This phase I trial studies the side effects and best dose of autologous dendritic cell-adenovirus CCL21 vaccine (CCL21-gene modified dendritic cell vaccine) combined with intravenous pembrolizumab, and to see how well they work in treating patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. Vaccines made from a gene-modified virus may help the body build an effective immune response to kill tumor cells. Monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Giving CCL21-gene modified dendritic cell vaccine with pembrolizumab may work better in treating patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. Dose escalation: To determine the safety and maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of intratumoral injection of autologous dendritic cell-adenovirus CCL21 vaccine (CCL21 gene-modified DC \[Ad-CCL21-DC\]) when combined with intravenous pembrolizumab in 1) patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without a sensitizing epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation and/or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangement who have received prior systemic anti-cancer therapy for advanced disease that includes a PD -1 and/or PD-L1 inhibitor or 2) patients who have sensitizing EGFR mutations and/or ALK gene rearrangements and have received prior tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy. II. Dose expansion: To evaluate the objective response rate (ORR) in subjects treated with the dose established during dose escalation (ExD) of intratumoral injection of Ad-CCL21-DC when administered with intravenous pembrolizumab in 1) patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without a sensitizing epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation and/or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangement who have received prior systemic anti-cancer therapy for advanced disease that includes a PD -1 and/or PD-L1 inhibitor or 2) patients who have sensitizing EGFR mutations and/or ALK gene rearrangements and have received prior tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To define the adverse event (AE) profile of intratumoral injection of Ad-CCL21-DC (determined during dose escalation) when administered with intravenous pembrolizumab in 1) patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without a sensitizing epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation and/or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangement who have received prior systemic anti-cancer therapy for advanced disease that includes a PD -1 and/or PD-L1 inhibitor or 2) patients who have sensitizing EGFR mutations and/or ALK gene rearrangements and have received prior tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy. II. To determine drug target activity by analyzing serial pre- and post-treatment biopsies and blood specimens of intratumoral injection of Ad-CCL21-DC (determined during dose escalation) when administered with intravenous pembrolizumab in 1) patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without a sensitizing epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation and/or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangement who have received prior systemic anti-cancer therapy for advanced disease that includes a PD -1 and/or PD-L1 inhibitor or 2) patients who have sensitizing EGFR mutations and/or ALK gene rearrangements and have received prior tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy. OUTLINE: This is a dose-escalation study of autologous dendritic cell-adenovirus CCL21 vaccine. Patients receive pembrolizumab intravenously (IV) over 30 minutes followed by autologous dendritic cell-adenovirus CCL21 vaccine by computed tomography (CT)-guided or bronchoscopic intratumoral (IT) injection on days 0, 21, and 42. Patients then receive pembrolizumab every 3 weeks for up to 1 year in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at day 63 and every 3 months thereafter.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
24
Given via CT-guided or bronchoscopic IT injection
Given IV
UCLA / Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Los Angeles, California, United States
Maximum tolerated dose (MTD)/maximum administered dose (MAD) (dose escalation)
Time frame: At 28 days
Overall response rate (ORR) per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version (v) 1.1 (dose expansion)
Demographic characteristics of patients including age, gender ethnicity, performance status, prior therapies and other baseline characteristics as collected on the case report form will be summarized by Ad-CCL21-DC dose cohort using descriptive statistics. For continuous variables, descriptive statistics (n, mean, standard deviation, standard error, median, minimum, and maximum) will be provided. For categorical variables, patient counts and percentages will be provided. Categories for missing data will be presented if necessary. The ORR will be summarized using descriptive statistics by dose level. The ORR will be analyzed using one-sample exact Binomial test for the patients treated at MTD or MAD in both the dose escalation phase and dose expansion phase. The 95% exact confidence interval (CI) will be provided.
Time frame: Up to 1 year
Incidence of adverse events per Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version (v) 5.0
Time frame: Up to 1 year
Biomarker assessment
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) will be conducted to assess biomarkers including PD-1, PD-L1, CD8, and CD4 (DC) expression. All immunologic parameters will be summarized using mean, standard deviation, median, percentile for continuous variables, and frequency and percentage for categorical variables. The summary statistics will be tabulated by time and dose level. Several plots, such as stem-and-leaf plot and normal probability plot, will be constructed to check the distribution of each variable. Transformation will be applied if the distribution of the variable is not normal. For the tumor tissue immune parameters measured at different time points, the post- treatment values will be compared with the pre-treatment values using either paired t-test or Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Box plots for pre-treatment and post-treatment data will be presented.
Time frame: Up to 1 year
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