Clinical Trials /

T Cells Expressing Fully-human Anti-CD19 and Anti-CD20 Chimeric Antigen Receptors for Treating B-cell Malignancies and Hodgkin Lymphoma

NCT04160195

Description:

Background: CD19 and CD20 are often found on certain cancer cells. Researchers think that a person s T cells can be modified in a lab to kill cells that have CD19 and CD20 on the surface. Objective: To see if it is safe to give anti-CD19 and anti-CD20 CAR T cells to people with a B cell cancer or Hodgkin lymphoma. Eligibility: People ages 18 and older with a B cell cancer or Hodgkin lymphoma that has not been controlled with standard therapies Design: Participants will be screened under protocol 01C0129 with: Medical history Physical exam Blood and heart tests Bone marrow biopsy: A needle is inserted into the participant s hip bone to remove a small amount of marrow. Scans Participants will have apheresis: Blood will be removed through a vein. The blood with circulate through a machine that removes the T cells. The rest of the blood will be returned to the participant. Once a day for 3 days before they get the T cells, participants will receive chemotherapy through a vein. Participants will receive the T cells through a vein. They will stay in the hospital for at least 9 days. Participants may have a lumbar puncture: A needle will remove fluid from the spinal cord. Participants may have a tumor biopsy. Participants will repeat the screening tests throughout the study. Participants will have follow-up visits 2 weeks after infusion; monthly for 4 months; at 6, 9, and 12 months; every 6 months for 3 years; and then annually for 5 years. Participants will then be contacted annually for 15 years.

Related Conditions:
  • Burkitt Lymphoma
  • Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia/Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma
  • Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma
  • Follicular Lymphoma
  • Hodgkin Lymphoma
  • Mantle Cell Lymphoma
  • Mediastinal B-Cell Lymphoma, Unclassifiable, with Features Intermediate between Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma and Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma
  • Primary Mediastinal B-Cell Lymphoma
  • Richter Syndrome
  • Transformed Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Recruiting Status:

Completed

Phase:

Phase 1

Trial Eligibility

Document

Title

  • Brief Title: T Cells Expressing Fully-human Anti-CD19 and Anti-CD20 Chimeric Antigen Receptors for Treating B-cell Malignancies and Hodgkin Lymphoma
  • Official Title: T Cells Expressing Fully-human Anti-CD19 and Anti-CD20 Chimeric Antigen Receptors for Treating B-cell Malignancies and Hodgkin Lymphoma

Clinical Trial IDs

  • ORG STUDY ID: 200008
  • SECONDARY ID: 20-C-0008
  • NCT ID: NCT04160195

Conditions

  • Lymphoma, B-Cell
  • Lymphoma, Non-hodgkins
  • Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
  • B-Cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Interventions

DrugSynonymsArms
Anti-CD19-CAR and Anti-CD20-CAR T cells1/Conditioning chemotherapy plus CAR T-cells dose escalation
Cyclophosphamide1/Conditioning chemotherapy plus CAR T-cells dose escalation
Fludarabine1/Conditioning chemotherapy plus CAR T-cells dose escalation

Purpose

Background: CD19 and CD20 are often found on certain cancer cells. Researchers think that a person s T cells can be modified in a lab to kill cells that have CD19 and CD20 on the surface. Objective: To see if it is safe to give anti-CD19 and anti-CD20 CAR T cells to people with a B cell cancer or Hodgkin lymphoma. Eligibility: People ages 18 and older with a B cell cancer or Hodgkin lymphoma that has not been controlled with standard therapies Design: Participants will be screened under protocol 01C0129 with: Medical history Physical exam Blood and heart tests Bone marrow biopsy: A needle is inserted into the participant s hip bone to remove a small amount of marrow. Scans Participants will have apheresis: Blood will be removed through a vein. The blood with circulate through a machine that removes the T cells. The rest of the blood will be returned to the participant. Once a day for 3 days before they get the T cells, participants will receive chemotherapy through a vein. Participants will receive the T cells through a vein. They will stay in the hospital for at least 9 days. Participants may have a lumbar puncture: A needle will remove fluid from the spinal cord. Participants may have a tumor biopsy. Participants will repeat the screening tests throughout the study. Participants will have follow-up visits 2 weeks after infusion; monthly for 4 months; at 6, 9, and 12 months; every 6 months for 3 years; and then annually for 5 years. Participants will then be contacted annually for 15 years.

Detailed Description

      Background:

        -  Improved treatments for a variety of treatment-resistant malignancies including B-cell
           lymphomas, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and Hodgkin lymphoma are needed.

        -  A particular need is development of new treatments for chemotherapy-refractory B-cell
           malignancies.

        -  T cells can be genetically modified to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that
           specifically target malignancy-associated antigens.

        -  Autologous T cells genetically modified to express CARs targeting the B-cell antigen
           CD19 have caused complete remissions in patients with leukemia or lymphoma. These
           results have established anti-CD19 CAR T cells as an important therapy for relapsed
           lymphoma, but only about 40% of patients receiving anti-CD19 CAR T cells have durable
           complete remissions.

        -  Most B-cell malignancies express CD19 and CD20, but expression of CD19 and CD20 can be
           lost or diminished.

        -  The malignant cells of Hodgkin lymphoma, Hodgkin Reed-Sternberg cells, originate from B
           cells, which is the rationale for treating Hodgkin lymphoma with T cells targeting CD19
           and CD20.

        -  CD19 and CD20 are not expressed by normal cells except for B cells and some plasma
           cells.

        -  We have constructed a novel gene therapy construct that encodes a fully-human anti-CD19
           CAR with a CD28 domain and a fully-human anti-CD20 CAR with a 4-1BB domain.

        -  T cells expressing this CAR construct, called Hu1928-Hu20BB, can specifically recognize
           CD19 and CD20-expressing target cells in vitro and eradicate CD19 or CD20-expressing
           tumors in mice.

        -  One CAR expressed in this CAR construct, Hu19-CD828Z has been tested in humans before.
           The other CAR in the total construct, Hu20-CD8BBZ, has not been tested in humans before.

        -  Possible toxicities include cytokine-associated toxicities such as fever, hypotension,
           and neurological toxicities. Elimination of normal B cells is probable, and unknown
           toxicities are also possible.

      Objectives:

      Primary

      -Determine the safety and feasibility of administering T cells expressing a novel fully-human
      anti- CD19 and anti-CD20 CAR construct to patients with advanced B-cell malignancies and
      Hodgkin lymphoma.

      Exploratory

        -  Evaluate serum cytokine levels and associations with anti-malignancy efficacy and
           toxicity

        -  Evaluate clinical predictors of anti-lymphoma responses and toxicity.

        -  Evaluate phenotype of infused CAR T cells and CAR T cells from the blood of patients.

      Eligibility:

        -  Patients must have any B-cell lymphoma, or CLL/SLL, Gray-zone lymphoma, nodular
           lymphocyte- predominance Hodgkin lymphoma, or classical Hodgkin lymphoma with any CD19
           or CD20 expression on Reed-Sternberg cells. Lower grade lymphomas transformed to DLBCL
           are potentially eligible as is primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma and all other
           subtypes of DLBCL. Burkitt and mantle cell lymphoma are potentially eligible.

        -  Patients must have malignancy that is measurable on a CT scan or by flow cytometry of
           bone marrow or blood.

        -  Patients must have a creatinine of 1.5 mg/dL or less and a normal cardiac ejection
           fraction.

        -  An ECOG performance status of 0-1 is required.

        -  No active infections are allowed including hepatitis B or hepatitis C.

        -  Absolute neutrophil count>=1000/mL, platelet count>=50,000/mL, hemoglobin>=8g/dL

        -  Serum ALT and AST less or equal to 3 times the upper limit of the institutional normal
           unless liver involvement by malignancy is demonstrated.

        -  At least 14 days must elapse between the time of any prior systemic treatment (including
           corticosteroids) and protocol-required leukapheresis or CAR T-cell infusion. Thirty days
           must elapse from therapy with antibodies targeting CD19 or CD20 and CAR T-cell infusion.

        -  The patient s malignancy will need to be assessed for CD19 and C20 expression by flow
           cytometry or immunohistochemistry performed at the NIH. If unstained, paraffin-embedded
           bone marrow or lymphoma tissue sections are available from prior biopsies, these can be
           used to determine CD19 and CD20 expression by immunohistochemistry; otherwise, patients
           will need to come to the NIH for a biopsy to determine CD19 and CD20 expression. The
           sample for CD19 and CD20 expression must come from a biopsy obtained after any CD19 or
           CD20-targeted therapies such as monoclonal antibodies if such antibodies or CAR T-cell
           therapies have been received by the patient.

        -  For classical Hodgkin lymphoma only, a biopsy from any time from any institution that
           shows any CD19 or CD20 expression on Reed-Sternberg cells is adequate for eligibility.
           CD19 or CD20 expression on the Reed-Sternberg cells that is weak or only present on some
           Reed-Sternberg cells by immunohistochemistry is compatible with protocol eligibility.

        -  For all lymphoma types except for classical Hodgkin lymphoma, either CD19 or CD20
           expression must be uniform . Uniform CD19 or CD20 expression is defined as no obvious
           lymphoma population lacking antigen expression can be present. Antigen expression can be
           assessed by either immunohistochemistry or flow cytometry.

      Design:

        -  This is a phase I dose-escalation trial

        -  Patients will undergo leukapheresis

        -  T-cells obtained by leukapheresis will be genetically modified to express the
           Hu1928-Hu20BB CAR construct.

        -  Patients will receive a lymphocyte-depleting chemotherapy conditioning regimen with the
           intent of enhancing the activity of the infused CAR-expressing T cells.

        -  The chemotherapy conditioning regimen is cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m squared daily for 3
           days and fludarabine 30 mg/m squared daily for 3 days. Fludarabine will be given on the
           same days as the cyclophosphamide.

        -  Two days after the chemotherapy ends, patients will receive an infusion of
           anti-CAR-expressing T cells.

        -  The initial dose level of this dose-escalation trial will be 0.66x106 CAR+ T cells/kg of
           recipient bodyweight.

        -  The cell dose administered will be escalated until a maximum tolerated dose is
           determined.

        -  Following the T-cell infusion, there is a mandatory 9-day inpatient hospitalization to
           monitor for toxicity.

        -  Outpatient follow-up is planned for 2 weeks, 16 days (neurologic checks), 21 days
           (neurologic checks) and 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months after the CAR T- cell infusion;
           less frequent follow-up is required more than 1 year after infusion. Long-term
           gene-therapy follow-up for a total of 15 years after infusion is required.
    

Trial Arms

NameTypeDescriptionInterventions
1/Conditioning chemotherapy plus CAR T-cells dose escalationActive ComparatorAll patients will be receiving escalating dose of Anti-CD19 and anti-CD20 CAR T cells/kg + conditioning chemotherapy
  • Anti-CD19-CAR and Anti-CD20-CAR T cells
  • Cyclophosphamide
  • Fludarabine
2/Conditioning chemotherapy plus CAR T-cells expansion phaseActive ComparatorMTD dose of Anti- CD19 and anti- CD20 CAR T cells/kg + Conditioning chemotherapy
  • Anti-CD19-CAR and Anti-CD20-CAR T cells
  • Cyclophosphamide
  • Fludarabine

Eligibility Criteria

        -  INCLUSION CRITERIA:

        MALIGNANCY CRITERIA:

        Note: As of approval of Amendment A, no patients with Hodgkin lymphoma can be enrolled
        until at least 6 patients with B-cell malignancies are treated without incidence of
        Guillain-Bare syndrome

          -  Patients must have any B-cell lymphoma, or CLL/SLL, Gray-zone lymphoma, nodular
             lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma, or classical Hodgkin lymphoma with any CD19
             or CD20 expression on Reed-Sternberg cells. Lower grade lymphomas or CLL transformed
             to DLBCL are potentially eligible as is primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma and all
             other subtypes of DLBCL. Burkitt and mantle cell lymphoma are potentially eligible.

          -  For classical Hodgkin lymphoma only, a biopsy from any time from any institution that
             shows any CD19 or CD20 expression on Reed-Sternberg cells is adequate for eligibility.
             CD19 or CD20 expression on the Reed-Sternberg cells that is weak or only present on
             some Reed-Sternberg cells by immunohistochemistry is compatible with protocol
             eligibility.

          -  For all lymphoma types except for classical Hodgkin lymphoma, either CD19 or CD20
             expression must be uniform . Uniform CD19 or CD20 expression is defined as no obvious
             lymphoma population lacking antigen expression is present. Antigen expression can be
             assessed by either immunohistochemistry or flow cytometry.

          -  Only when insufficient biopsy material is available to allow CD19 and CD20 expression
             assessment at the NIH, CD19 and/or CD20 staining performed at another institution can
             be used

          -  DLBCL patients must have received at least two prior chemotherapy-containing regimens
             at least one of which must have contained doxorubicin and a monoclonal antibody.
             Follicular lymphoma patients must have received at least 2 prior regimens including at
             least 1 regimen with chemotherapy. All other B-cell lymphoma and leukemia patients
             must have had at least 1 prior chemotherapy-containing regimen. All patients with CLL
             or small lymphocytic lymphoma must have had prior treatment with ibrutinib or another
             signal transduction inhibitor.and venetoclax.

          -  Hodgkin lymphoma patients must have:

               -  had at least 3 prior lines of therapy.

               -  had at least 1 prior cytotoxic chemotherapy-containing regimen.

               -  had prior exposure to brentuximab vedotin.

               -  had undergone autologous stem cell transplant or been transplant ineligible or
                  refused autologous transplantation

          -  Eligibility will be expanded to include CD19 and CD20-negative classical Hodgkin
             lymphoma if any 2 patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma and CD19/CD20 expression on
             RS cells have durations of response 6 months or greater (responses could be PRs or
             CRs) or a CR of 3 months or greater.

          -  All patients must have measurable malignancy as defined by at least one of the
             criteria below.

          -  Lymphoma or leukemia masses that are measurable (minimum 1.5 cm in largest diameter)
             by CT scan is required for all diagnoses except CLL. All masses must be less than or
             equal to 10.0 cm in the largest diameter.

          -  For a lymphoma mass to count as measurable malignancy, it must have abnormally
             increased metabolic activity when assessed by positron emission tomography (PET) scan.
             CLL masses do not need to have increased activity on PET scan.

          -  For CLL and lymphoma with only bone marrow involvement no mass is necessary, but if a
             mass is not present, bone marrow malignancy must be detectable by flow cytometry in
             lymphoma and CLL. Note that leukemia cells must make up 1% or less of peripheral blood
             lymphocytes in CLL patients for these patients to be eligible.

        OTHER INCLUSION CRITERIA:

          -  Greater than or equal to 18 years of age.

          -  Able to understand and sign the Informed Consent Document.

          -  Clinical performance status of ECOG 0-1

          -  Room air oxygen saturation of 92% or greater

          -  Patients of both sexes must be willing to practice birth control from the time of
             enrollment on this study and for four months after receiving the protocol treatment.

          -  A patient with a negative blood PCR test for hepatitis B DNA test can be enrolled. If
             hepatitis B DNA (PCR) testing is not available, patients with a negative hepatitis B
             surface antigen and negative hepatitis B core antibody can be enrolled.

          -  Patients must be tested for the presence of Hepatitis C antigen by PCR and be HCV RNA
             negative in order to be eligible. Only if Hepatitis C PCR testing is not available in
             a timely manner, patients who are Hepatitis C antibody-negative can be enrolled.

          -  Absolute neutrophil count greater than or equal to 1000/mm^3 without the support of
             filgrastim or other growth factors.

          -  Platelet count greater than or equal to 50,000/mm^3 without transfusion support

          -  Hemoglobin greater than 8.0 g/dl.

          -  For CLL only, less than or equal to 1% malignant cells in the peripheral blood
             lymphocytes must be documented by flow cytometry of blood within 2 weeks of protocol
             enrollment.

          -  Serum ALT and AST less or equal to 3 times the upper limit of the institutional normal
             unless liver involvement by malignancy is demonstrated.

          -  Serum creatinine less than or equal to 1.5 mg/dl.

          -  Total bilirubin less than or equal to 2.0 mg/dl.

          -  Normal cardiac ejection fraction (greater than or equal to 50% by echocardiography)
             and no evidence of hemodynamically significant pericardial effusion as determined by
             an echocardiogram within 4 weeks of treatment start.

          -  Patients must not take corticosteroids including prednisone, dexamethasone or any
             other corticosteroid for 14 days before apheresis and CAR T-cell infusion. Patients
             must also not take corticosteroids at doses higher than 5 mg/day of prednisone or
             equivalent at any time after the CAR T cell infusion.

          -  Patients must be able to understand and be willing to sign a written informed consent.

          -  Patients who have either been previously treated on protocols of genetically-modified
             T cells on a clinical trial at the NCI or received T cells modified with the MSGV or
             MSGV1 gamma-retroviral vectors at any institution are potentially eligible under these
             conditions:

               -  At least 3 months have elapsed since the last genetically-modified T-cell therapy
                  that the patient received, and there is no evidence of replication-competent
                  retroviruses (evidence must be provided from prior protocol Principal
                  Investigator), and persisting genetically-modified T cells are either not
                  detectable in the patient s blood or detectable at levels less than or equal to
                  0.2% of blood T cells as measured by flow cytometry using the Kip-1 antibody in
                  the flow cytometry lab of the NCI Laboratory of Pathology (Maryalice
                  Stetler-Stevenson s lab).

        EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

          -  Patients that require urgent therapy due to tumor mass effects or spinal cord
             compression.

          -  Patients must not have received any anti-CD20 or anti-CD19 antibody products in the
             past 30 days prior to CAR T-cell infusion.

          -  Any history of receiving PD-1 or PD-L1inhibitors

          -  Patients that have active hemolytic anemia.

          -  HIV-positive patients are excluded because HIV causes complicated immune deficiency
             and study treatment can pose more risks for these patients.

          -  Patients with second malignancies in addition to their B-cell malignancy are not
             eligible if the second malignancy has required treatment (including maintenance
             therapy) within the past 3 years or is not in complete remission. There are two
             exceptions to this criterion: successfully treated non-metastatic basal cell or
             squamous cell skin carcinoma.

          -  Women of child-bearing potential who are pregnant or breastfeeding because of the
             potentially dangerous effects of the preparative chemotherapy on the fetus or infant.

        Pregnant women are excluded from this study because study therapy can cause fetal harm.
        Because there is potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to
        treatment of the mother with study therapy, breastfeeding should be discontinued if the
        mother is treated with study drugs.

          -  Active uncontrolled systemic infections (defined as infections causing fevers and
             infections requiring intravenous antibiotics when intravenous antibiotics have been
             administered for less than 72 hours), active coagulation disorders or other major
             uncontrolled medical illnesses of the cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine, renal,
             gastrointestinal, genitourinary or immune system, history of myocardial infarction,
             history of ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation, active cardiac
             arrhythmias (active atrial fibrillation is not allowed, resolved atrial fibrillation
             not requiring current treatment is allowed (anticoagulants count as current treatment)
             ), active obstructive or restrictive pulmonary disease, active autoimmune diseases
             such as rheumatoid arthritis.

          -  Hospitalization within the 7 days prior to enrollment.

          -  Any form of primary immunodeficiency (such as Severe Combined Immunodeficiency
             Disease).

          -  Prior allogeneic stem cell transplant

          -  Systemic lymphoma treatment of any type and corticosteroid steroid therapy of any dose
             greater than 5 mg/day or more of prednisone or equivalent is not allowed within 14
             days prior to the required leukapheresis, or the initiation of the conditioning
             chemotherapy regimen. Corticosteroid creams, ointments, and eye drops are allowed.

          -  History of severe immediate hypersensitivity reaction to any of the agents used in
             this study.

          -  Patients on systemic anticoagulant therapy except aspirin.

          -  Active central nervous system metastases or cerebrospinal fluid malignancy. Patients
             with known brain metastases will be excluded from this clinical trial because of their
             poor prognosis and because they often develop progressive neurologic dysfunction that
             would confound the evaluation of neurologic and other adverse events.

          -  Any current neurologic disorders except migraine headaches.
      
Maximum Eligible Age:N/A
Minimum Eligible Age:18 Years
Eligible Gender:All
Healthy Volunteers:No

Primary Outcome Measures

Measure:Determine the safety and feasibility of administering T cells expressing a novel fully- human anti-CD19 and anti-CD20 CAR
Time Frame:4-5 weeks after first dose
Safety Issue:
Description:List of adverse event frequency

Secondary Outcome Measures

Measure:Evaluate the in vivo persistence and peak blood levels of CAR T cells
Time Frame:up to 3 years
Safety Issue:
Description:Descriptive statistics will be used to report CAR T cell blood level
Measure:Assess for evidence of antimalignancy activity by T cells expressing both an anti-CD19 CAR and an anti-CD20 CAR
Time Frame:up to 3 years
Safety Issue:
Description:The anti-malignancy activity of the CAR T cells will be assessed by response criteria as separately defined for each disease treated, with 95% confidence intervals provided about the rates of response

Details

Phase:Phase 1
Primary Purpose:Interventional
Overall Status:Completed
Lead Sponsor:National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Trial Keywords

  • Autologous T Cells Infusion
  • Hu1928-Hu20BB
  • Hodgkin Reed-Sternberg Cells
  • Adoptive T Cell Therapy
  • Gene Therapy

Last Updated

June 15, 2021