Clinical trial NCT01468896: Cetuximab and Recombinant Interleukin-12 in Treating Patients With Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck That is Recurrent, Metastatic, or Cannot Be Removed by Surgery
Official title: A Phase I/II Trial of Cetuximab in Combination With Interleukin-12 Administered to Patients With Unresectable Primary or Recurrent Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: PHASE1
PHASE2
Conditions: Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Recurrent Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Unresectable Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Lead sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Sponsor class: NIH
First posted: 2011-11-10
Enrollment: 23
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: This phase I/II trial studies the side effects and best dose of recombinant interleukin-12 when given together with cetuximab and to see how well they work in treating patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck that has come back, spread to another place in the body, or cannot be removed by surgery. Recombinant interleukin-12 may stimulate the white blood cells to kill tumor cells. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as cetuximab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread Giving recombinant interleukin-12 together with cetuximab may kill more tumor cells.

Detailed description: PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To find a safe and tolerable interleukin (IL)-12 (recombinant interleukin-12) dose for use in combination with cetuximab in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. (Phase I) II. To determine the response rate to the combination of IL-12 and cetuximab. (Phase II)

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To characterize the immunologic effects of IL-12 when administered in combination with cetuximab.

OUTLINE: This is a phase I, dose-escalation study of recombinant IL-12 followed by a phase II study.

Patients receive cetuximab intravenously (IV) over 1-2 hours on day 1 and recombinant interleukin-12 subcutaneously (SC) on days 2 and 5 beginning in course 2. Treatment repeats every 2 weeks for 12 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients achieving clinical response or stable disease may continue with therapy until disease progression.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up for 1 year.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients must have histologically-proven recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck that is unresectable; patients in the phase II portion of the trial must have measurable disease
* Any number of prior systemic therapies for metastatic/recurrent disease are permitted in both the phase I and II portions of the study; patients need not have received a prior cetuximab-based chemotherapy regimen to be eligible for this trial
* Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status =\< 2 (Karnofsky \>= 60%)
* Life expectancy of greater than 6 months
* Leukocytes \>= 3,000/mcL
* Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,500/mcL
* Platelets \>= 100,000/mcL
* Total bilirubin within normal institutional limits
* Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase \[SGPT\]) =\< 2.5 times upper limit of normal
* Creatinine within normal institutional limits OR creatinine clearance \>= 60 mL/min/1.73 m\^2 for patients with creatinine levels above institutional normal
* The effects of IL-12 on the developing human fetus are unknown; for this reason, women of child-bearing 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 should inform her treating physician immediately
* Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients who have had chemotherapy or radiotherapy within 4 weeks (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin C) prior to entering the study or those who have not recovered from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier
* Patients may not be receiving any other investigational agents
* Patients with known brain metastases may be enrolled if this site of disease has been adequately treated, the patient does not require steroids, and the patient has been stable for at least 3 months prior to enrollment
* History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to IL-12 or other agents used in study
* Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements
* Pregnant women are excluded from this study because IL-12 is an agent with the potential for teratogenic or abortifacient effects; because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with IL-12, breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with IL-12; these potential risks may also apply to other agents used in this study

Primary outcomes:
measure: Number of Dose-limiting Toxicity Incidents to Determine the Maximum Tolerated Dose of IL-12, Evaluated Using the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events Version 4.0 (Phase I)
timeFrame: 14 days
measure: Proportion of Patients Who Have Any Response to Treatment (Complete Response or Partial Response), Determined According to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (Phase II)
timeFrame: Up to 6 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Induction of Systemic Plasma Levels of Interferon-gamma
timeFrame: Baseline up to day 50
measure: Number of Confirmed Clinical Responses (Phase I)
timeFrame: Up to 6 months
measure: Overall Survival (Phase II)
timeFrame: From the date of registration to date of death, assessed up to 1 year
measure: Proportion of Patients Who Are Progression-free (Phase I)
timeFrame: 6 months
measure: Time to Disease Progression (Phase II)
timeFrame: From date of registration to date of progression, assessed up to 1 year
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Washington
country: United States
facility: MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
state: District of Columbia
city: Columbus
country: United States
facility: Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
state: Ohio
Study officials:
affiliation: Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
name: William E Carson
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: