of study drug, cycle 4 day 1, and at the off-treatment assessment

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Overall Response Rate (ORR)	ORR is defined as the proportion of subjects who have a best overall response of complete response (CR) or partial response (PR); CR: Disappearance of target and non-target lesions and normalization of tumor markers.; PR: At least a 30% decrease in the sum of measures (longest diameter for tumor lesions and short axis measure for nodes) of target lesions, taking as reference the baseline sum of diameters. Non target lesions must be non-progressive disease.	Through completion of treatment (median length 287 days, full range 92-728 days)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Safety and Tolerability of Regimen as Measured by Related Adverse Events Experienced by Participant	-Will be graded according to NCI Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v5.0.	From start of treatment through 120 days after last day of study treatment (median length of follow-up 397 days, full range 92-848 days)
Cumulative Probability of Progression-free Survival (PFS)	PFS is defined as the time from date of first dose of study drug to date of first documentation of disease progression or death, whichever occurs first.; Progressive disease: At least a 20% increase in the sum of diameters of measured lesions taking as references the smallest sum of diameters recorded on study (including baseline) AND an absolute increase of ≥5 mm. Appearance of new lesions will also constitute PD (including lesions in previously unassessed areas).; Cumulative probability is on a scale of 0-1.	At 3 months
Cumulative Probability of Progression-free Survival (PFS)	PFS is defined as the time from date of first dose of study drug t date of first documentation of disease progression or death, whichever occurs first.; Progressive disease: At least a 20% increase in the sum of diameters of measured lesions taking as references the smallest sum of diameters recorded on study (including baseline) AND an absolute increase of ≥5 mm. Appearance of new lesions will also constitute PD (including lesions in previously unassessed areas).; Cumulative probability is on a scale of 0-1.	At 6 months
Cumulative Probability of Progression-free Survival (PFS)	PFS is defined as the time from date of first dose of study drug t date of first documentation of disease progression or death, whichever occurs first.; Progressive disease: At least a 20% increase in the sum of diameters of measured lesions taking as references the smallest sum of diameters recorded on study (including baseline) AND an absolute increase of ≥5 mm. Appearance of new lesions will also constitute PD (including lesions in previously unassessed areas).; Cumulative probability is on a scale of 0-1.	At 12 months
Median Progression-free Survival (PFS)	PFS is defined as the time from date of first dose of study drug to date of first documentation of disease progression or death, whichever occurs first.; Progressive disease: At least a 20% increase in the sum of diameters of measured lesions taking as references the smallest sum of diameters recorded on study (including baseline) AND an absolute increase of ≥5 mm. Appearance of new lesions will also constitute PD (including lesions in previously unassessed areas).	Through completion of follow-up (median length 602 days, full range 92-1244 days)
Median Overall Survival (OS)	-OS is defined as the time from the date of first dose of study drug until date of death from any cause.	Through completion of follow-up (median length 602 days, full range 92-1244 days)
Cumulative Probability of Overall Survival (OS)	OS is defined as the time from the date of first dose of study drug until date of death from any cause.; Cumulative probability is on a scale of 0-1.	At 6 months
Cumulative Probability of Overall Survival (OS)	OS is defined as the time from the date of first dose of study drug until date of death from any cause.; Cumulative probability is on a scale of 0-1.	At 12 months
Cumulative Probability of Overall Survival (OS)	OS is defined as the time from the date of first dose of study drug until date of death from any cause.; Cumulative probability is on a scale of 0-1.	At 18 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Washington University School of Medicine
• Collaborators: Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Joel Picus, M.D., Washington University School of Medicine

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 29, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 9, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 10, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 10, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): February 12, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 19, 2025
• Last Verified: March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• 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; Kidney Neoplasms; Carcinoma; Carcinoma, Renal Cell; Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors; Antineoplastic Agents; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Enzyme Inhibitors; Protein Kinase Inhibitors; Pembrolizumab; Lenvatinib
• Other Study ID Numbers: 202003148

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Individual participant data that underlie the results reported in the article after deidentification (text, tables, figures, and appendices).
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Beginning 9 months and ending 36 months after publication.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Investigators whose proposed use of the data has been approved by an independent review committee identified for this purpose.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL

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