A Pilot Study of Combined Immune Checkpoint Inhibition in Combination With Ablative Therapies in Subjects With Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) or Biliary Tract Carcinomas (BTC)

Summary

BACKGROUND: * Various tumor ablative procedures and techniques have been shown to result in immunogenic cell death and induction of a peripheral immune response. The term ablative therapies applies to trans-arterial catheter chemoembolization (TACE), radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and cryoablation (CA). * The underlying hypothesis of this study is that the effect of immune checkpoint inhibition can be enhanced by TACE, CA and RFA in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and biliary tract carcinomas (BTC). We have already demonstrated proof of principle as well as safety and feasibility of this approach with anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) therapy. * Based on the concept of programmed death-ligand 1 (PDL1)-mediated adaptive resistance and the emerging role of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) therapy in HCC, we would like to evaluate the combination of tremelimumab and durvalumab (with ablative therapies) in HCC and BTC. Objectives: \- To preliminarily evaluate the 6-month progression free survival (PFS) of combining tremelimumab and durvalumab in patients with advanced HCC (either alone or with cryoablation, TACE or RFA) and in patients with advanced biliary tract carcinoma (BTC) (either alone or with cryoablation or RFA). ELIGIBILITY: * Histologically or cytologically confirmed diagnosis of HCC or biliary tract carcinoma OR histopathological confirmation of carcinoma in the setting of clinical and radiological characteristics which, together with the pathology, are highly suggestive of a diagnosis of HCC (or biliary tract carcinoma). * Childs-Pugh A/B7 cirrhosis only is allowed. If patient does not have cirrhosis, this limitation does not apply. * Patients must have disease that is not amenable to potentially curative resection, radiofrequency ablation, or liver transplantation. DESIGN: We will evaluate the combination of tremelimumab and durvalumab (with ablative therapies) in cohorts A (HCC; N=40) and B (BTC; N=30). The first N=10 patients in both cohorts will receive tremelimumab and durvalumab only (i.e. No interventional radiologic procedures). * A: Advanced HCC, BCLC# Stage B/C * N= 1st 10 pts: No ablative procedure Cryoablation/RFA/TACE## * Tremelimumab 75mg flat dose every (q)28 days for 4 doses; Durvalumab 1500mg flat dose q28 days until end of study (EOS)### * 40 total: 10 trem+ dur alone; 10 trem+ dur + TACE; 10 trem + dur + RFA; 10 trem + dur + cryo * B: Intra/extra-hepatic cholangiocarcinoma * N= 1st 10 patients (pts): No ablative procedure; RFA/ cryoablation * Tremelimumab 75mg flat dose q28 days for 4 doses; Durvalumab 1500mg flat dose q28 days until EOS### * 30 total: 10 trem+ dur alone; 10 trem + dur + RFA; 10 trem * BCLC = Barcelona clinic liver cancer staging system * For BCLC stage B patients TACE may be repeated as per standard of care * EOS = End of study treatment or meeting any of the off-treatment or off study criteria.

Timeline

Start

2016-07-05

Primary completion

2021-02-17

Completion

2022-12-31

Publications

• Background Duffy AG, Greten TF. Immunological off-target effects of standard treatments in gastrointestinal cancers. Ann Oncol. 2014 Jan;25(1):24-32. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdt349. Epub 2013 Nov 7.
• Background Brahmer JR, Tykodi SS, Chow LQ, Hwu WJ, Topalian SL, Hwu P, Drake CG, Camacho LH, Kauh J, Odunsi K, Pitot HC, Hamid O, Bhatia S, Martins R, Eaton K, Chen S, Salay TM, Alaparthy S, Grosso JF, Korman AJ, Parker SM, Agrawal S, Goldberg SM, Pardoll DM, Gupta A, Wigginton JM. Safety and activity of anti-PD-L1 antibody in patients with advanced cancer. N Engl J Med. 2012 Jun 28;366(26):2455-65. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1200694. Epub 2012 Jun 2.
• Background Sangro B, Gomez-Martin C, de la Mata M, Inarrairaegui M, Garralda E, Barrera P, Riezu-Boj JI, Larrea E, Alfaro C, Sarobe P, Lasarte JJ, Perez-Gracia JL, Melero I, Prieto J. A clinical trial of CTLA-4 blockade with tremelimumab in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and chronic hepatitis C. J Hepatol. 2013 Jul;59(1):81-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2013.02.022. Epub 2013 Mar 4.
• Myojin Y, Babaei S, Trehan R, Hoffman C, Kedei N, Ruf B, Benmebarek MR, Bauer KC, Huang P, Ma C, Monge C, Xie C, Hrones D, Duffy AG, Armstrong P, Kocheise L, Desmond F, Buchalter J, Galligan M, Cantwell C, Ryan R, McCann J, Bourke M, Mac Nicholas R, McDermott R, Awosika J, Cam M, Krebs R, Budhu A, Revsine M, Figg WD, Kleiner DE, Redd B, Wood BJ, Wang XW, Korangy F, Claassen M, Greten TF. Multiomics analysis of immune correlatives in hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with tremelimumab plus durvalumab. Gut. 2025 May 7;74(6):983-995. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2024-334026.
• Monge C, Xie C, Myojin Y, Coffman-D'Annibale KL, Hrones D, Brar G, Wang S, Budhu A, Figg WD, Cam M, Finney R, Levy EB, Kleiner DE, Steinberg SM, Wang XW, Redd B, Wood BJ, Greten TF. Combined immune checkpoint inhibition with durvalumab and tremelimumab with and without radiofrequency ablation in patients with advanced biliary tract carcinoma. Cancer Med. 2024 Feb;13(3):e6912. doi: 10.1002/cam4.6912. Epub 2024 Jan 11.

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