Recombinant Interleukin-15 in Combination With Checkpoint Inhibitors Nivolumab and Ipilimumab in People With Refractory Cancers

Summary

Background: The drug Interleukin-15 (IL-15) activates the immune system. The drugs nivolumab and ipilimumab unblock immune cells. The drugs together may allow immune cells to recognize and attack cancer cells, causing tumors to shrink. Objective: To test the effects and maximum dose of IL-15, nivolumab, and ipilimumab. Eligibility: People ages 18 and older who have cancer that does not respond to treatment Design: Participants will be screened with: * Medical history * Physical exam * Heart, blood, and urine tests * Scans Tumor biopsy: A small needle removes a tumor sample. Participants will be in 1 of 3 treatment groups: * IL-15 with nivolumab * IL-15 with ipilimumab * IL-15 with nivolumab and ipilimumab Participants will take the drugs in four 6-week cycles. IL-15 is injected under the skin. The other two drugs are injected into an arm vein over 60-90 minutes. Participants may need to stay at the hospital 2-3 hours after the first dose of any drug to watch for side effects. Each cycle will include: * Weekly blood and urine tests * 16 IL-15 injections * 1 ipilimumab injection if applicable * 3 nivolumab injections if applicable * Blood tests weekly during cycles 1 and 2 * Urine tests weekly during cycles 1 and 2 * Scans and a tumor biopsy on day 42 After cycle 4, participants will stop taking IL-15. They will continue the other drugs until they can no longer tolerate the side effects, or their cancer gets worse. Those cycles will include: * 1 ipilimumab injection if applicable * 3 nivolumab injections if applicable * Scans every other cycle After participants stop treatment, their doctor will monitor their side effects for 4 months or until they go away.

Timeline

Start

2018-02-05

Primary completion

2024-11-27

Completion

2025-05-08

Publications

• 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 Lipson EJ, Drake CG. Ipilimumab: an anti-CTLA-4 antibody for metastatic melanoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2011 Nov 15;17(22):6958-62. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-11-1595. Epub 2011 Sep 7.
• Background Conlon KC, Lugli E, Welles HC, Rosenberg SA, Fojo AT, Morris JC, Fleisher TA, Dubois SP, Perera LP, Stewart DM, Goldman CK, Bryant BR, Decker JM, Chen J, Worthy TA, Figg WD Sr, Peer CJ, Sneller MC, Lane HC, Yovandich JL, Creekmore SP, Roederer M, Waldmann TA. Redistribution, hyperproliferation, activation of natural killer cells and CD8 T cells, and cytokine production during first-in-human clinical trial of recombinant human interleukin-15 in patients with cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2015 Jan 1;33(1):74-82. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2014.57.3329. Epub 2014 Nov 17.
• Waldmann TA, Dubois S, Miljkovic MD, Conlon KC. IL-15 in the Combination Immunotherapy of Cancer. Front Immunol. 2020 May 19;11:868. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.00868. eCollection 2020.

Drugs

Indications