Personalized Tumor Vaccine Strategy and PD-1 Blockade in Patients With Follicular Lymphoma

Follicular lymphoma (FL) has a number of effective standard of care therapies; however, FL is not currently considered curable. Therefore, designing well tolerated therapies without cumulative and long-term toxicity is critical. This is a pilot safety and feasibility study that combines a personalized tumor vaccine with nivolumab for the treatment of FL. Patients who demonstrate progression on this study may be treated with rituximab (or another monoclonal antibody against CD20) in addition to vaccine therapy with nivolumab at the discretion of treating physician if clinically indicated.


Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Histologically confirmed follicular lymphoma, grade 1-3a
* Patients who have relapsed after at least 1 prior anti-lymphoma therapy that include anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody and an alkylator chemotherapy agent, or at least 2 prior anti-lymphoma therapies that include anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, may be included
* Anti-CD20 mAb-naïve or anti CD20 mAb-sensitive (defined as progression of FL ≥ 6 months following prior anti-CD20 mAb containing therapy).
* Presence of measurable disease according to the 2014 Lugano Classification
* Disease course appropriate for therapy initiation approximately 4-5 months from enrollment per treating physician.
* Tumor site amenable to a) excisional biopsy or b) approximately 12 core biopsies from lymph node or extranodal site(s) or other site of lymphoma or c) other surgical procedure to provide adequate lymphoma sample for TSMA sequencing and screening.
* At least 18 years of age.
* Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status ≤ 1
* Normal bone marrow and organ function as defined below:

  * Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,000/mcl
  * Platelets ≥ 100,000/mcl
  * Total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 x ULN
  * AST, ALT ≤ 3.0 x ULN
  * Creatinine clearance ≥ 50 mL/min (calculated by the Cockcroft-Gault or via 24-hour urine collection)
* Women of childbearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control, abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation. Should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she must inform her treating physician immediately.
* Ability to understand and willingness to sign an IRB approved written informed consent document (or that of legally authorized representative, if applicable).

Exclusion Criteria:

* Known current or previous histologic transformation from indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma or other aggressive lymphoma histology.
* Any anti-lymphoma treatment within 6 months' treatment initiation.
* Prior therapy with anti-PD-1, PD-L1, or PD-L2 agent.
* Diagnosis of a condition requiring systemic treatment with either corticosteroids (\> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents) or other immunosuppressive medications within 14 days of study drug administration. Inhaled or topical steroids and adrenal replacement doses \> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents are permitted in the absence of active autoimmune disease.
* Live vaccine within 30 days prior to treatment initiation.
* Prior organ allograft or allogeneic transplantation.
* Known central nervous system (CNS) involvement with lymphoma.
* Tested positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBV sAg) or hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid (HCV antibody) indicating acute or chronic infection.
* Known history of HIV or AIDS.
* History of concurrent malignancy requiring active therapy or prior history of another malignancy within 5 years
* Active, known, or suspected autoimmune disease. Subjects are permitted to enroll if they have vitiligo, type 1 diabetes mellitus, residual hypothyroidism due to autoimmune condition only requiring hormone replacement, psoriasis not requiring systemic treatment, or conditions not expected to recur in absence of an external trigger.
* Currently receiving any other investigational agents.
* A history of allergic reactions or significant toxicity attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to anti-CD20 mAbs, anti-PD-1 mAbs, or TLR agonists.
* Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, or cardiac arrhythmia.
* Women who are pregnant and/or breastfeeding. Women of childbearing potential must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test within 24 hours prior to the start of nivolumab.