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Originally published as JCO Early Release 10.1200/JCO.2006.07.8972 on May 21 2007 © 2007 American Society of Clinical Oncology. Phase I/II Study of an Anti-CD30 Monoclonal Antibody (MDX-060) in Hodgkin's Lymphoma and Anaplastic Large-Cell Lymphoma
From the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, Rochester, MN; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; American Health Network Oncology, Indianapolis, IN; Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark; and Medarex Inc, Princeton, NJ Address reprint requests to Stephen M. Ansell, MD, PhD, Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First St SW, Rochester, MN 55905; e-mail: ansell.stephen{at}mayo.edu
Purpose MDX-060 is a human anti-CD30 immunoglobulin (Ig) G1 monoclonal antibody that inhibits growth of CD30-expressing tumor cells in preclinical models. To determine the safety, maximum-tolerated dose (MTD), and efficacy of MDX-060 in patients with relapsed or refractory CD30+ lymphomas, sequential phase I and II studies were performed. Patients and Methods In the phase I portion, MDX-060 was administered intravenously at doses of 0.1, 1, 5, or 10 mg/kg weekly for 4 weeks to cohorts of three to six patients. Twenty-one patients—16 with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), three with anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL), and two with CD30+ T-cell lymphoma—were enrolled. Because of the lack of a defined MTD or dose-response correlation, the phase II portion was amended to include several dose levels. In the phase II portion, an additional 51 patients, 47 with HL and four with ALCL, were treated at doses of 1, 5, 10, and 15 mg/kg. Results MDX-060 was well tolerated, and an MTD has not been identified. Only 7% of patients experienced grade 3 or 4 treatment-related adverse events. Among the 72 patients treated, clinical responses were observed in six. Twenty-five patients had stable disease, including five who remained free from progression 1 year after treatment. Conclusion MDX-060 was well tolerated at doses up to 15 mg/kg. MDX-060 has limited activity as a single agent, but the minimal toxicity observed and the significant proportion of patients with stable disease suggests that further study of MDX-060 in combination with other therapies is warranted.
CD30 is a 120-kD transmembrane protein from the tumor necrosis factor receptor family. CD30 expression is restricted in normal tissues to activated B and T cells,1,2 and to cells infected with Epstein-Barr virus.3 Cells from various lymphocytic malignancies have also been noted to express CD30.3,4 These include Ki-1–positive cells in anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) and Reed-Sternberg cells in Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL).5 Also, 30% of T-cell lymphomas and 20% of B-cell lymphomas express CD30. Furthermore, soluble CD30 has been recognized as a negative prognostic sign in HL.5 The CD30 ligand (CD153) is a type II membrane glycoprotein expressed on activated T cells, macrophages, B cells, neutrophils, eosinophils, and mast cells, and ligand binding induces activation, proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis in different cell types.4,6 It is speculated that CD153 expressed on nonmalignant intratumoral cells7 recruited by the Reed-Sternberg cells,8 regulates the growth and activation of the malignant cells.9,10 Interruption of this interaction may potentially lead to inhibition of malignant cell growth.
MDX-060 is a fully human anti-CD30 immunoglobulin G1 Because HL and ALCL cells express CD30, we conducted a phase I/II study to characterize the safety and tolerability of MDX-060 as a single-agent therapy for patients with CD30-positive lymphoma, and to determine the maximum-tolerated dose (MTD) and dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) of MDX-060 when administered for 4 weeks. Additional objectives included characterization of the pharmacokinetic profile of MDX-060 and assessment of efficacy in patients with CD30-expressing lymphomas.
Patient Eligibility To be eligible for participation in this study, patients were 12 years of age with histologic proof of CD30-positive lymphoma. CD30 positivity was defined as the expression of CD30 on at least 50% of malignant cells, specifically the Reed-Sternberg cells in HL, as detected histologically on a biopsy obtained at any time in the disease course, by immunohistochemistry or flow cytometry using any commercially available anti-CD30 antibody. Patients were required to be refractory to prior therapy or have relapsed after chemotherapy or radiation therapy, or after an autologous or allogeneic bone marrow transplant. The following laboratory values, completed 28 or fewer days before treatment, were required: a total WBC count of at least 1,500/µL, an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of at least 1,000/µL, a platelet count of at least 75,000/µL, hemoglobin of at least 8 g/dL, total bilirubin no more than 2 mg/dL, serum creatinine of at least 2x the upper limit of the institution normal range (ULN), AST less than 2x ULN, and ALT less than 3x ULN. All patients were required to have a life expectancy of at least 12 weeks and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (PS) of 0 to 2. Patients previously treated with an anti-CD30 antibody were not eligible. Known HIV-positive patients and patients requiring concurrent steroid therapy were not eligible. Patients recently treated with chemotherapy or radiation therapy were eligible only after 4 weeks had elapsed since the most recent treatment. Other exclusion criteria included active infection, purified protein derivative recently converted to positive, and CNS involvement by lymphoma. Pregnant and nursing women were not eligible for the study. All patients were required to give informed consent, and the institutional review boards of the participating institutions approved the study.
Study Design: Phase I If no DLT was observed in a cohort of three patients treated at dose levels 0.1 and 1.0 mg/kg during the treatment period (4 weeks), the next cohort of three new patients would be treated at the next higher dose level. At dose levels 5.0 and 10.0 mg/kg, six patients were to be enrolled at each level to obtain additional safety and pharmacokinetic information. If DLT was encountered in one of the first three patients at any dose level, then a maximum of three additional patients would be treated at that same level. Subsequently, if the total incidence of DLT among those six patients was one in six, then the next three-patient cohort would be treated at the next higher dose level. If two or more patients at a given dose level experienced DLT, this dose level would exceed the MTD level, no additional patients would be enrolled at that level, and dose escalation would stop.
Study Design: Phase II
Toxicity and Response Evaluation Should a patient have stable disease or be responding to treatment at the time of the evaluation at 8 weeks, patients were followed monthly for a further 3 months and then every three months thereafter. Patients having objective progression of disease or clinical deterioration were taken off study. Patient responses to therapy were assessed using the International Working Group recommendations for response criteria for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.12
Pharmacokinetic Evaluations
Statistical Methods The secondary objective was to characterize the pharmacokinetic profile of MDX-060. The pharmacokinetic parameters were summarized using descriptive statistics. The estimated response rate was determined by evaluation of MDX-060–treated patients in both phase I and II studies. The clinical responses were summarized by simple descriptive summary statistics delineating complete and partial responses as well as stable and progressive disease. Additional efficacy parameters included duration of tumor response and time to tumor progression.
Patient Characteristics Seventy-two patients with CD30-positive lymphoma were enrolled. Twenty-one patients were treated on the phase I portion of the study and 51 patients on the phase II portion. All patients received at least one dose of MDX-060. Patient characteristics by study phase are shown in Table 1.
Phase I Dose Escalation Three patients were enrolled at the 0.1-mg/kg dose level. MDX-060 was well tolerated at this dose. One patient, however, did have a grade 2 increase in liver transaminases after the first MDX-060 infusion that resolved. This was possibly caused by MDX-060, but was not a DLT. Three patients were then enrolled at the 1-mg/kg dose level. One patient with HL, who previously had an allogeneic stem-cell transplant, had a grade 3 increase in liver transaminases associated with a flare up of the patient's previous biopsy-proven graft-versus-host disease of the liver. This was a DLT believed to be related to MDX-060. This event was treated with steroids and resolved. Three further patients were enrolled at the 1-mg/kg dose level, and no further DLT was seen. Six patients were then enrolled at the 5- and 10-mg/kg dose levels as planned. No DLT was seen any of the patients treated at these dose levels, and the MTD was therefore not reached.
Adverse Events in All Patients Treated With MDX-060
Pharmacokinetics Dose-proportional pharmacokinetics were seen with the administration of MDX-060. Plasma serum specimens were obtained after the first dose as well as after the final dose of MDX-060 was administered. Peak and trough plasma levels of MDX-060 showed a dose-dependent increase as shown in Figure 1, and were maintained for at least 48 hours. Unfortunately, due to errors that were made at the participating sites in obtaining certain of the blood specimens, a reliable calculation of the half-life of the antibody could not be made. However, in vitro, 10 µg/mL of MDX-060 has been shown to significantly inhibit tumor cell growth,11 and serum levels of at least 10 µg/mL were achieved after the first and final doses of MDX-060 in all patients treated at a dose level of 1 mg/kg or higher.
Clinical Responses Patients were assessed monthly for 3 months after treatment and then every 3 months as long as they remained on study. Thirty-eight (53%) of 72 treated patients progressed by month 2. Objective clinical responses were observed in six patients, and responses were not dose dependent. Two patients with ALCL and two patients with HL achieved complete responses, and another two patients with HL had partial responses. Response data by treatment cohort is shown in Table 3. All of the patients who responded were heavily pretreated, and most of the patients had previously progressed after stem-cell transplantation. Responses in HL were seen in nodal and extranodal disease. Of interest, the responses seen in the two patients with ALCL were seen in patients with predominantly skin disease. Of the remaining patients who did not have a partial response or better, 25 (35%) of 72 had stable disease lasting from 2 to 18 months (percentage change in tumor volume is shown in Fig 2). Of the 25 patients with stable disease, 10 patients were free from progression for 6 months, and five patients remained free from progression at 12 months from therapy with MDX-060.
A total of 31 patients received steroids while on study. Eighteen patients were receiving steroids at the time of enrollment on study: six for underlying pulmonary disease, one for graft-versus-host disease, and 11 for symptoms related to their underlying lymphoma. None of these patients had an increase in the dose of steroids while on study. Thirteen patients required steroids to be started while enrolled on the study. One patient received topical steroids for psoriasis, and the remainder received oral steroids: one for the DLT mentioned above (graft-versus-host disease), one as prophylaxis for an anticipated infusion reaction, two for adrenal insufficiency, three for increasing pulmonary symptoms, and six for symptoms related to HL or ALCL. Four of the responding patients received concomitant corticosteroids with the administration of MDX-060 as ongoing management of constitutional symptoms. One patient who had a complete response was receiving steroids for disease symptoms when enrolled and remained on the same dose throughout the study. A second patient who had a complete response received topical steroids for psoriasis. A third patient who had a partial response received 4 days of oral steroids followed by 20 days of inhaled steroids for pulmonary symptoms felt to be secondary to lymphoma. A fourth patient who had a partial response received intermittent doses of oral steroids for constitutional symptoms related to the underlying disease persistently while on study. Although it could be argued that the use of steroids may have contributed to the clinical response seen in this fourth patient, all of the patients were felt to be refractory to previous corticosteroid therapy, and we feel that it is unlikely that steroids contributed to the responses seen in these patients.
HL is a curable disease for the majority of patients when treated with combination chemotherapy, and in many cases adjuvant radiation therapy.13 The prognosis for other CD30-expressing lymphomas, particularly ALCL, is more variable and depends on features such as expression of the ALK-1 protein.14 Some patients who relapse, particularly those with HL, can be cured with second-line treatment, such as high-dose therapy with stem-cell transplantation.15,16 However, patients who relapse after these procedures, or who are ineligible for second-line approaches, have a very poor prognosis. Several anti-CD30 antibodies have been used in clinical trials to treat patients with relapsed and refractory CD30-expressing lymphomas.17-22 These trials have evaluated chimeric or murine antihuman CD30 bispecific antibodies or antibodies conjugated to immunotoxins or radiolabeled with iodine-131. The chimeric anti-CD30 antibody SGN-30 has shown activity in early-phase clinical trials.22,23 Preliminary results using SGN-30 showed that the drug was well tolerated, and responses were seen predominantly in patients with ALCL.23 Furthermore, anti-CD30 antibodies have shown enhanced antitumor activity in vitro when administered as radioimmunoconjugates or when combined with chemotherapy.21,24,25 In this study using MDX-060, doses up to 15 mg/kg were administered, and the MTD was not reached. Although clinical responses were seen in both patients with HL and ALCL and at most dose levels 1 mg/kg and higher, the overall response rate was only 8%. Stabilization of disease, at times durable, was observed in 35% of patients. Of the six responding patients, four patients received corticosteroids while on the study. However, it is important to note that in this cohort of heavily pretreated patients, 27 other patients were enrolled while receiving corticosteroids or received corticosteroids while on study. In the majority of these patients, corticosteroids were administered for symptoms secondary to the underlying malignancy, and the majority of these patients did not have a response to therapy. Although preclinical data do exist to suggest a possible synergistic effect between MDX-060 and dexamethasone in HL cell lines,24 our assessment is that the patients in this study were refractory to corticosteroids, and the use of corticosteroids did not appear to potentiate the effect of MDX-060. Although the number of patients was small, there was a suggestion that patients with ALCL may be more likely to respond to therapy with MDX-060. Of the seven patients with ALCL, two (28%) had a response to MDX-060, compared with 6% of patients (four of 63) with HL. An explanation for this difference in response rate may be the pattern of expression of CD30 in ALCL compared with HL. CD30 is highly expressed on most cells in ALCL, whereas in HL, CD30 is only expressed on the Reed-Sternberg cells, which commonly form a minority of the intratumoral cells. Based on the responses seen in this study, a further phase II study of MDX-060 as a single agent is being performed in ACLC, whereas in HL, MDX-060 is being combined with chemotherapy. The results of this study show that MDX-060 administered to patients with relapsed or refractory CD30 expressing lymphomas is well tolerated. The safety of MDX-060 and the suggestion of antitumor activity make the use of this agent in combination with other therapies an attractive option for future studies.
Although all authors completed the disclosure declaration, the following authors or their immediate family members indicated a financial interest. No conflict exists for drugs or devices used in a study if they are not being evaluated as part of the investigation. For a detailed description of the disclosure categories, or for more information about ASCO's conflict of interest policy, please refer to the Author Disclosure Declaration and the Disclosures of Potential Conflicts of Interest section in Information for Contributors. Employment: Tibor Keler, Medarex; Robert Graziano, Medarex; Diann Blanset, Medarex; Michael Yellin, Medarex; Steven Fischkoff, Medarex; Albert Assad, Medarex Leadership: N/A Consultant: N/A Stock: N/A Honoraria: N/A Research Funds: Stephen M. Ansell, Medarex; Steven M. Horwitz, Medarex; Andreas Engert, Medarex; Khuda Dad Khan, Medarex; Thomas Lin, Medarex; Roger Strair, Medarex; Peter Borchmann, Medarex Testimony: N/A Other: N/A
Conception and design: Stephen M. Ansell, Steven M. Horwitz, Michael Yellin, Steven Fischkoff Financial support: Steven Fischkoff Provision of study materials or patients: Stephen M. Ansell, Steven M. Horwitz, Andreas Engert, Khuda Dad Khan, Thomas Lin, Roger Strair, Peter Borchmann Collection and assembly of data: Tibor Keler, Robert Graziano, Diann Blanset, Albert Assad Data analysis and interpretation: Stephen M. Ansell, Steven M. Horwitz, Tibor Keler, Robert Graziano, Diann Blanset, Michael Yellin, Steven Fischkoff, Albert Assad Manuscript writing: Stephen M. Ansell, Steven M. Horwitz Final approval of manuscript: Stephen M. Ansell, Steven M. Horwitz, Andreas Engert, Khuda Dad Khan, Thomas Lin, Roger Strair, Tibor Keler, Robert Graziano, Diann Blanset, Michael Yellin, Steven Fischkoff, Albert Assad, Peter Borchmann
published online ahead of print at www.jco.org on May 21, 2007. S.M.A. and S.M.H. contributed equally to this work. Presented in part at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology, December 6-9, 2003, San Diego, CA. Authors' disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and author contributions are found at the end of this article.
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Copyright © 2007 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Online ISSN: 1527-7755. Print ISSN: 0732-183X
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