LOAd703 Oncolytic Virus Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer
brief summary
The purpose of this study is to see if LOAd703 (an oncolytic adenovirus) can be safely given to patients with pancreatic cancer. The study will also evaluate whether or not intratumoral injection of LOAd703 will support current standard of care treatment to reduce the size of the tumor and improve survival of the patients. Adenoviruses are known as the "common cold" virus and most individuals have had multiple infections during their lifetime. Oncolytic adenoviruses are adenoviruses that are modified so they cannot multiply and spread (known as replicating) properly in normal (e.g. healthy) cells, but instead, they infect and replicate very well in cancer cells. This strong replication leads to the death of the cancer cell. Oncolytic viruses have been evaluated in multiple clinical trials for cancer treatment during the past decade and been proven safe. It is common to have a fever the first day or two after virus injection since the immune system will react to the virus infection. The immune system can also kill cancer cells but to do so it needs to be properly stimulated. Oncolytic viruses alone do not seem to be strong enough to activate clinically relevant anti-cancer responses. However, it is thought that if additional immune system stimulators are added to the oncolytic viruses they may be able to result in clinical relevant antic-cancer responses. LOAd703 is an oncolytic adenovirus that has been modified to include additional immune system stimulators. Specifically, genes that stimulate the immune system have been added to the oncolytic adenovirus. Once the oncolytic adenovirus infects the cancer cells, the genes will be expressed, resulting in activation of the immune response so it can attack and kill cancer cells. In this study, LOAd703 will be given by intratumoral injections. It will be given in addition to standard of care treatment with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel +/- the anti-PD-L1 antibody atezolizumab. Because this is an experimental therapy, there will be extra visits for disease monitoring and samples accordingly to the detailed information below. The LOAd703 is an investigational agent not approved by the FDA.
detailed description
The research will be conducted at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center (BSLMC).
All patients will receive standard of care treatment for their pancreatic cancer. Standard of care treatment will be gemcitabine in combination with nab-paclitaxel given on days 1, 8, and 15 of a 28 day cycle.
Arm 1: LOAd703 treatment will be initiated at day 15 of the first cycle and given every other week for 6 doses. Depending on the location of the tumor the injection of LOAd703 can be given in different ways. The most common route of injection is ultrasound-guided percutaneous injection, but endoscopic ultrasound-guidance will be used for some patients as appropriate. All patients will receive anti-anxiety drugs or sedation as needed for comfort during the procedure. This study evaluates different doses of LOAd703. All patients will receive six injections of LOAd703. If patients in either phase of the study are judged by the investigator to be deriving clinical benefit from LOAd703 once all scheduled injections have been administered, they will be eligible to receive up to 6 additional biweekly doses of LOAd703.
Arm 2: the same procedures as arm 1 in regard to LOAd703. In addition, the arm 2 patients will receive atezolizumab at a fixed dose, every chemotherapy cycle day 1. The treatments can continue until the final follow-up visit.
Follow-up visits: Besides visits to receive treatments, patients will continue to visit BCM/BSLMC or their local doctor for evaluation of health status and side effects. At some visits blood samples will be obtained. Some of the blood samples being obtained are considered standard of care to ensure patient safety for standard of care treatment and the LOAd703 injection. However, some blood and biopsy samples (in applicable patients) will be collected to be analyzed for the presence of LOAd703, atezolizumab tumor markers and immunology markers. The extra blood will be 5-15 ml (3 teaspoonfuls) of blood collected at the screening visit and at eight different time points both during treatment and after treatments are completed. Imaging of the tumor to determine tumor size will be done every two to three months, which is routine for the monitoring of patients with pancreatic cancer. Patients will actively participate in the study for about 9 months when the final follow-up visit will be scheduled (or 12 months if additional doses of LOAD703 are given). After their active participation is completed patients will continue to receive routine care and will be contacted by the study team every 3 months to provide follow up on the status of their disease.
official title
Phase I/IIa Trial Evaluating Safety of LOAd703, an Armed Oncolytic Adenovirus for Pancreatic Cancer