ESMO 2020: Can Immunotherapy Enhance Effects of Chemotherapy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer?
Posted: Tuesday, October 6, 2020
The combination of an anti-CD73 antibody (oleclumab), an anti–PD-L1 antibody (durvalumab), and chemotherapy showed clinical signs of activity with acceptable levels of toxicity among patients with triple-negative breast cancer. CD73 is an adenosine-generating enzyme, and the adenosine pathway has been shown to limit antitumor activity. Daniel Eiger, MD, of the Institut Jules Bordet in Brussels, presented these findings on behalf of his colleagues at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020 (Abstract 348P).
The SYNERGY phase I/II trial recruited patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer for phase I. Patients were administered 3,000 mg of oleclumab every 2 weeks for a total of 5 weeks, followed by maintenance oleclumab every 2 weeks. Patients were also administered durvalumab every 4 weeks plus paclitaxel and carboplatin for 12 weeks during the maintenance period. Phase II of the trial is currently recruiting in Belgium and France and will randomly assign patients to receive oleclumab plus durvalumab and chemotherapy or durvalumab and chemotherapy.
By week 24, four patients saw a clinical benefit from the oleclumab-based regimen. Three patients experienced a partial response, and one had stable disease. The patient who had stable disease at week 24 developed progressive disease at week 32. In addition, one patient experienced a partial response until week 19 before developing progressive disease. The final patient had disease progression at week 8.
After the end of the dose-limiting toxicity period (28 days), none of the six patients included in the trial experienced a dose limiting toxicity. This allowed researchers to set the phase II dose at 3,000 mg of oleclumab. Beyond the first 28 days, five patients experienced grade 3 or higher neutropenia, but none of the patients had any serious immune-related adverse events. Other adverse events seen included pneumonia, herpes zoster, pulmonary embolism, and deep vein thrombosis.
Disclosure: For a full list of author disclosures, visit oncologypro.esmo.org.