Safety and efficacy of neoadjuvant intravesical oncolytic MV-NIS in patients with urothelial carcinoma.
Authors: Shruthi Naik, Bradley C. Leibovich, Tanner Miest, Stephen Bardot, Paul R Young, Stephen A. Boorjian, Mark L. Gonzalgo, Loren Herrera Hernandez, Matthew K. Tollefson, Jeffrey Karnes, Paige Nichols, Tessa Kroeninger, Rachel Graham, Monica Reckner, Alysha Newsom, Nandakumar Packiriswamy, Kah Whye Peng, Erol Wiegert, Alice Susannah Bexon
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (2022)

509 Background: Bladder cancer is a leading cause of cancer death in the United States. The histology in &gt; 90% of cases is urothelial carcinoma (UC). Tumors may present either as non-muscle-invasive (NMIBC) or muscle-invasive disease (MIBC). Current standard of care for patients with high risk NMIBC includes transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) followed by intravesical immunotherapy with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG). Meanwhile, patients with BCG unresponsive NMIBC or MIBC are recommended to undergo radical cystectomy (RC), which adversely impacts quality of life and is associated with significant morbidity. MV-NIS is an investigational oncolytic measles virus with an excellent clinical safety profile. This ongoing phase I clinical study is designed to test the safety, efficacy and identify the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) of intravesical MV-NIS in patients with NMIBC or MIBC who are scheduled for RC and not eligible for neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: Bladder UC patients were evaluated for eligibility and provided informed consent prior to enrolling. To date 8 patients have been enrolled: 4 to the single dose safety cohort, and 4 to the multi-dose expansion cohort. Patients were administered intravesical ̃1x10 9 TCID 50 MV-NIS once at least 1 week prior to RC (safety cohort), or twice at 4 and 2 weeks prior to RC (expansion cohort). Patients were closely monitored during the 2-hour instillation period. Tumor specimens from the pre-treatment TURBT and post-treatment RC were analyzed to determine pre- and post-treatment pathological stage and evaluate tumor killing and immune cell infiltrate. Results: Intravesical MV-NIS treatment was well tolerated in all patients. Only a single Adverse Event (AE) attributable to MV-NIS treatment (Grade 1 hematuria). AEs Grade &gt; 2 were related to post-surgical complications. Tumor downstaging was observed in 4 of 8 patients. Among 4 patients in the expansion cohort, 2 had no residual disease (pT0). Central assessment of RC tissues showed significant inflammatory infiltrate in all treated bladder specimens. Detailed analyses are ongoing to characterize MV infection and immune infiltrate in bladder tissue. Conclusions: The higher-than-expected rate of tumor downstaging and pT0 pathology, paired with the significant immune infiltrate observed in post-treatment bladder tissue, provide compelling evidence that intravesical MV-NIS has clinical activity against UC. These results support the use of two doses of ̃1x10 9 TCID 50 as the RP2D in future clinical studies for BCG unresponsive NMIBC or MIBC patients. MV-NIS induced inflammation may act synergistically with checkpoint blockade therapies. Clinical trial information: NCT03171493.