Clinical Research Directory

Pembrolizumab in Muscle Invasive/Metastatic Bladder Cancer

PLUMMB is an phase I trial to investigate the safety, tolerability and effectiveness of an immunotherapy drug called Pembrolizumab used in combination with radiotherapy. The study will also investigate two different doses of pembrolizumab, starting at 100mg (through an intravenous drip) and increasing to 200mg for the next cohort of patients, if the first dose is well tolerated. The patients suitable for this study will be: Group A those with locally advanced bladder cancer or Group B patients whose cancer has spread from the bladder (metastatic bladder cancer). Treatment in the PLUMMB trial will start with a pembrolizumab 2 weeks prior to starting a course of 4 - 6 weeks radiotherapy. Treatment with pembrolizumab will then be given every three weeks. Patients in Group A will then continue to take pembrolizumab for up to a year unless they have disease progression or unacceptable side effects in the meantime. Patients in Group B will continue taking pembrolizumab for as long as needed until they have disease progression or unacceptable side effects. Patients will be seen every 3 weeks during treatment and every 3-6 months thereafter. CT scans will be done every 3 months during treatment and as per usual care (usually 6 monthly) after the treatment has finished. Patients in Group A will also have a cystoscopy (camera test) to look into the bladder 3 months after they finish radiotherapy. This is standard care and would be the same for patients not on a research study.

Atezolizumab and BCG in High Risk BCG naïve Non-muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC) Patients (BladderGATE)

Patients with high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) are usually managed by transurethral resection of their bladder tumor (TURBT) alone plus additional intravesical therapy to deliver high local concentrations of a therapeutic agent within the bladder, potentially destroying viable tumor cells that remain following TURBT. Although the exact mechanism of bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) antitumor action is unknown, its intravesical instillation triggers a variety of local immune responses, which appear to correlate with antitumor activity. BCG induction plus maintenance is the current, guideline-recommended standard of care for high-risk NMIBC. Both recent evidence and guidelines suggest that full-dose BCG maintenance after the first BCG dose of induction course as used in the SWOG 8507 and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 30911 and 30962 trials, is the most appropriate maintenance schedule. High-risk NMIBC patients following adequate treatment have a recurrence rate at 1 and 2 years of 25 and 30% respectively after treatment with the current standard (BCG), which is clearly unsatisfactory. Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is a surface glycoprotein that functions as an inhibitor of T-cells and plays a crucial role in suppression of cellular immune response. It is implicated in tumor immune escape by inducing apoptosis of activated antigen-specific CD8 T-cells, impairing cytokine production and diminishing the toxicity of activated T-cells. PD-L1 expression by immunohistochemistry using the Ventana SP142 assay on tumor-infiltrating immune cell (IC) status defined by the percentage of PD-L1 positive ICs: IC0 (\<1%); IC1 (≥1% but\<5%); and IC2/3 (≥5%PD-L1) has been demonstrated to be higher (IC2/3) in resection and TURBT specimens versus biopsies from primary lesions or metastatic sites. In patients with metastatic bladder cancer, treatment with the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab (1200 mg, every 3 weeks) resulted in objective response rates of 26% in the IC2/3 group, 18% in the IC1/2/3 group and 15% in all patients. The median overall survival was 11.4 months in the IC2/3 group, 8.8 months in the IC1/2/3, and 7.9 months in all patients. Grade 3-4 related treatment-related adverse events occurred in 16% and grade 3-4 immune-mediated adverse events occurred in 5% of treated patients. In murine models with invasive bladder cancer, anti-PD-1 plus CpG has shown to increase survival in mice, with anti-PD-1 plus CpG being superior to either agent alone. Taken together, these results confirmed the clinical activity of atezolizumab in metastatic bladder cancer, which could be beneficial in patients with NMIBC in combination with standard approaches such as BCG.

A Study of Mitomycin-c/ Capecitabine ChemoRadiotherapy Combined With Nivolumab Monotherapy or Ipilumimab and Nivolumab, as Bladder Sparing Curative Treatment for Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer: the CRIMI Study

A multicenter Phase 1b/2, two stage, open label study of MMC/Capecitabine ChRT combined with nivolumab monotherapy or nivolumab and ipilimumab combination therapy in adult (\>18 years) subjects with non-metastatic muscle invasive bladder cancer that qualify for ChRT with curative intent.