Durvalumab (MEDI4736) and Tremelimumab for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients Listed for a Liver Transplant

Immunotherapy can safely downstage patients and achieve durable systemic disease control to improve clinical outcomes in HCC patients undergoing liver transplant.

Study Overview

• Status: Terminated
• Conditions: Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Cirrhosis; Portal Hypertension
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Durvalumab; Drug: Tremelimumab; Procedure: Liver Transplant

Detailed Description

ESR-20-21010 is a single-arm, open-label, Phase II, multicenter clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of durvalumab and tremelimumab for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients who have cirrhosis or portal hypertension and are evaluated by institutional Liver Transplant team and deemed eligible for transplant.

The key eligibility requirements include HCC, Child-Pugh score of up to 7, and ECOG PS of 0 or 1.

Patients will be treated with the immunotherapy combination for up to 4 months. After a minimum 28 day washout, they will undergo locoregional therapy per institutional standards. Eventually, after a minimum 72-day washout from the end of immunotherapy, they will undergo liver transplant.

The primary endpoint is proportion of patients experiencing post-transplant rejection (within 30 days of transplant). A total of 30 patients are to be enrolled, to allow at least 20 transplants for adequate primary endpoint analysis. An interim analysis after 10 patients will be performed to ensure safety. If there are untoward safety signals, study modification/discontinuation will be discussed.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 8
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Missouri
    • St Louis, Missouri, United States, 63130
      • Washington University School of Medicine
  • Ohio
    • Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, 45267
      • University of Cincinnati
  • Texas
    • Dallas, Texas, United States, 75235
      • Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center UT Southwestern Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Hepatocellular carcinoma, diagnosed either by biopsy or by combination of cirrhosis and imaging criteria (contrast-enhanced CT or MRI).
2. Tumor confined to liver with no vascular invasion and no evidence of extrahepatic disease.
3. Patient evaluated by institutional Liver Transplant team and listed for transplant.
4. At least 1 lesion, not previously irradiated, that qualifies as a RECIST 1.1 target lesion (TL) at baseline. Tumor assessment by computed tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) must be performed within 28 days prior to randomization.
5. No prior therapy for HCC at any time.
6. Age ≥18 years at the time of study entry.
7. ECOG score of 0 or 1
8. Child-Pugh Score of 5, 6, or 7
9. Body weight >30 kg
10. Patients must have adequate organ and marrow function as defined in protocol
11. Capable of giving signed informed consent which includes compliance with the requirements and restrictions listed in the informed consent form (ICF) and in this protocol.
12. Patient is willing and able to comply with the protocol for the duration of the study including undergoing treatment and scheduled visits and examinations including follow up.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Extrahepatic disease.
2. Variceal bleeding during 3 months prior to registration.
3. Any autoimmune disease deemed a risk in the setting of immunotherapy per treating physician's judgment.
4. Any other illness or patient condition deemed a medical or logistical barrier for protocol therapy per treating physician's judgment.
5. Concurrent enrollment in another clinical study, unless it is an observational (non-interventional) clinical study or during the follow-up period of an interventional study
6. Participation in another clinical study with an investigational product during the last 12 months Patients who have received other investigational agents previously who are no longer receiving these investigational agents may be eligible at the discretion of the PI.
7. Major surgical procedure (as defined by the Investigator) within 28 days prior to the first dose of IP. Note: Local surgery of isolated lesions for palliative intent is acceptable.
8. History of allogenic organ transplantation.

9. History of another primary malignancy except for:

   1. Malignancy treated with curative intent and with no known active disease ≥5 years before the first dose of IP and of low potential risk for recurrence
   2. Adequately treated non-melanoma skin cancer or lentigo maligna without evidence of disease
   3. Adequately treated carcinoma in situ without evidence of disease

10. Active or prior documented autoimmune or inflammatory disorders (including inflammatory bowel disease [e.g., colitis or Crohn's disease], diverticulitis [with the exception of diverticulosis], systemic lupus erythematosus, Sarcoidosis syndrome, or Wegener syndrome [granulomatosis with polyangiitis, Graves' disease, rheumatoid arthritis, hypophysitis, uveitis, etc.]). The following are exceptions to this criterion:

    1. Patients with vitiligo or alopecia
    2. Patients with hypothyroidism (e.g., following Hashimoto syndrome) stable on hormone replacement
    3. Any chronic skin condition that does not require systemic therapy
    4. Patients without active disease in the last 5 years may be included but only after consultation with the study physician
    5. Patients with celiac disease controlled by diet alone
11. Uncontrolled intercurrent illness, including but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, uncontrolled hypertension, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, interstitial lung disease, serious chronic gastrointestinal conditions associated with diarrhea, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirement, substantially increase risk of incurring AEs or compromise the ability of the patient to give written informed consent
12. History of leptomeningeal carcinomatosis
13. History of active primary immunodeficiency
14. Active infection including tuberculosis (clinical evaluation that includes clinical history, physical examination and radiographic findings, and TB testing in line with local practice), hepatitis B (known positive HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) result), hepatitis C, Patients with a past or resolved HBV infection (defined as the presence of hepatitis B core antibody [anti-HBc] and absence of HBsAg) are eligible. Patients positive for hepatitis C (HCV) antibody are eligible only if polymerase chain reaction is negative for HCV RNA.

15. Current or prior use of immunosuppressive medication within 14 days before the first dose of durvalumab or tremelimumab. The following are exceptions to this criterion:

    1. Intranasal, inhaled, topical steroids, or local steroid injections (e.g., intra articular injection)
    2. Systemic corticosteroids at physiologic doses not to exceed 10 mg/day of prednisone or its equivalent
    3. Steroids as premedication for hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., CT scan premedication)
16. Receipt of live attenuated vaccine within 30 days prior to the first dose of IP. Note: Patients, if enrolled, should not receive live vaccine while receiving IP and up to 30 days after the last dose of IP.
17. Female patients who are pregnant or breastfeeding or male or female patients of reproductive potential who are not willing to employ effective birth control from screening to 180 days after the last dose of durvalumab + tremelimumab combination therapy.
18. Known allergy or hypersensitivity to any of the study drugs or any of the study drug excipients.
19. Prior randomization or treatment in a previous durvalumab and/or tremelimumab clinical study regardless of treatment arm assignment.
20. Judgment by the investigator that the patient is unsuitable to participate in the study and the patient is unlikely to comply with study procedures, restrictions and requirements.

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: Durvalumab + Tremelimumab + Liver Transplant; Patients will be treated with the immunotherapy combination for up to 4 months. After a minimum 28 day washout, they will undergo locoregional therapy per institutional standards. Eventually, after a minimum 72-day washout from the end of immunotherapy, they will undergo liver transplant.	Drug: Durvalumab; 1500 mg IV, Q4W; Other Names: MEDI4736; Drug: Tremelimumab; 300 mg IV, 1 dose on day 1 of only the first cycle; Procedure: Liver Transplant; minimum 72-day washout from the end of immunotherapy, patients will undergo liver transplant.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Cellular Rejection Rates	To assess the safety of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to cellular rejection rates	Up to 30 days post transplant. The average time from consent to transplant was 11.88 months.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Adverse Events During Treatment	To assess the safety of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients who have received a transplant, with respect to adverse events during treatment.	Adverse events will be collected from study drug initiation until 90 days after the last durvalumab+tremelimumab dose or before new anti-cancer therapy, whichever comes first, up to 7 months.
Radiologic Responses Via RECIST 1.1 and/or mRECIST	To assess the efficacy of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to radiologic responses. This will be be defined the number of individuals that had complete response, partial response, or stable disease. Progressive disease will not be included. Per Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors Criteria (RECIST v1.0) for target lesions and assessed by MRI: Complete Response (CR), Disappearance of all target lesions; Partial Response (PR), >=30% decrease in the sum of the longest diameter of target lesions; Overall Response (OR) = CR + PR.	Timeframe includes 4 months of I/0 treatment. Radiologic responses were measured after the I/O treatment phase of the study
Pathologic Responses Via Explanted Liver Assessment	To assess the efficacy of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to Pathologic responses. However, due to the feasibility of the trial, we were not able to collect data for this outcome.	Timeframe includes the 30 day window after a transplant.
Recurrence-free Survival and Overall Survival Outcomes Based on Survival Follow up Reporting	To assess the efficacy of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to Survival outcomes. However, due to the feasibility of the trial, we were not able to collect data for this outcome.	Survival follow up will continue for 5 years after end of Treatment
Graft Loss	To assess the safety of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect graft loss	Day 72 post completion of immunotherapy, approximately 6.5 months
Mortality	To assess the safety of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to mortality rates up to 30 days after transplant	Day 72 post completion of immunotherapy, approximately 7.5 months.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Cincinnati
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Davendra Sohal, MD, University of Cincinnati

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 7, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 7, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): November 7, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 17, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 27, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): August 30, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 6, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 15, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Transplant
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Digestive System Neoplasms; Digestive System Diseases; Liver Diseases; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial; Adenocarcinoma; Liver Neoplasms; Carcinoma; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Fibrosis; Hypertension, Portal; Therapeutics; Surgical Procedures, Operative; Transplantation; Digestive System Surgical Procedures; Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy; Biological Therapy; Tissue Transplantation; Organ Transplantation; durvalumab; tremelimumab; Liver Transplantation
• Other Study ID Numbers: UCCC-GI-21-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: Yes
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No