GMCI, Nivolumab, and Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients With Newly Diagnosed High-Grade Gliomas

Completed · Phase 1

Conditions studied: Glioma, Malignant

In brief

The purpose of this phase I trial is to test the safety of combining GMCI, an immunostimulator, plus nivolumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI), with standard of care radiation therapy, and temozolomide in treating patients with newly diagnosed high-grade gliomas. Gene Mediated Cytotoxic Immunotherapy (GMCI) involves the use of aglatimagene besadenovec (AdV-tk) injection into the tumor site and oral valacyclovir to kill tumor cells and stimulate the immune system. Nivolumab is an immune checkpoint inhibitor that may also stimulate the immune system by blocking the PD-1 immune suppressive pathway. Radiation therapy uses high energy x-rays to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors and temozolomide is a chemotherapy drug that kills tumor cells. Giving GMCI, nivolumab, radiation therapy, and temozolomide may work better in treating patients with high-grade gliomas

Key facts

Study ID: NCT03576612
Run by: Candel Therapeutics, Inc.
People needed: 41
Starts: 2018-02-27
Expected to finish: 2023-06-30
Last updated by the study team: 2025-02-14

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

Patients must have operable brain tumor presumed to be high grade glioma (HGG) based on clinical and radiologic evaluation, where a gross total surgical resection of the contrast-enhancing area is intended; pathologic confirmation of HGG must be made at the time of surgery prior to AdV-tk injection, if not previously determined
Patients must have a Karnofsky performance status >= 70% (i.e. the patient must be able to care for himself/herself with occasional help from others)
Absolute neutrophil count >= 1,500/uL
Platelets >= 100,000/uL
Hemoglobin >= 9 g/dL
Total bilirubin =< 1.5 x institutional upper limit of normal (ULN), (except for patients with known Gilbert's syndrome who must have normal direct bilirubin)
Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT)/alanine aminotransaminase (ALT) serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) =< 3.0 x institutional ULN
Creatinine =< institutional ULN
Calculated creatinine clearance >= 40 ml/min (use a modified Cockcroft-Gault equation)
Activated partial thromboplastin time/partial thromboplastin time (APTT/PTT) =< 1.5 x institutional ULN
Patients must be able to provide written informed consent
Patients must have magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within 14 days of starting treatment; patients must be able to tolerate MRI
Women of childbearing potential must agree to have a negative serum pregnancy test within 24 hours prior to treatment start; women of childbearing potential must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry, for the duration of study treatment, and through at least 5 months after the last dose of study drug; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately; sexually active men of reproductive potential who are partners of women with reproductive potential must also agree to use adequate contraception prior to the study, for the duration of study participation, and through at least 7 months after the last dose of study drug; adequate methods of effective birth control include sexual abstinence (men, women); vasectomy; or a condom with spermicide (men) in combination with barrier methods, hormonal birth control or intrauterine device (IUD) (women)
Patients must have no concurrent malignancy except curatively treated basal or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin or carcinoma in situ of the cervix, breast, or bladder; patients with prior malignancies must be disease-free for >= two years; patients with low-risk prostate cancer on active surveillance are eligible
Patients must be able to swallow oral medications
Patients must not have received prior radiation therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy or therapy with biologic agent (including immunotoxins, immunoconjugates, antisense, peptide receptor antagonists, interferons, interleukins, tumor infiltrating lymphocyte [TIL], lymphokine-activated killer [LAK] or gene therapy), or hormonal therapy for their brain tumor; glucocorticoid therapy is allowed

You may not qualify if…

Patients receiving any other investigational agents are ineligible
Patients with a history of hypersensitivity or allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to valacyclovir, acyclovir, or temozolomide are ineligible; the valacyclovir and temozolomide package inserts can be referenced for more information
Patients with a history of severe hypersensitivity reaction to any monoclonal antibody are ineligible
Patients who require therapy with systemic immunosuppressive drugs except corticosteroids are ineligible
Patients with a history of active autoimmune disease requiring treatment in the past 2 years are ineligible
Patients with uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, active liver disease or active hepatitis, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements, are ineligible
Pregnant women are excluded from this study; breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with these agents through 1 week after receiving the last dose of study drugs
Patients who are known to be human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive are ineligible

Where it is running

Dana Farber Cancer Institute — Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Henry Ford Hospital — Detroit, Michigan, United States
Wake Forest University Comprehensive Cancer Center — Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
Abrams Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Hillman Cancer Center at University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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