Abstract OT2-04-05: Pembrolizumab in combination with carboplatin versus carboplatin alone in breast cancer patients with chest wall disease: Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC) 44 trial
Authors: Vidula Neelima , Nanda Rita , Miller Kathy , Abramson Vandana , Pohlmann Paula , Brufsky Adam , Park Ben , Liu Minetta , Goga Andrei , Rugo Hope S. 
Published: March 2020

Background: Chest wall recurrence can occur as a complication of breast cancer. This type of breast cancer is difficult to treat with short-lived responses to therapy, and associated with the development of distant metastases. Better therapies are needed in this setting. Immune checkpoint inhibition is being explored in breast cancer, with an immunotherapy agent currently approved for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). We hypothesize that pembrolizumab, an anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) antibody, may be effective in treating chest wall recurrence of breast cancer given the inflammatory nature of this disease and high expression of PD-1 seen in tumors with lymphovascular invasion that may predispose patients to chest wall recurrence. Platinum chemotherapy may augment anti-tumor immunity, with the combination of pembrolizumab and carboplatin shown to be effective in advanced lung cancer. This study is evaluating the efficacy of pembrolizumab and carboplatin for breast cancer patients with chest wall disease.

Methods: In this phase II study, 84 patients are being randomized 2:1 to treatment with pembrolizumab in combination with carboplatin (Arm A) versus carboplatin alone (Arm B) with an option to cross over to pembrolizumab alone (Arm Bx) on progression. Pembrolizumab is dosed at 200 mg IV every 3 weeks, and carboplatin is dosed at AUC 5 IV every 3 weeks. Patients may have TNBC, hormone receptor positive (HR)+/HER2- breast cancer that has progressed on 2 prior lines of hormone therapy, or refractory HER2+ breast cancer (may continue herceptin). Patients may have distant metastases, but must have surgically unresectable disease. Prior chest wall radiation is allowed. The primary endpoint is to determine the disease control rate (chest wall and distant sites) at 18 weeks of treatment. Patients undergo chest wall assessments with photography of skin lesions with every cycle of treatment, and imaging (CT chest, abdomen, and pelvis, and bone scan) every 2 cycles to evaluate for progression. The study is powered to determine a 20% difference in disease control rates between arms A and B (hazard ratio of 0.52, α= 0.10, β= 0.20). Secondary endpoints include response stratified by tumor programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, progression free survival, response by irRECIST, and toxicity. The study incorporates many translational studies using chest wall biopsy tissue collected at baseline and after 2 cycles of treatment, as well as correlative blood tests, including assessing changes in tumor and blood PD-L1 expression, circulating cell-free DNA, circulating tumor cells, soluble PD-L1 expression, and changes in the expression of MYC, an oncogene that may upregulate the expression of PD-1. Patients are currently being enrolled at 7 sites in the TBCRC. As of July 2019, 30 patients are enrolled. This study is supported by Merck and the TBCRC. (NCT03095352).

Citation Format: Neelima Vidula, Rita Nanda, Kathy Miller, Vandana Abramson, Paula Pohlmann, Adam Brufsky, Ben Park, Minetta Liu, Andrei Goga, Hope S. Rugo. Pembrolizumab in combination with carboplatin versus carboplatin alone in breast cancer patients with chest wall disease: Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC) 44 trial [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr OT2-04-05.