Nirogacestat in Patients With Kaposi Sarcoma

Phase II Study of Nirogacestat in Patients With Kaposi Sarcoma

This phase II trial studies how well nirogacestat works in treating patients with skin Kaposi sarcoma (KS). Several anti-cancer drugs work well in treating KS, but there is no treatment that cures KS. Nirogacestat binds to a protein called gamma secretase, which blocks the activation of other proteins called Notch receptors. Blocking these proteins may help keep tumor cells from growing and may kill them. Nirogacestat is a type of gamma secretase inhibitor. Nirogacestat may be effective in shrinking the size of KS lesions and reducing the spread of lesions.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Skin Kaposi Sarcoma; AIDS-Related Kaposi Sarcoma
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Biospecimen Collection; Procedure: Computed Tomography; Drug: Nirogacestat; Procedure: Chest Radiography; Procedure: Skin Biopsy

Detailed Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

I. Evaluate the efficacy of nirogacestat in terms of overall response (partial response [PR]) or complete response [CR]) of Kaposi sarcoma (KS) tumors.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Evaluate the safety and tolerability of nirogacestat. II. Evaluate the duration of response of KS tumors to nirogacestat. III. Assess the effect of nirogacestat on blood biomarkers such as CD4+ and CD8+ T, CD19+, cell number, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) virus load.

IV. Assess baseline levels of Notch target and regulatory gene products as a target of nirogacestat activity.

EXPLORATORY OBJECTIVES:

I. Assess the effect of nirogacestat on tumor-associated KSHV latent and lytic gene expression.

II. Assess effects of nirogacestat on activation of Notch target genes and Notch regulatory genes.

III. Assess effects of nirogacestat on tumor-associated endothelial-mesenchymal transition.

IV. Assess the pharmacology of nirogacestat in KS patients. V. Assess effects of nirogacestat on tissue biomarkers at progression by single cell transcriptomics or single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq).

VI. Assess effects of nirogacestat on tissue biomarkers by multiplex immunohistochemistry (IHC) at baseline and after 28 days of therapy.

OUTLINE:

Patients receive nirogacestat orally (PO) twice daily (BID) on days 1-28 of each cycle. Cycles repeat every 28 days for 12 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients also undergo skin biopsy and chest X-ray during screening as well as blood sample collection throughout the study. Patients may also undergo an additional optional skin biopsy on study and computed tomography (CT) throughout the study.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 6 months for 5 years.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 28
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Missouri
    • St Louis, Missouri, United States, 63110
      • Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Biopsy-proven KS involving skin with or without visceral involvement either newly diagnosed or refractory to or intolerant of one or more prior therapies.
• Patients must have cutaneous lesion(s) amenable to six total biopsies (minimum size of biopsy to be 4 mm), either six lesions > 4 mm or one large lesion measuring 20 mm that can undergo serial biopsy, and at least five additional lesions measurable for assessment with no improvement over the past month.
• Hemoglobin ≥ 8 g/dL (within three months prior to study entry)
• Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≥ 1,000 cells/mm^3 (within three months prior to study entry)
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3 (within three months prior to study entry)
• Calculated (method of Cockcroft-Gault) creatinine clearance (CrCl) ≥ 60 mL/min (within three months prior to study entry) (CrCl may also be obtained by the 24-hour collection method at the investigator's discretion)
• Total bilirubin should be ≤ 1.5x upper limit of normal (ULN) (within three months prior to study entry). If, however, the elevated bilirubin is felt to be secondary to atazanavir therapy, patients will be allowed to enroll on protocol if the total bilirubin is ≤ 3.5 mg/dL provided that the direct bilirubin is normal
• Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase [SGOT]) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase [SGPT]) ≤ 3x ULN (within three months prior to study entry)
• Life expectancy ≥ 3 months.
• Ability and willingness to give informed consent.

• Females of childbearing potential (FCBP) must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test defined as serum Estradiol (E2) > 30 pg/mL, a serum follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) < 40 mIU/L (measured on Day 3 in regularly menstruating females and age-matched), within 10-14 days prior and again within 24 hours of starting nirogacestat. FCBP must either commit to continued abstinence from heterosexual intercourse or the use of two acceptable methods of birth control, one highly effective method except oral contraceptives and one additional effective method at the same time , at the start of therapy to 7 days after discontinuation of nirogacestat, inclusive. Females and males of reproductive potential will be advised to use effective contraception during treatment with nirogacestat and for 7 days after the last dose. FCBP must also agree to ongoing pregnancy testing. Men must agree to use a latex condom during sexual contact with a FCBP even if they have had a successful vasectomy. All patients must be counseled at a minimum of every 28 days about pregnancy precautions and risks of fetal exposure. Patients must, in the opinion of the investigator, be capable of complying with the protocol.

  • A female of childbearing potential is a sexually mature female who: 1) has not undergone a hysterectomy or bilateral oophorectomy; or 2) has not been naturally postmenopausal for at least 24 consecutive months (i.e., has had menses at any time in the preceding 24 consecutive months).
• All patients with HIV must be on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV infection with CD4 count > 50/mm^3 and viral load < 200 copies/mL. Patients must be on a stable regimen for at least 12 weeks prior to study entry. Patients may receive any Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ART except for zidovudine or protease inhibitors.
• There should be no evidence for improvement in KS in the 3 months prior to study entry for all participants, unless there is evidence for progression of KS in the 4 weeks immediately prior to study entry.
• If antiretroviral regimen contains zidovudine, efavirenz, etravirine, or protease inhibitors and viral load is suppressed (as measured by HIV viral load ≤ 200/mL), then ART must be adjusted to a less toxic therapy not containing these antivirals and enrollment may proceed without waiting 12 weeks. If on antiviral therapy with zidovudine, efavirenz, etravirine, or protease inhibitors, and viral load is not suppressed (as measured by HIV viral load ≥ 200/mL), then ART must be adjusted to a less toxic regimen allowing for optimal viral suppression and must demonstrate stability for at least 12 weeks prior to study entry.

• If HIV positive, documentation of HIV-1 or HIV-2 infection by means of any one of the following:

  • Documentation of HIV diagnosis in the medical record by a licensed health care provider.
  • Documentation of receipt of ART (at least two different medications that do not constitute a prescription for pre-exposure prophylaxis) by a licensed health care provider. Documentation may be a record of an ART prescription in the participant's medical record, a written prescription in the name of the participant for ART, or pill bottles for ART with a label showing the participant's name.
  • HIV-1 ribonucleic acid (RNA) detection by a licensed HIV-1 RNA assay demonstrating > 200 RNA copies/mL.
  • Any licensed HIV screening antibody and/or HIV antibody/antigen combination assay confirmed by a second licensed HIV assay such as an HIV-1 Western blot confirmation or HIV rapid multi-spot antibody differentiation assay.
• Age ≥ 18 years. No dosing or adverse event (AE) data are currently available on the use of nirogacestat in participants < 18 years of age; children are excluded from this study.
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status ≤ 2 (Karnofsky ≥ 60%).
• Participants with known history or current symptoms of cardiac disease or history of treatment with cardiotoxic agents should have a clinical risk assessment of cardiac function using the New York Heart Association Functional Classification within 3 months before study enrollment. To be eligible for this trial, participants must be Class II or better within 3 weeks before enrollment.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Concurrent, acute, active opportunistic infection other than oral thrush or genital herpes within 14 days of enrollment.
• Patients for whom front-line cytotoxic therapy is indicated (i.e., symptomatic visceral or pulmonary KS or symptomatic KS impairing functional status).
• Concurrent neoplasia requiring cytotoxic therapy.
• Anti-neoplastic treatment for KS (including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, local therapy including topical 5-FU, biological therapy, or investigational therapy) within four weeks of study entry.
• Any ongoing glucocorticoid treatment (within last three months, lasting longer than 14 days) except for that required for replacement therapy in adrenal insufficiency or inhaled glucocorticoids for the treatment of asthma.
• Any steroid treatment with equivalent of more than 10 mg prednisone/day lasting longer than 14 days in the last 3 months.

• Patient is ≤ 2 years free of another primary malignancy. Exceptions include the following:

  • Basal cell skin cancer.
  • Cervical carcinoma in situ.
  • Anal carcinoma in situ.
• Previous local therapy of any KS-indicator lesion unless the lesion has clearly progressed since treatment. Any prior local treatment to indicator lesions regardless of the elapsed time should not be allowed unless there is evidence of clear-cut progression of said lesion.
• Use of any investigational drug or treatment within four weeks prior to enrollment.
• Physical or psychiatric conditions that in the estimation of the investigator place the patient at high risk of toxicity or non-compliance.
• Female patients who are pregnant, lactating, or breast-feeding.
• Patients requiring blood transfusions to maintain hemoglobin eligibility.
• Patients currently receiving zidovudine, protease inhibitors, efavirenz, etravirine, ketoconazole, itraconazole, erythromycin, clarithromycin, dexamethasone, phenobarbital, rifampin, phenytoin, carbamazepine, rifabutin, rifapentine, St John's Wort, tacrolimus, cyclosporine, oral contraceptives, warfarin, docetaxel, sirolimus, or other inhibitors or inducers of CYP3A4 or substrates of CYP3A4 that have a narrow therapeutic margin.
• Patients with CD4 < 50 mm^3 and/or viral load ≥ 200 copies/mL.
• HIV+ patients with corrected QT interval by Fridericia's formula (QTcF) > 480 ms.

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 (nirogacestat); Patients receive nirogacestat PO BID on days 1-28 of each cycle. Cycles repeat every 28 days for 12 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients also undergo skin biopsy and chest X-ray during screening as well as blood sample collection throughout the study. Patients may also undergo an additional optional skin biopsy on study and CT throughout the study.

Procedure: Biospecimen Collection; Undergo collection of blood; Other Names: Biological Sample Collection; Biospecimen Collected; Specimen Collection; Procedure: Computed Tomography; Undergo CT; Other Names: CT; CAT; CAT Scan; Computed Axial Tomography; Computerized Axial Tomography; Computerized Tomography; CT Scan; tomography; Computerized axial tomography (procedure); Computerized Tomography (CT) scan; Diagnostic CAT Scan; Diagnostic CAT Scan Service Type; Drug: Nirogacestat; Given PO; Other Names: PF-03084014; (S)-2-(((S)-6,8-Difluoro-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalen-2-yl)amino)-N-(1-(2-methyl-1-(neopentylamino)propan-2-yl)-1H-imidazol-4-yl)pentanamide; PF 03084014; PF03084014; Procedure: Chest Radiography; Undergo chest X-ray; Other Names: Chest X-ray; Procedure: Skin Biopsy; Undergo skin biopsy; Other Names: Biopsy of Skin

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Overall response rate (ORR)	The ORR will be estimated for each dose group and for all groups combined. The 95% confidence intervals will be constructed for the ORR.	Up to 5 years after completion of study treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Incidence of adverse events (AEs)	The AEs will be tabulated by type, grade, and attribution.	Up to 5 years after completion of study treatment
Duration of the response (DOR)	Non-responders will be excluded in DOR analysis. Participants who begin treatment but drop out prior to the first post-baseline response assessment will be considered non-responders. The Kaplan-Meier method will be used to describe the DOR for all treated participants. The proportional hazards model will be used to evaluate the association of HIV status and pretreatment status on the DOR.	From the first date on which a partial response or complete response is documented until progression or death due to any cause, assessed up to 5 years after completion of study treatment
Cumulative proportion of study participants still in response	Will be estimated using the point estimate and the 95% confidence interval using Greenwood's formula for the standard error of the Kaplan-Meier estimate.	At 1 year
Blood biomarkers	Will assess the effect of nirogacestat on blood biomarkers such as CD4+ and CD8+ T, CD19+, cell number, HIV and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus virus load. The analysis of variance will be used to evaluate the changes from entry to 4 or 12 weeks in CD4 and CD8 cell counts and percentages and levels of plasma-associated HIV-1 ribonucleic acid (RNA). Descriptive statistics for biomarkers will be reported using mean, standard deviation, median, and range. Linear regression analysis and correlation coefficient analysis will be performed to examine the association between change from baseline in a specific biomarker and study covariates.	Up to 5 years after completion of study treatment
Levels of Notch target and regulatory gene products	Will assess baseline levels of Notch target and regulatory gene products as a target of Nirogacestat activity. Notch target and regulatory gene expression at baseline will be summarized using descriptive statistics, and data visualization will be performed using principal component analysis and T-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) plots. Linear and generalized linear models will be used to examine the association between expression level and study covariates. When multiplicity adjustment is needed, Bonferroni correction and false discovery rate approaches will be considered.	Baseline up to 5 years after completion of study treatment

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Tumor-associated Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) latent and lytic gene expression	Will assess the effect of Nirogacestat on tumor-associated KSHV latent and lytic gene expression. To evaluate the relationship between clinical response and quantitative measures of KSHV/human herpesvirus (HHV)-8 and HIV viral load, these measures will be tested to determine if they are normally distributed. If the data does not meet the assumptions of normality, the data will be transformed for analysis purposes. Analysis of variance will be used to assess the relationship between qualification of baseline levels of KSHV/HHV-8, HIV viral load, and response. Spearman rank correlation analysis will be used to evaluate the relationship between the qualification of baseline KSHV/HHV-8, HIV viral load and time to progression, and response duration.	Up to 5 years after completion of study treatment
Activation of Notch target genes and Notch regulatory genes	Will assess effects of Nirogacestat on activation of Notch target genes and Notch regulatory genes.	Up to 5 years after completion of study treatment
Tumor-associated endothelial-mesenchymal transition	Will assess effects of Nirogacestat on tumor-associated endothelial-mesenchymal transition. Endothelial-mesenchymal transition will be assessed from scRNAseq. The following markers will be measured. Endothelial markers decreasing over time: CDH5 (VE-cadherin), PECAM1 (CD31), VWF (von Willebrand Factor), TEK (TIE2); Mesenchymal markers increasing over time: ACTA2 (a-SMA), VIM (vimentin), S100A4 (FSP-1), FN1 (Fibronectin); Master regulators of EMT increasing over time: SNAI1 (Snail), SNAI2 (Slug), TWIST1, ZEB1, ZEB2, LEF1.	At the end of Cycle 1 (each cycle is 28 days)
Peak plasma of Nirogacestat in KS patients	For pharmacokinetic analysis, 20 samples will be used (10 from responders and 10 from non-responders) to estimate peak plasma level.	Cycle 1 pre-dose, 0.5, 1.5, and 3 hours post-first dose and Cycle 2 day 1, pre-dose (one cycle=28 days)
AUCs of Nirogacestat in KS patients	For pharmacokinetic analysis, 20 samples will be used (10 from responders and 10 from non-responders) to estimate area under the curve (AUC)s such as AUC0-last and AUC0-∞, clearance, half-life, time of maximum concentration, and concentration maximum.	Cycle 1 pre-dose, 0.5, 1.5, and 3 hours post-first dose and Cycle 2 day 1, pre-dose (one cycle=28 days)
Tissue biomarkers at progression by single cell transcriptomics or single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq)	Will assess effects of Nirogacestat on tissue biomarkers at progression by single cell transcriptomics or scRNAseq. Descriptive statistics will be used for results of scRNAseq for 20 samples (10 samples from responders and 10 samples from non-responders). Differential expression analysis will be performed and visualization using volcano plot, boxplot, t-SNE will be displayed.	Up to 5 years after completion of study treatment
Tissue biomarkers by multiplex immunohistochemistry (IHC)	Will assess effects of Nirogacestat on tissue biomarkers by multiplex IHC. Descriptive statistics will be used for results of multiplex IHC for 20 samples (10 samples from responders and 10 samples from non-responders). Differential expression analysis will be performed and visualization using volcano plot, boxplot, t-SNE will be displayed. For multiplexed IHC analysis, mean fluorescent intensity for each biomarker will be obtained by time point and change from baseline will be calculated and summarized using descriptive statistics.	Baseline and after 28 days of therapy

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: AIDS Malignancy Consortium
• Collaborators: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Lee Ratner, AIDS Malignancy Consortium

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): September 17, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): February 17, 2030
• Study Completion (Estimated): February 17, 2030

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 6, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 16, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): April 20, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 28, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 27, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma; Investigative Techniques; Clinical Laboratory Techniques; Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures; Diagnosis; Physical Phenomena; Electromagnetic Phenomena; Magnetic Phenomena; Electromagnetic Radiation; Radiation; Radiation, Ionizing; Specimen Handling; X-Rays; nirogacestat
• Other Study ID Numbers: AMC-118 (Other Identifier: CTEP); UM1CA121947 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract); NCI-2026-00410 (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.: No