Efficacy and Safety of Durvalumab in Locally Advanced or Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma: Updated Results From a Phase 1/2 Open-label Study

Importance The data reported herein were accepted for assessment by the US Food and Drug Administration for Biologics License Application under priority review to establish the clinical benefit of durvalumab as second-line therapy for locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC), resulting in its recent US approval. Objective To report a planned update of the safety and efficacy of durvalumab in patients with locally advanced/metastatic UC. Design, Setting, and Participants This is an ongoing phase 1/2 open-label study of 191 adult patients with histologically or cytologically confirmed locally advanced/metastatic UC whose disease had progressed on, were ineligible for, or refused prior chemotherapy from 60 sites in 9 countries as reported herein. Intervention Patients were administered durvalumab intravenous infusion, 10 mg/kg every 2 weeks, for up to 12 months or until progression, starting another anticancer therapy, or unacceptable toxic effects. Main Outcomes and Measures Primary end points were safety and confirmed objective response rate (ORR) per blinded independent central review (Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors [RECIST], version 1.1). Results A total of 191 patients with UC had received treatment. As of October 24, 2016 (90-day update), the median follow-up was 5.78 months (range, 0.4-25.9 months). The median age of patients was 67.0 years and most were male (136 [71.2%]) and white (123 [71.1%]). All patients had stage 4 disease, and 190 (99.5%) had prior anticancer therapy (182 [95.3%] postplatinum). The ORR was 17.8% (34 of 191; 95% CI, 12.7%-24.0%), including 7 complete responses. Responses were early (median time to response, 1.41 months), durable (median duration of response not reached), and observed regardless of programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression (ORR, 27.6% [n = 27; 95% CI, 19.0%-37.5%] and 5.1% [n = 4; 95% CI, 1.4%-12.5%] in patients with high and low or negative expression of PD-L1, respectively). Median progression-free survival and overall survival were 1.5 months (95% CI, 1.4-1.9 months) and 18.2 months (95% CI, 8.1 months to not estimable), respectively; the 1-year overall survival rate was 55% (95% CI, 44%-65%), as estimated by Kaplan-Meier method. Grade 3/4 treatment-related adverse events (AEs) occurred in 13 patients (6.8%); grade 3/4 immune-mediated AEs occurred in 4 patients (2.1%); and treatment-related AEs led to discontinuation of 3 patients (1.6%), 2 of whom had immune-mediated AEs that led to death (autoimmune hepatitis and pneumonitis). Conclusions and Relevance Durvalumab, 10 mg/kg every 2 weeks, demonstrates favorable clinical activity and an encouraging and manageable safety profile in patients with locally advanced/metastatic UC. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01693562

[1]  Axel Hoos,et al.  Guidelines for the Evaluation of Immune Therapy Activity in Solid Tumors: Immune-Related Response Criteria , 2009, Clinical Cancer Research.

[2]  John Wong,et al.  Anti-PD-1 blockade and stereotactic radiation produce long-term survival in mice with intracranial gliomas. , 2013, International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics.

[3]  Luc Taillandier,et al.  Radiotherapy for glioblastoma in the elderly. , 2007, The New England journal of medicine.

[4]  M. Smyth,et al.  Immune surveillance of tumors. , 2007, The Journal of clinical investigation.

[5]  T. Curiel,et al.  Safety and Efficacy of Durvalumab (MEDI4736), an Anti-Programmed Cell Death Ligand-1 Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor, in Patients With Advanced Urothelial Bladder Cancer. , 2016, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[6]  S. Kaasa,et al.  The EORTC QLQ-LC13: a modular supplement to the EORTC Core Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) for use in lung cancer clinical trials. EORTC Study Group on Quality of Life. , 1994, European journal of cancer.

[7]  D. Osoba,et al.  An international validation study of the EORTC brain cancer module (EORTC QLQ-BN20) for assessing health-related quality of life and symptoms in brain cancer patients. , 2010, European journal of cancer.

[8]  P. Malfertheiner,et al.  Symptoms and Quality of Life in Chronic Pancreatitis Assessed by Structured Interview and the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-PAN26 , 2005, The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

[9]  P. Fayers,et al.  Quality of life in head and neck cancer patients: validation of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-H&N35. , 1999, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[10]  S. Culine,et al.  Phase III trial of vinflunine plus best supportive care compared with best supportive care alone after a platinum-containing regimen in patients with advanced transitional cell carcinoma of the urothelial tract. , 2009, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[11]  Susan M. Chang,et al.  Updated response assessment criteria for high-grade gliomas: response assessment in neuro-oncology working group. , 2010, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[12]  R. Bourgon,et al.  Atezolizumab in patients with locally advanced and metastatic urothelial carcinoma who have progressed following treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy: a single-arm, multicentre, phase 2 trial , 2016, The Lancet.

[13]  G. Zhu,et al.  Blockade of B7-H1 and PD-1 by monoclonal antibodies potentiates cancer therapeutic immunity. , 2005, Cancer research.

[14]  C. Mu,et al.  High expression of PD-L1 in lung cancer may contribute to poor prognosis and tumor cells immune escape through suppressing tumor infiltrating dendritic cells maturation , 2011, Medical oncology.

[15]  A. Tsao Ipilimumab in Combination With Paclitaxel and Carboplatin As First-Line Treatment in Stage IIIB/IV Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer: Results From a Randomized, Double-Blind, Multicenter Phase II Study , 2012 .

[16]  J. Allison,et al.  PD-1 and CTLA-4 combination blockade expands infiltrating T cells and reduces regulatory T and myeloid cells within B16 melanoma tumors , 2010, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[17]  Marius Ilie,et al.  Assessment of the PD-L1 status by immunohistochemistry: challenges and perspectives for therapeutic strategies in lung cancer patients , 2016, Virchows Archiv.

[18]  Lyndsay Harris,et al.  Randomized phase III trial of weekly compared with every-3-weeks paclitaxel for metastatic breast cancer, with trastuzumab for all HER-2 overexpressors and random assignment to trastuzumab or not in HER-2 nonoverexpressors: final results of Cancer and Leukemia Group B protocol 9840. , 2008, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[19]  A. Hauschild,et al.  A phase II trial of tremelimumab (CP-675,206) in patients with advanced refractory or relapsed melanoma , 2008 .

[20]  R. Madan,et al.  Sipuleucel-T: harbinger of a new age of therapeutics for prostate cancer , 2011, Expert review of vaccines.

[21]  D. Schadendorf,et al.  Ipilimumab efficacy and safety in patients with advanced melanoma: a retrospective analysis of HLA subtype from four trials. , 2010, Cancer immunity.

[22]  C. Drake,et al.  Safety and activity of anti-PD-L1 antibody in patients with advanced cancer. , 2012, The New England journal of medicine.

[23]  O. Ganslandt,et al.  Effects of concurrent topotecan and radiation on 6-month progression-free survival in the primary treatment of glioblastoma multiforme. , 2009, International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics.

[24]  P. Ascierto,et al.  Efficacy and safety of ipilimumab in patients with advanced melanoma and brain metastases , 2014, Journal of Neuro-Oncology.

[25]  Cockcroft Dw,et al.  Prediction of Creatinine Clearance from Serum Creatinine , 1976 .

[26]  A. Cull,et al.  Development of a European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer questionnaire module to assess the quality of life of ovarian cancer patients in clinical trials: a progress report. , 2001, European journal of cancer.

[27]  S. Culine,et al.  Pembrolizumab as Second‐Line Therapy for Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma , 2017, The New England journal of medicine.

[28]  Min Zhang,et al.  Clinical Significance of B7-H1 and B7-1 Expressions in Pancreatic Carcinoma , 2010, World Journal of Surgery.

[29]  E. Buchbinder,et al.  CTLA-4 and PD-1 Pathways , 2016, American journal of clinical oncology.

[30]  Identification and Characterization of MEDI4736, an Antagonistic Anti–PD-L1 Monoclonal Antibody , 2015, Cancer Immunology Research.

[31]  M. Itsumi,et al.  Immunotherapy for Renal Cell Carcinoma , 2010, Clinical & developmental immunology.

[32]  J. Lunceford,et al.  Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) for advanced urothelial cancer: Updated results and biomarker analysis from KEYNOTE-012. , 2015 .

[33]  Yoshimasa Tanaka,et al.  Programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 and tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T lymphocytes are prognostic factors of human ovarian cancer , 2007, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[34]  J. Cheville,et al.  Costimulatory molecule B7‐H1 in primary and metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma , 2005, Cancer.

[35]  E. McCarthy The toxins of William B. Coley and the treatment of bone and soft-tissue sarcomas. , 2006, The Iowa orthopaedic journal.

[36]  A. Mackensen,et al.  Blockade of PD‐L1 (B7‐H1) augments human tumor‐specific T cell responses in vitro , 2006, International journal of cancer.

[37]  S. Kaasa,et al.  Development of a European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) questionnaire module to be used in quality of life assessments in head and neck cancer patients. EORTC Quality of Life Study Group. , 1994, Acta oncologica.

[38]  Joon-Oh Park,et al.  Salvage chemotherapy for pretreated gastric cancer: a randomized phase III trial comparing chemotherapy plus best supportive care with best supportive care alone. , 2012, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[39]  Lieping Chen,et al.  Inhibitory B7-family molecules in the tumour microenvironment , 2008, Nature Reviews Immunology.

[40]  P. Hegde,et al.  MPDL3280A (anti-PD-L1) treatment leads to clinical activity in metastatic bladder cancer , 2014, Nature.

[41]  F. Hodi,et al.  Abstract LB-288: A phase I study of MPDL3280A, an engineered PD-L1 antibody in patients with locally advanced or metastatic tumors. , 2013 .

[42]  M. Okada,et al.  [New response evaluation criteria in solid tumours-revised RECIST guideline (version 1.1)]. , 2009, Gan to kagaku ryoho. Cancer & chemotherapy.

[43]  P. Sharma,et al.  Nivolumab monotherapy in recurrent metastatic urothelial carcinoma (CheckMate 032): a multicentre, open-label, phase 1/2 trial , 2016, The Lancet. Oncology.

[44]  H. Iwase,et al.  [Breast cancer]. , 2006, Nihon rinsho. Japanese journal of clinical medicine.

[45]  G. Freeman,et al.  Association of PD-L1 expression on tumor-infiltrating mononuclear cells and overall survival in patients with urothelial carcinoma. , 2015, Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology.

[46]  Stefan Michiels,et al.  Prognostic and predictive value of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in a phase III randomized adjuvant breast cancer trial in node-positive breast cancer comparing the addition of docetaxel to doxorubicin with doxorubicin-based chemotherapy: BIG 02-98. , 2013, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[47]  G. Freeman,et al.  PD-L1-deficient mice show that PD-L1 on T cells, antigen-presenting cells, and host tissues negatively regulates T cells. , 2004, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[48]  T. Honjo,et al.  PD-1: an inhibitory immunoreceptor involved in peripheral tolerance. , 2001, Trends in immunology.

[49]  J. Lunceford,et al.  Safety and activity of pembrolizumab in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer (KEYNOTE-012): a non-randomised, open-label, phase 1b study. , 2017, The Lancet. Oncology.

[50]  Steven Piantadosi,et al.  Timed sequential treatment with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and an allogeneic granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor-secreting breast tumor vaccine: a chemotherapy dose-ranging factorial study of safety and immune activation. , 2009, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[51]  J. Allison Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Cancer Therapy , 2008 .

[52]  K. Drzewiecki,et al.  Spontaneous regression of metastases from melanoma: review of the literature , 2009, Melanoma research.

[53]  T. Powles,et al.  Atezolizumab (atezo) in platinum (plat)-treated locally advanced/metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC): Updated OS, safety and biomarkers from the Ph II IMvigor210 study , 2016 .

[54]  Manish R. Patel,et al.  Safety, clinical activity, and PD-L1 expression of avelumab (MSB0010718C), an anti-PD-L1 antibody, in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor phase Ib trial. , 2016 .

[55]  Razelle Kurzrock,et al.  PD-L1 Expression as a Predictive Biomarker in Cancer Immunotherapy , 2015, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.

[56]  David McDermott,et al.  Temsirolimus, interferon alfa, or both for advanced renal-cell carcinoma. , 2007, The New England journal of medicine.

[57]  E. Tartour,et al.  Immune infiltration in human tumors: a prognostic factor that should not be ignored , 2010, Oncogene.