HER2 Targeted Molecular Imaging in mBC Using 68Ga-ABS011 (HERMIA)

Evaluating the Diagnostic Performance of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2) Targeted Positron Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography (PET/CT) With 68Ga-ABS011 in Metastatic Breast Cancer (mBC)

This phase II study aims to confirm the diagnostic performance and accuracy of 68Ga-ABS011 PET/CT in determining the HER2 expression status, and to evaluate 68Ga-ABS011's ability to drive changes in therapeutic treatment. 68Ga-ABS011 will be compared to the current standard of care (SOCa) diagnostic methods including immunohistochemistry (IHC), in situ hybridization (ISH) and imaging tools used for treatment response follow-up including Fluorodeoxyglucose F-18 (18F-FDG) positron emitted tomography (PET) and contrast enhanced computed tomography (ceCT).

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Metastatic Breast Cancer
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: 68Ga-NOTA-ABSCINT-HER2 PET/CT

Detailed Description

Lesion sampling error resulting tumor heterogeneity is probably the biggest pitfall when determining the HER2 status. Moreover, IHC expression or gene amplification can be affected by procedural differences and sample handling differences that are influenced by the experience and training of the pathologist's team. Last but not least, immunohistochemistry interpretation remains a semiquantitative subjective scoring which is susceptible to considerable interobserver variability.

68Ga-ABS011, is a NOTA (chelating agent to label sdAbs with radionuclides) linked single domain antibody (sdAb) with the capability to bind HER2 tumor antigens very fast, while the unbound fraction is rapidly cleared from the blood. ABS011 is labeled with gallium-68, a short-lived isotope (68Ga, t1/2: 68 min). Combining rapid targeting of HER2, fast clearance and low radiation burden make 68Ga-ABS011 is suited for specific tumor marker whole body PET/CT imaging. The available preclinical and clinical results with 68Ga-ABS011 (or its first generation product), including a phase I and a phase II clinical trials, did not reveal any safety signals. Extended safety assessments, including anti-drug antibody (ADA) serum evaluations after 2 consecutive administrations, supported the previously observed low immunogenicity risk profile with these sdAbs. Besides safety, this tracer showed potential in the assessment of inter-lesional HER2 expression heterogeneity and also displayed some higher sensitive and more specific determination of disease extent compared to 18F-FDG.

Whole body mapping of HER2, an antigen present in multiple cancer types, might (I) Reduce tumor lesion sampling errors and resultingly reduce false negative HER2 IHC outcomes, potentially broadening the therapeutic and interventional treatment options for the patient; (II) Enable identification of inter-and intratumor heterogeneity; and (III) Support follow-up of HER2 targeted treatment response, and accompanied treatment decisions.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 60
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Dieter Frijns; Phone Number: +32473337625; Email: dieter.frijns@abscint.com
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Karine Clauwaert; Phone Number: +32476536594; Email: karine.clauwaert@abscint.com

Study Locations

• Belgium
  • Brussels, Belgium, 1070
    • Recruiting
    • Institut Jules Bordet
    • Contact: E. De Azambuja, Prof.Dr.
  • Brussels, Belgium, 1070
    • Recruiting
    • AZ Delta CHIREC
    • Contact: C. Closset, Dr.
    • Contact: A. Awada, Prof.Dr.
  • Brussels, Belgium, 1070
    • Recruiting
    • Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc
    • Contact: F. Duhoux, Prof.Dr.
  • Brussels, Belgium, 1070
    • Recruiting
    • Free University Brussels (VUB)
    • Contact: C. Fontaine, Dr.
  • Leuven, Belgium
    • Recruiting
    • University Hospital Gasthuisberg
    • Contact: Karolien Goffin, Prof.Dr.
    • Contact: Hans Wildiers, Prof.Dr.
  • East-Flanders
    • Aalst, East-Flanders, Belgium, 9300
      • Recruiting
      • OLV Aalst
      • Contact: G. Huygh, Dr.

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Adult (≥ 18 years at the time of informed consent signature) male or female patient
2. Patient with confirmed de novo or pre-treated mBC (multiple previous treatment lines in metastatic setting are allowed).
3. Patients with documented hormone receptor positive/HER2 negative, triple-negative or HER2 positive mBC that could become eligible for commercially available HER2 targeted monotherapy (i.e. through confirmation of HER2 IHC non-0 status assessed during the course of the study).
4. Patient presenting with at least one target biopsiable, FDG positive , non-liver metastatic lesion of ≥15 mm defined on ceCT (as part of screening 18F-FDG PET/ceCT assessment).
5. Patient willing to undergo at least one tumor biopsy.
6. Male patients able to father children and female patients of childbearing potential agree to use effective methods of contraception during the diagnostic and SOCa treatment follow-up study phases.
7. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) 0 to 2.
8. Ability and willingness of the research participant to provide written informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Primary (non-metastatic) breast cancer.
2. Patient not willing to undergo at least one tumor biopsy. Note: A recent biopsy and accompanied locally assessed IHC/ISH analyses, completed before screening, will not be accepted for study purposes.
3. 18F-FDG PET/ceCT completed before screening and patient not willing to repeat this assessment.
4. Metastatic setting 18F-FDG PET/ceCT indicating that the identified tumor lesions cannot be biopsied due their location and/or tissue type and/or an increased risk for serious comorbidities.
5. Brain and liver metastases are the sole sites of metastatic disease.
6. Life expectancy lower than 3 months.
7. Pregnancy or breastfeeding.

8. Inadequate organ function, suggested by clinically relevant abnormal laboratory results:

   1. Significantly impaired renal function defined as estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) <30 ml/min/1.73m2.
   2. Absolute neutrophil count <1,500 cells/mm3.
   3. Total bilirubin ~1.5 x Upper Limit of Normal (ULN) (unless the patient has documented Gilbert's syndrome).
   4. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) or Alanine aminotransferase (ALT)/ serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) >5.0 x ULN.
9. Patients with a known hypersensitivity to any of the investigational medicinal product (IMP) components or packaging.
10. Patients with increased risks of bleeding or other complications from biopsies (e.g. patients under anticoagulation therapy for whom temporary discontinuation of this therapy cannot be safely performed).
11. Patients with a known hypersensitivity or contraindication for iodinated contrast media (iCM) which cannot be controlled by taking prophylactic measures (e.g. temporary treatment interruption or introduction of adequate pre-medication).
12. Patients who cannot undergo PET/CT scanning (including but not limited to body size and claustrophobia).
13. Any condition that in the opinion of the investigator may significantly interfere with study compliance (including but not limited to psychological or psychiatric, social or geographical condition potentially hampering compliance with the study requirements).

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
• 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: 68Ga-ABS011 PET/CT; All Hormone receptor positive/HER2 negative, triple-negative or HER2 positive metastatic Breast Cancer (mBC) patients will undergo a HER2 targeted PET/CT using 68Ga-ABS011 after completion of a 18F-FDG PET/CT and lesion biopsy (and IHC/ISH analysis).

Diagnostic test: 68Ga-NOTA-ABSCINT-HER2 PET/CT; 68Ga-ABS011, is a single domain antibody (sdAb) with the capability to bind HER2 tumor antigens very fast, while the unbound fraction is rapidly cleared from the blood. ABS011 is labeled with gallium-68, a short-lived isotope (68Ga, t1/2: 68 min). Combining rapid targeting of HER2, fast clearance and low radiation burden make 68Ga-ABS011 is suited for specific tumor marker whole body PET/CT imaging.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
positive, negative, and overall diagnostic agreement between 68Ga-ABS011 PET/CT and the standard of care IHC (and ISH) HER2 status test.	Evaluation, on a per-lesion level, of the diagnostic performance (positive, negative, and overall diagnostic agreement compiled of ratios between true positive, true negative, false psoitive and false negative 68Ga-ABS011 PET/CT results)) of 68Ga-ABS011 PET/CT(III) compared to HER2 IHC (and ISH) status.	immediately after the 68Ga-ABS011 PET/CT procedure

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Safety of 68Ga-ABS011.	Incidence rate of all adverse events (AEs) and serious AEs (SAEs)	up to 6 weeks after initiation of the HER2 targeted monotherapy
Change in treatment management	Proportion of patients for whom the whole body 68Ga-ABS011 PET/CT guided biopsy impacted the management of the mBC	immediately after the 68Ga-ABS011 PET/CT procedure
reliability of whole body 68Ga-ABS011 PET/CT compared to HER2-targeted treatment response (Early tumor shrinkage)	Positive and negative predictive value and likelihood ratio of 68Ga-ABS011 using 18F-FDG PET/ceCT as a reference.	6 weeks after initiation of the HER2 targeted monotherapy
reliability of whole body 68Ga-ABS011 PET/CT compared to HER2-targeted treatment response (metabolic response)	Positive and negative predictive value and likelihood ratio of 68Ga-ABS011 using 18F-FDG PET/ceCT as a reference.	6 weeks after initiation of the HER2 targeted monotherapy
Tumor heterogeneity	Inter-tumor heterogeneity assessment by measuring the proportion of discordance between the total number of lesions and number of overlapping lesions confirmed on 18F-FDG and/or 68Ga-ABS011 PET/CT.	immediately after the 68Ga-ABS011 PET/CT procedure

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: ABSCINT NV/SA
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Géraldine Gebhart, Institut Jules Bordet Brussels; Principal Investigator: Evandro De Azambuja, Institut Jules Bordet Brussels

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Website Sponsor

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 12, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): September 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): September 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 9, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 12, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): April 17, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 21, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 16, 2025
• Last Verified: September 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: PET/CT; HER2; Gallium-68; 68Ga; radiolabeled; single domain antibody
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Skin Diseases; Breast Diseases; Breast Neoplasms
• Other Study ID Numbers: ABS011-1; 2024-511419-22-00 (Ctis)

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