Biomarkers For Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Lifespan

Status: Completed

Conditions: Advanced Cancer; Neoplasms

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04204434

Biomarkers For I.C. Inhibitors

Details and patient eligibility

About

This is a laboratory, non-treatment study. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are a type of immunotherapy that stimulates a patients immune system to fight their cancer. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are standard, FDA approved treatment for certain types of cancers such as melanoma, lung cancer, kidney cancer and bladder cancer. The laboratories of Dr. Jack Elias and Dr. Chun Geun Lee at Brown University are studying how immune checkpoint inhibitors work.Kintai Therapeutics is a biotech company in Cambridge Massachusetts that will focus on the molecules present in the GI tract, including the stomach, small intestine and colon.

Full description

Patients who are receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors for their cancer treatment are eligible. Patients will sign informed consent. Ten cc of blood will be drawn before beginning immune checkpoint inhibitors and 10 cc of blood will be drawn 1-4 months after treatment is initiated. Deidentitified blood samples will be sent to the lab of Dr. Jack Elias and Dr. Chun Geul Lee and analyzed for biomarkers. The blood samples will be linked to the patient by a research number. Response to treatment will be correlated to potential biomarkers. The stool samples will be linked to the patient by a research number. Bacterial DNA and RNA may be sequenced and data used to identify bacterial taxa and genes within the stool. In compliance with NIH guidelines, all human DNA data would be removed computationally, and will not be used in any analyses. Small molecules may be profiled with metabolomics. Bacteria may also be isolated from the stool into in vitro culture, and efficacy of single-strains or communities and/or their DNA, RNA, and metabolites on disease models may be assessed.

Enrollment: 119 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Patients with advanced solid tumors initiating treatment with an immune checkpoint inhibitor.
• No prior immune checkpoint inhibitors
• Age >18.
• Signed informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• The patient is unwilling or unable to provide informed consent