Pembrolizumab and Exemestane/ Leuprolide in Premenopausal HR+/ HER2- Locally Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer

NCT02990845 | Terminated Phase 1

• 1 other identifier: 201610003MIFA
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 16
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This is an open-label, single-arm, multicenter, pilot study of pembrolizumab, exemestane, and leuprolide for subjects being resistant for front-line hormonal therapy for inoperable locally advanced or metastatic hormonal receptor positive (HR+)/ Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) negative breast cancer. All the patients will be included in the final tolerability and preliminary efficacy analysis. The efficacy objectives including PFS, overall response rate (ORR), clinical benefit rate (CBR), and duration of response (DOR). Adverse effects will be recorded according to CTCAE v4.0.

Conditions

Premenopausal Breast Cancer

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• The PFS rate at 8 months

  To estimate the efficacy of the combination of pembrolizumab and exemestane/ leuprolide in premenopausal with hormone receptor positive/ HER2 negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer patients, as defined by PFS rate at 8 months.

  28 months

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Number of participants with treatment-related adverse events as assessed by CTCAE v4.0

  28 months

• The PFS based on RECIST 1.1

  28 months

• The overall response rate (ORR) based on RECIST 1.1

  28 months

• The clinical benefit rate (CBR) based on RECIST 1.1

  28 months

• The duration of overall response (DOR) based on RECIST 1.1

  28 months

Other Outcomes (1)

• The correlation of potential predictive markers with the efficacy of the combination of pembrolizumab and exemestane/ leuprolide

  28 months

Study Arms (1)

Pembrolizumab/ Exemestane/ Leuprolide

EXPERIMENTAL

Dose level 1 (Pembrolizumab 150 mg IV Q2W); Dose level -1 (Pembrolizumab 100 mg IV Q2W); Dose level -2 (Pembrolizumab 50 mg IV Q2W) Combination with Exemestane 25 mg PO QD, and Leuprolide 3.75 mg SC Q4W

Drug: Pembrolizumab/ Exemestane/ Leuprolide

Interventions

Pembrolizumab/ Exemestane/ Leuprolide DRUG

Dose level 1 (Pembrolizumab 150 mg IV Q2W); Dose level -1 (Pembrolizumab 100 mg IV Q2W); Dose level -2 (Pembrolizumab 50 mg IV Q2W) Combination with Exemestane 25 mg PO QD, and Leuprolide 3.75 mg SC Q4W

Pembrolizumab/ Exemestane/ Leuprolide

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 20 Years+
• Sex: female
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Be a female adult aged more than 20-year-old at the time of informed consent.
• Have histologically confirmed ER positive (defined as ≥1%) and/ or PR positive (defined as ≥1%) breast cancer.
• Have histologically confirmed HER2-negative breast cancer as defined by IHC ≤ 2+, and/or FISH negative.
• Have radiological or objective evidence of inoperable locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer.
• Be premenopausal or peri-menopausal. Premenopausal or peri-menopausal status is defined as below:
• Last menstrual period within the last 12 months OR
• With a plasma estradiol ≥10pg/ml and FSH ≤40IU/L
• Be resistant to front line hormonal therapy, as defined as one of the following criteria:
• Have become inoperable locally advanced or metastatic disease within one year of adjuvant hormonal therapy.
• Fail at least 2 line of prior hormonal therapy for locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer.
• Have history of disease progressed within 6 months during 1st line hormone therapy for locally advanced or metastatic disease.
• Prior exemestane usage is allowed, but the patient number is limited to ≤10 patients.
• Have archival primary tumor specimen from diagnosis.
• Have metastatic tumor specimen before enrollment.
• Have measurable disease as per RECIST 1.1 or non-measurable lytic or mixed (lytic + blastic) bone lesions in the absence of measurable disease.

You may not qualify if:

• Is currently participating in an investigational agent study.
• Has a diagnosis of immunodeficiency or is receiving systemic steroid therapy or any other form of immunosuppressive therapy within 1 week prior to the first dose of study treatment. Physiological steroid replacement is allowed.
• Has had chemotherapy within 2 weeks prior to the first dose of study treatment or has not recovered from side effects (i.e. Grade 1 at baseline) except alopecia related to prior therapy.
• Is a hepatitis B or C carrier.
• Has concurrent malignancy other than non-melanoma skin cancer.
• Is not able to undergo metastatic tumor biopsy.
• Has an active autoimmune disease that has required systemic treatment in the past 2 years (i.e. with use of disease modifying agents, corticosteroids or immunosuppressive drugs). Note: Replacement therapy (i.e. thyroxine, insulin, or physiologic corticosteroid replacement therapy for adrenal or pituitary insufficiency, etc.) is not considered a form of systemic treatment.
• Has a history of (non-infectious) pneumonitis that required steroids, or current pneumonitis.
• Has an active infection requiring systemic therapy.
• Has a history or current evidence of any condition, therapy, or laboratory abnormality that might confound the results of the trial, interfere with the subject's participation for the full duration of the trial, or is not in the best interest of the subject to participate, in the opinion of the treating investigator.
• Has known psychiatric or substance abuse disorders that would interfere with cooperation with the requirements of the trial.
• Has received prior therapy with an anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1, anti-PD-L2 agent or with an agent directed to another co-inhibitory T-cell receptor (e.g. CTLA-4, OX-40, CD137) or has previously participated in Merck pembrolizumab clinical trials.
• Has received a live-virus vaccination within 30 days of planned treatment start. Seasonal flu vaccines that do not contain live virus are permitted.
• Is lactating, pregnant, or unwilling to employ birth control methods during the study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Taiwan University Hospital: lead
• Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

National Taiwan University Hospital

Taipei, 100, Taiwan

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Chen IC, Lin CH, Chang DY, Wei-Wu Chen T, Wang MY, Ma WL, Lin YT, Huang SM, Hsu CL, Lu YS. Hormone therapy enhances anti-PD1 efficacy in premenopausal estrogen receptor-positive and HER2-negative advanced breast cancer. Cell Rep Med. 2025 Jan 21;6(1):101879. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101879. Epub 2024 Dec 26.

  PMID: 39730000 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Interventions

pembrolizumab; exemestane; Leuprolide

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone; Pituitary Hormone-Releasing Hormones; Hypothalamic Hormones; Peptide Hormones; Hormones; Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists; Neuropeptides; Peptides; Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins; Oligopeptides; Nerve Tissue Proteins; Proteins

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: phase 1
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 1, 2016
• First Posted: December 13, 2016
• Study Start: September 15, 2017
• Primary Completion: August 16, 2022
• Study Completion: August 16, 2022
• Last Updated: February 22, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-02

Locations

TW (1)