Targeting Aurora A Kinase to Overcome Treatment Resistance in Advanced HR+/HER2+ Breast Cancer

Targeting Aurora A Kinase to Overcome Treatment Resistance in Advanced HR+/HER2+ Breast Cancer: A Biomarker-Driven Pilot Clinical Trial

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if alisertib in addition to usual care works to treat HR+/HER2+ breast cancer. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Does alisertib stop the communication between HR and HER2?
• Are there genetic markers that predict how well someone's cancer will respond to alisertib?

Participants will receive alisertib in addition to their usual care.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Metastatic Breast Cancer; HR+/HER2+ Breast Cancer
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Alisertib

Detailed Description

This pilot clinical trial will evaluate alisertib in combination with standard of care endocrine therapy and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-2 (HER2)-targeted therapy in participants with Stage IV hormone receptor positive (HR+)/ HER2 positive (HER2+) breast cancer, utilizing our novel 3-gene biomarker signature for patient selection and response prediction

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 10
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Cancer Connect; Phone Number: 800-622-8922; Email: clinicaltrials@cancer.wisc.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Wisconsin
    • Madison, Wisconsin, United States, 53705
      • University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center
      • Contact: Cancer Connect; Phone Number: 800-622-8922; Email: clinicaltrials@cancer.wisc.edu
      • Contact: Claire Kostechka; Phone Number: 608-263-0796; Email: kostechka@wisc.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age > 18 years at the time of consent.
• ECOG performance status </=2 (Karnofsky >/=60%).
• Metastatic HR+/HER2+ breast cancer (estrogen receptor (ER) and/or progesterone receptor (PR) ≥1%, HER2 3+ by immunohistochemistry (IHC) or amplified by in situ hybridization (ISH).
• Prior standard induction treatment with chemotherapy + trastuzumab + pertuzumab (HP) or fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) and have completed a minimum of 4 cycles without progressive disease.
• Planned to start or are receiving endocrine therapy + HER2-directed (HP or pertuzumab/trastuzumab/hyaluronidase-zzxf (PHESGO®)) therapy.
• Demonstrate adequate organ function; all screening labs to be obtained within 28 days prior to registration.
• Left ventricular ejection fraction ≥ 50% as assessed by echocardiogram (ECHO) or multi-gated acquisition scan (MUGA) documented within 6 weeks prior to the study treatment.
• Patients must have measurable disease by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors volume 1.1 (RECIST 1.1) or evaluable disease with circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) that is detectible. Measurable disease is defined as at least one lesion that can be accurately measured in at least one dimension (longest diameter to be recorded for non-nodal lesions and short axis for nodal lesions) as ≥20 mm (≥2 cm) by chest x-ray or as ≥10 mm (≥1 cm) with CT scan, MRI, or calipers by clinical exam.
• Willingness to receive growth factor injections for neutropenia prophylaxis. Only patients without any grade 3 or higher neutropenia during induction chemotherapy or T-DXd will be permitted to proceed without prophylactic growth factor support. If the enrolled patients in this trial develop high grade or prolonged neutropenia, the addition of growth factor will be required.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Active infection requiring systemic therapy.
• Patients with a prior or concurrent malignancy whose natural history or treatment has the potential to interfere with the safety or efficacy assessment of the investigational regimen are not eligible for this trial.
• Treatment with any investigational drug within 14 days prior to registration, or within 5 half-lives of the investigational product, whichever is longer.

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: Alisertib plus standard of care; Participants receive alisertib in addition to usual care	Drug: Alisertib; Alisertib 40mg on days 1-7 of 21-day cycles for 4 cycles

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Clinical benefit defined as partial tumor response (PR)	As defined by RECIST 1.1. Changes in the largest diameter (unidimensional measurement) of the tumor lesions and the shortest diameter in the case of malignant lymph nodes are used in the RECIST criteria. PR is at least a 30% decrease in the sum of the diameters of target lesions, taking as reference the baseline sum diameters.	12 weeks
Clinical benefit defined as complete tumor response (CR)	As defined by RECIST 1.1 Changes in the largest diameter (unidimensional measurement) of the tumor lesions and the shortest diameter in the case of malignant lymph nodes are used in the RECIST criteria. CR is disappearance of all target lesions. Any pathological lymph nodes (whether target or non-target) must have reduction in short axis to <10 mm	12 weeks
Clinical benefit defined as decline in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA)	Clinical benefit is defined as a decline in ctDNA by >50%.	12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Evaluate safety of adding alisertib to usual care by assessing adverse events	To assess safety, adverse events related to alisertib will be assessed. They will be assessed using CTCAE v6.0.	12 weeks
BRD8 signature expression	The 3-gene BRD8 signature (BRD8/AFF3/RBM24) will be evaluated as a predictive biomarker for response to alisertib combination therapy.	12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Kari Wisinski, MD, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): August 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2028
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 9, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 9, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): July 15, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 15, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 9, 2026
• Last Verified: July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Skin Diseases; Breast Diseases; Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases; Breast Neoplasms; MLN 8237
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2026-0872; UW26020 (Other Identifier: UW Madison); Protocol Version 5/22/26 (Other Identifier: UW Madison); UWMSN | SMPH | DOM-Administrat (Other Identifier: UW Madison)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

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

Drug and device information, study documents

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