SAN FRANCISCO – Nivolumab was associated with durable responses in heavily pretreated patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma in the dose-escalation and dose-expansion phases of the CheckMate 040 study.
Further, the safety profile of nivolumab, a fully human IgG4 monoclonal antibody inhibitor of programmed death-1 (PD-1), was consistent with that observed in other solid tumors; events were manageable, and no new safety signals were detected, Ignacio Melero, MD, of Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, reported at the symposium, sponsored by ASCO, ASTRO, the American Gastroenterological Association, and Society of Surgical Oncology.
Sharon Worcester/Frontline Medical News
Dr. Ignacio Melero
In all, 262 patients with histologically confirmed advanced disease not amenable to curative resection were treated across the CheckMate 040 dose-escalation phase (phase I), which evaluated 0.1-10 mg/kg of nivolumab given every 2 weeks, and the dose-expansion phase (phase II), which involved nivolumab at a dose of 3 mg/kg every 2 weeks in four cohorts: sorafenib naive/intolerant patients, sorafenib progressors, hepatitis C virus-infected patients, and hepatitis B virus-infected patients.
“Because of the inflammation that often afflicts the liver, we were very afraid of precipitating hyper-acute or fulminant hepatitis in these patients, and that was the reason we undertook a very careful dose escalation,” Dr. Melero said, adding that due to efficacy and safety results in the dose escalation phase, the 3-mg/kg dose used in other clinical trials was expanded to all subjects, including uninfected patients and those with HCV or HBV infection.
In regard to safety and tolerability – the primary endpoint of phase I – grade 3/4 treatment-related adverse events occurred in 20% of patients. No maximum tolerated dose was reached during dose escalation, Dr. Melero said.
The most common reason for treatment discontinuation was disease progression; very few patients discontinued for toxicity, he said, noting that “the safety profile was very consistent with what has been reported in other indications.”
In fact, most grade 3/4 events involved laboratory abnormalities without clinical repercussions, he said.
The safety profile in phase II was consistent with that observed in phase I, and no differences in safety were seen in the three categories of hepatocellular carcinoma patients in the study.
In regard to objective response – the primary endpoint of phase II – the investigator-assessed rates were 16.2% in phase I and 18.6% in phase II, and the rates assessed by blinded independent central review were 18.9% and 14.5% in the phases, respectively. Based on imaging assessed using modified RESIST criteria, the rates were 21.6% and 18.6%, respectively.
The median duration of response was 17.1 months in phase I, and had not yet been reached in phase II, Dr. Melero said, adding that in uninfected patients, an “important number of patients developed stable disease that was durable.”
This also was seen in patients with chronic hepatitis, he noted.
“We believe that stabilization of disease is a driver of survival, because we have seen that in dose escalation, 45% of patients were alive 18 months after treatment onset, and at last data base log [in dose escalation], 71% were alive 9 months after starting treatment,” he said.
Of note, objective response rates were similar in patients treated with sorafenib and in those who received nivolumab as first-line treatment, and they were similar regardless of tumor programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression.
Quality of life, as reported by patients via EQ-5D questionnaire, remained stable over time.
Study subjects had a median age of 63 years, and were heavily pretreated – most often by sorafenib.
Hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosed at advanced stages has a poor prognosis, and those who progress on sorafenib – the only systemic therapy option in such patients – have few options, Dr. Melero said.
Nivolumab, which has been shown to restore T-cell–mediated antitumor activity, has demonstrated clinical and survival benefit in a number of tumor types.
The current findings suggest that it also is a promising alternative for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.
“Nivolumab demonstrated objective responses and long-term survival in both sorafenib-experienced and sorafenib-naive patients. Nivolumab monotherapy provided early, stable and durable responses when they took place, efficacy was observed irrespective of chronic viral infection by hepatitis viruses, and responses were also observed in PD-L1-negative cases upon examination of biopsies,” he concluded, noting that a randomized phase III trial comparing nivolumab with systemic sorafenib is ongoing.
CheckMate 040 was sponsored by Bristol Myers Squibb. Dr. Melero reported receiving honoraria from and serving as a consultant or adviser for AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Incyte, Merck Serono, MSD, and Roche, and reported research funding to his institution from Alligator Bioscience, Pfizer, and Tusk Therapeutics.