Phase I/II trial to study the effectiveness of combining interleukin-12 with interleukin-2 in treating patients who have mycosis fungoides. Biological therapies, such as interleukin-12 and interleukin-2, use different ways to stimulate the immune system and stop cancer cells from growing. Combining more than one biological therapy may kill more tumor cells
OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the response rate (complete and partial) in patients with mycosis fungoides treated with interleukin-12 (IL-12). II. Determine the frequency of refractory disease in patients treated with this drug. III. Determine the toxic effects of this drug in these patients. IV. Determine the feasibility and dose-limiting toxic effects (DLT) of interleukin-2 (IL-2) when administered with IL-12 in patients who have not shown disease progression after 12 weeks of IL-12 and in those who have shown disease progression after 12 weeks of IL-12. V. Determine the maximum tolerated dose and recommended dose of IL-2 when administered with IL-12 in these patients. VI. Determine immune and cytokine response over time in patients treated with this regimen. VII. Determine the frequency of improved clinical response in patients treated with this regimen. VIII. Determine the biologic correlates of response, including levels of interferon gamma production, natural killer cell activity, infiltration of skin lesions by CD8-positive cells, lymphocyte IL-12 receptor expression, signal transducers and activators of transcription protein levels and IL-12 signal transduction, and induction of apoptosis in tumor cells in the skin of patients treated with this regimen. OUTLINE: This is an open-label, multicenter, dose-escalation study of interleukin-2 (IL-2). Patients receive interleukin-12 (IL-12) subcutaneously (SC) twice weekly for 24 weeks. Disease is assessed at 13 weeks. Patients who do not have progressive disease also receive IL-2 SC 3 consecutive days a week during weeks 13-24. Patients with progressive disease at week 13 receive IL-2 SC at a fixed dose during weeks 13-24. Patients with responding disease after week 24 may continue to receive IL-2 and IL-12 for another 12 weeks. Cohorts of 3-6 patients receive escalating doses of IL-2 until the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) is determined. The MTD is defined as the dose at which at least 2 of 3 or 2 of 6 patients experience dose-limiting toxicity. The recommended dose (RD) is the dose preceding the MTD. Additional patients are treated at the RD. Patients are followed at 6 months. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 18-46 patients will be accrued for this study within 28 months.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
46
Abramson Cancer Center of The University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Clinical response rate defined as the percentage of patients who achieve complete or partial response (Phase I)
Time frame: Up to week 13
Refractory disease defined as a patient who initially shows clinical improvement in the early weeks of treatment and then exhibits a response plateau for >= 30 days or exhibits progression of their disease (Phase I)
Logistic regression may be employed to explore the relationships between clinical response or refractory disease and baseline patient features.
Time frame: Up to week 13
Improved clinical response defined as a patient who had refractory or persistent disease and who subsequently had a >= 25% clinical improvement for >= 30 days during aldesleukin and recombinant interleukin-12 therapy (Phase II)
Time frame: Up to week 25
Toxicities graded using National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Toxicity Criteria Version 2.0 (Phase I)
Time frame: Up to 6 months
Dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) is defined as any grade 3 or higher hematologic or non-hematologic toxicity (Phase II)
Time frame: Up to week 25
Maximum tolerated dose (MTD), defined as the dose level at which at least 2 of 3 patients or at least 2 of 6 patients experience DLT, graded according to the NCI CTC v2.0 (Phase II)
Time frame: Up to week 25
Recommended dose (RD), defined as the dose level at which 0/6 or 1/6 patients experience DLT and at least 2 patients treated at a higher dose level experience DLT (Phase II)
Time frame: Up to week 25
Interferon gamma production
Compared between the two groups by two independent samples t-test or nonparametric Mann-Whitney test, as appropriate.
Time frame: Up to week 25
Infiltration of skin lesions by CD8+ cells
Time frame: Up to week 25
Induction of apoptosis in infiltrating tumor cells in the skin
Time frame: Up to week 26
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