(Lebanon, NH, 5/24/13) — Researchers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center will present a poster on a phase I clinical trial of Nivolumab, a PD-1 receptor blocking antibody, being used in combination with other drugs in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) at the ASCO Annual Meeting on June 3, 2013.
Metastatic renal cell carcinoma or kidney cancer is the seventh most common cancer, leading to approximately 116,000 deaths annually worldwide. In roughly one-quarter of those with mRCC, the cancer has already spread or metastasized at diagnosis.
Nivolumab is an immune checkpoint inhibitor being tested in many cancers such as advanced melanoma and nonsmall cell lung cancer. It helps the body fight renegade cancer cells by restoring normal T-cell antitumor function. T-cells are a type of white blood cell that act like soldiers by searching out and destroying invaders. Nivolumab accomplishes this by suppressing an immune checkpoint modulator.
In this study, Nivolumab will be used in combination with sunitinib, pazopanib (existing treatments), or ipilimumab. These existing treatments have shown to reduce progression of the disease, but without lasting or durable response. Many patients eventually develop resistance to them. In other Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials, Nivolumab has shown durable responses in patients with mRCC.
The ASCO poster session describes an ongoing four-arm Phase 1 dose-escalation and expansion study evaluating combinations of Nivolumab with sunitinib, pazopanib, or ipilimumab in patients with mRCC. The primary objectives are to assess safety and tolerability, and to determine the recommended Phase 2 dose in patients with mRCC. The secondary objective is to assess preliminary antitumor activity. Researchers will also evaluate overall survival, pharmacodynamics, predictive biomarkers for the combinations, pharmacokinetics and immunogenicity of Nivolumab.
Abstract No: TPS4593
Clinical Trial information: NCT01472081
About Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock
Norris Cotton Cancer Center combines advanced cancer research at Dartmouth College and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College with patient-centered cancer care provided at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock regional locations in Manchester, Nashua, and Keene, NH, and St. Johnsbury, VT, and at 12 partner hospitals throughout New Hampshire and Vermont. It is one of 41 centers nationwide to earn the National Cancer Institute's "Comprehensive Cancer Center" designation. Learn more about Norris Cotton Cancer Center research, programs, and clinical trials online at cancer.dartmouth.edu.