Abstract CT292: Phase II study of pembrolizumab in combination with lenvatinib in patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and other tumor types and brain metastases
Authors: Dumbrava Ecaterina E. , Montazari Emma J. , Vu Uyen M. , Cai Tiantian , Altan Mehmet , Ibrahim Nuhad K. , Yeboa Debra N. , Li Jing , Lang Frederick F. , Sanchez Gisela , Glitza Isabella C. , O'Brien Barbara J. , Murthy Rashmi K. , Wang Jianbo , Darko Tanisha T. , Velazquez Denisse , Shah Komal , Meric-Bernstam Funda , Tawbi Hussein , Rodon Jordi 
Published: April 2024

Background: Many patients develop brain metastasis during the course of their disease and it represents the cause of death in more than half of them. The prognosis and survival of patients with brain metastases remains poor with limited palliative treatment options. Thus, there is a need to develop new strategies for the therapeutic management of patients with brain metastases. Inflammatory stimuli originating from CNS tumors may increase the permeability of the blood-brain barrier and promote immune cell activation and infiltration into tumors. Several studies have demonstrated now the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with melanoma with active brain metastases. The modulation of VEGF-mediated immune suppression via angiogenesis inhibition may augment the activity of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Lenvatinib is an oral, potent multiple receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor that selectively inhibits VEGFRs, VEGFR1 (FLT1), VEGFR2 (KDR), and VEGFR3 (FLT4), in addition to other pro-angiogenic and oncogenic pathway-related receptor tyrosine kinases. The combination of lenvatinib and pembrolizumab is approved for patients with metastatic endometrial carcinoma and renal cancer, and it is investigated in other tumor types with promising preliminary results. We hypothesize that pembrolizumab and lenvatinib will be an effective treatment for TNBC, NSCLC, and other solid tumor types with brain metastases by decreasing angiogenic tumor activity and improving antitumor T-cell activity.

Methods: This is a single-center, open-label, multi-cohort Phase II study evaluating the efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab in combination with lenvatinib in patients with solid tumors and brain metastases. The study has 3 cohorts: triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and other solid tumor types with established or preliminary clinical evidence of efficacy of programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and angiogenesis inhibitors. Eligible patients will have at least 1 unirraditated or progressing brain metastasis of 0.5-2 cm on brain MRI. The study is conducted using a Simon’s optimal two-stage design, and approximately 87 patients will be enrolled concurrently (n=29 per cohort). Pembrolizumab (200 mg intravenously on Day 1 of each cycle) and lenvatinib (20 mg orally once daily) are administered in 21-day cycles for a maximum of 24 months. The primary endpoint is intracranial objective response rate at 4 months as assessed by the modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (mRECIST). Exploratory analyses will include evaluation of tissue and blood-based immune-related correlates of response to the pembrolizumab and lenvatinib combination. The first patient was enrolled in January 2022 and accrual of patients is ongoing (NCT05064280).

Citation Format: Ecaterina E. Dumbrava, Emma J. Montazari, Uyen M. Vu, Tiantian Cai, Mehmet Altan, Nuhad K. Ibrahim, Debra N. Yeboa, Jing Li, Frederick F. Lang, Gisela Sanchez, Isabella C. Glitza, Barbara J. O'Brien, Rashmi K. Murthy, Jianbo Wang, Tanisha T. Darko, Denisse Velazquez, Komal Shah, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Hussein Tawbi, Jordi Rodon. Phase II study of pembrolizumab in combination with lenvatinib in patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and other tumor types and brain metastases [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 2 (Late-Breaking, Clinical Trial, and Invited Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(7_Suppl):Abstract nr CT292.