CTIM-10. REPRODUCIBILITY OF CLINICAL TRIALS USING CMV-TARGETED DENDRITIC CELL VACCINES IN PATIENTS WITH GLIOBLASTOMA

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:sec> <jats:title>INTRODUCTION</jats:title> <jats:p>Vaccination with dendritic cells (DCs) fares poorly in primary and recurrent glioblastoma (GBM). Moreover, GBM vaccine trials are often underpowered due to limited sample size.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>METHODS</jats:title> <jats:p>To address these limitations, we conducted three sequential clinical trials utilizing Cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific DC vaccines in patients with primary GBM. Autologous DCs were generated and electroporated with mRNA encoding for the CMV protein pp65. Serial vaccination was given throughout adjuvant temozolomide cycles, and 111Indium radiolabeling was implemented to assess migration efficiency of DC vaccines. Patients were followed for median overall survival (mOS) and OS.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>RESULTS</jats:title> <jats:p>Our initial study was the phase II ATTAC study (NCT00639639; total n=12) with 6 patients randomized to vaccine site preconditioning with tetanus-diphtheria (Td) toxoid. This led to an expanded cohort trial (ATTAC-GM; NCT00639639) of 11 patients receiving CMV DC vaccines containing granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Follow-up data from ATTAC and ATTAC-GM revealed 5-year OS rates of 33.3% (mOS 38.3 months; CI95 17.5-undefined) and 36.4% (mOS 37.7 months; CI95 18.2-109.1), respectively. ATTAC additionally revealed a significant increase in DC migration to draining lymph nodes following Td preconditioning (P=0.049). Increased DC migration was associated with OS (Cox proportional hazards model, HR=0.820, P=0.023). Td-mediated increased migration has been recapitulated in our larger confirmatory trial ELEVATE (NCT02366728) of 43 patients randomized to preconditioning (Wilcoxon rank sum, Td n=24, unpulsed DC n=19; 24h, P=0.031 and 48h, P=0.0195). In ELEVATE, median follow-up of 42.2 months revealed significantly longer OS in patients randomized to Td (P=0.026). The 3-year OS for Td-treated patients in ELEVATE was 34% (CI95 19-63%) compared to 6% given unpulsed DCs (CI95 1-42%).</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>CONCLUSION</jats:title> <jats:p>We report reproducibility of our findings across three sequential clinical trials using CMV pp65 DCs. Despite their small numbers, these successive trials demonstrate consistent survival outcomes, thus supporting the efficacy of CMV DC vaccine therapy in GBM.</jats:p> </jats:sec>

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Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1093/neuonc/noab196.202

Publication Info

Batich, Kristen, Duane Mitchell, Patrick Healy, James Herndon, Gloria Broadwater, Gunn Michael, Min-Nung Huang, Kelly Hotchkiss, et al. (2021). CTIM-10. REPRODUCIBILITY OF CLINICAL TRIALS USING CMV-TARGETED DENDRITIC CELL VACCINES IN PATIENTS WITH GLIOBLASTOMA. Neuro-Oncology, 23(Supplement_6). pp. vi51–vi51. 10.1093/neuonc/noab196.202 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/24053.

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Scholars@Duke

Johnson

Margaret Johnson

Associate Professor of Neurosurgery

I am a neuro-oncologist, neurologist, and palliative care physician at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center. I also provide neuro-oncology expertise for the National Tele-Oncology Program and National Precision Oncology Program at the Veteran's Health Administration. My clinical and research interests encompass supportive care and palliative care with a special interest in older adults with brain tumors. The incidence of malignant brain tumors like glioblastoma and non-malignant tumors like meningioma affect aging populations and it is crucial to be able to provide better care for these patients. 

Landi

Daniel Bryce Landi

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
McLendon

Roger Edwin McLendon

Professor of Pathology

Brain tumors are diagnosed in more than 20,000 Americans annually. The most malignant neoplasm, glioblastoma, is also the most common. Similarly, brain tumors constitute the most common solid neoplasm in children and include astrocytomas of the cerebellum, brain stem and cerebrum as well as medulloblastomas of the cerebellum.  My colleagues and I have endeavored to translate the bench discoveries of genetic mutations and aberrant protein expressions found in brain tumors to better understand the processes involved in the etiology, pathogenesis, and treatment of brain tumors.  Using the resources of the Preston Robert Brain Tumor Biorepository at Duke, our team, consisting of Henry Friedman, Allan Friedman, and Hai Yan and lead by Darell Bigner, have helped to identify mutations in Isocitrate Dehydrogenase (IDH1 and IDH2) as a marker of good prognosis in gliomas of adults.  This test is now offered at Duke as a clinical test.  Working with the Molecular Pathology Laboratory at Duke, we have also brought testing for TERT promoter region mutations as another major test for classifying gliomas in adults.  Our collaboration with the Toronto Sick Kids Hospital has resulted in prognostic testing for childhood medulloblastomas, primitive neuroectodermal tumors, and ependymomas at Duke.

Fecci

Peter Edward Fecci

Professor of Neurosurgery

As the Director of both the Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program and the Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis at Duke University, I focus our programmatic interests on the design, optimization, and monitoring of immune-based treatment platforms for patients with intracranial tumors, whether primary or metastatic. Within this broad scope, however, my own group looks more specifically at limitations to immunotherapeutic success, with a particular focus on understanding and reversing T cell dysfunction in patients with glioblastoma (GBM) and brain metastases. We employ a systematic approach to categorizing T cell dysfunction (Woroniecka et al, Clin Cancer Res 2018 Aug 15;24(16):3792-3802), and whereas our earlier work addressed concerns for regulatory T cell-induced tolerance, we now heavily study T cell ignorance and exhaustion, as well. Regarding the former, we recently published the novel phenomenon of S1P1-mediated bone marrow T cell sequestration in patients with intracranial tumors (Chongsathidkiet et al, Nat Medicine 2018 Sep;24(9):1459-1468). Regarding the latter, we have likewise recently identified and characterized exhaustion as a significant limitation to T-cell function within GBM (Woroniecka et al, Clin Cancer Res 2018 Sep 1;24(17):4175-4186). I very much look to collaboratively integrate our approaches with others investigating innovative treatment options. I continue my focus on combining strategies for reversing T cell deficits with current and novel immune-based platforms as a means of deriving and improving rational and precise anti-tumor therapies. It is my sincerest desire to forge a career focused on co-operative, multi-disciplinary, organized brain tumor therapy. Ultimately, my goal is to help coordinate the efforts of a streamlined and effective center for brain tumor research and clinical care. I hope to play some role in ushering in a period where the science and treatment arms of brain tumor therapy suffer no disjoint, but instead represent the convergent efforts of researchers, neuro-oncologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, biomedical engineers, and neurosurgeons alike. I hope to see such synergy become standard of care.

Kirkpatrick

John P. Kirkpatrick

Professor of Radiation Oncology

Malignant and benign tumors of the brain, spine and base of skull. Mathematical modelling of tumor metabolism, mass transfer and the response to ionizing radiation. Enhancing clinical outcome in stereotactic radiosurgery, fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy and stereotactic body radiotherapy.

Ashley

David Michael Ashley

Rory David Deutsch Distinguished Professor of Neuro-Oncology

My career in cancer research dates more than two decades. I am credentialed in both pediatric and adult neuro-oncology practice and this has been the focus of my efforts in translational research and leadership. As evident from my publication and grant support record, my primary academic focus has been on neurologic tumors, the development of innovative therapies and approaches to care. These efforts have included basic and translational laboratory research. My experience includes moving laboratory findings in brain tumor immunology and epigenetics into early phase clinical trials. I have expertise in immuno-oncology, having developed and clinically tested dendritic cell vaccines and other immuno-therapeutics. My achievements in research have led to change in practice in the care of children and adults with brain tumors, including the introduction of new standards of practice for the delivery of systemic therapy. I am highly regarded for this work, as evidenced by numerous invitations to plenary sessions and symposia of international standing. I have been the principal investigator of a number of important national and international studies, both clinical and pre-clinical. I am recognized as a senior figure and opinion leader in neuro-oncology nationally and internationally. I have held several significant leadership roles, including Director of two major cancer centers, I served as the Chair of Medicine at Deakin University, the Program Director of Cancer Services at University Hospital Barwon Health, and Executive Director of the Western Alliance Academic Health Science Centre (Australia). I began my current position as Director of The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, Head, Preuss Laboratory, in March 2018. In this role, I am responsible for the clinical care, research, and educational program related to Brain Tumor Center. I am also a senior investigational neuro-oncologist within the adult brain tumor program at Duke.

Sampson

John Howard Sampson

Robert H., MD and Gloria Wilkins Professor Emeritus of Neurosurgery

Current research activities involve the immunotherapeutic targeting of a tumor-specific mutation in the epidermal growth factor receptor. Approaches used to target this tumor-specific epitope include unarmed and radiolabeled antibody therapy and cell mediated approaches using peptide vaccines and dendritic cells. Another area of interest involves drug delivery to brain tumors. Translational and clinical work is carried out in this area to formulate the relationship between various direct intratumoral infusion parameters and drug distribution within brain tumors and normal brain.

The Duke Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program (BTIP) has an emphasis on translational research in Neuro-Oncology. There are two main areas of study. The first is novel mechanisms of delivery of large molecular weight molecules, such as monoclonal antibodies, throughout brain intersitial space using novel intracerebral infusion techniques developed by this laboratory. Studies exploring this technology are undertaken in both small and large laboratory animals and patients with brain tumors.

The other focus of the BTIP is translational immunotherapy. In this line of work, dendritic cell vaccination strategies and adoptive T-cell strategies have been developed to target novel and well-characterized tumor-specific antigens in patients with brain tumors. The BTIP integrates well with and works closely with the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke. The BTIP is well funded and currently holds seven NIH grants, including a SPORE in Brain Cancer grant. There are a large number of investigators at various levels so that students will get exposure to various levels of research and mentorship.


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