Randomized Phase II Trial of Pre-Operative Gemcitabine and Nab Paclitacel With or With Out Hydroxychloroquine

Nathan Bahary, MD

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 2

Conditions: Pancreatic Cancer

Treatments: Drug: hydroxychloroquine; Drug: abraxane; Drug: gemcitabine

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01978184

UPCI# 13-074

Details and patient eligibility

About

This is a randomized phase II trial that will examine the ability of the hydroxychloroquine to improve the clinical activity of a pre-operative regimen of gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel in subjects with potentially resectable adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Eligible subjects will receive 2 cycles of gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel (day 1, 8, 15) with or without hydrocychloroquine followed by surgical resection. Primary endpoint will be histologic response as graded by Evans criteria. Secondary endpoints will be CA19-9 response and PET response. Pre and post treatment tissue biopsies will be obtained to assess for levels of autophagy in tumor, liver and peripheral blood.

Enrollment: 104 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Subjects with biopsy-proven potentially resectable or borderline adenocarcinoma of the pancreas as determined by National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) criteria
• Karnofsky performance status of 70-100%
• No active second malignancy except for basal cell carcinoma of the skin
• Patient has adequate biological parameters as demonstrated by the following blood counts at screening
• Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≥1.5 × 109/L;
• Platelet count ≥100,000/mm3 (100 × 109/L);
• Hemoglobin (Hgb) ≥9 g/dL.
• Patient has the following blood chemistry levels at Baseline
• aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (SGOT), Alanine transaminase (SGPT) ≤2.5 × upper limit of normal range (ULN)
• Total bilirubin ≤ULN
• Serum Creatinine ≤ 1.5mg/dl OR calculated creatinine clearance ≥ 50 for those patients with creatinine greater than 1.5
• Prothrombin time (PT)within normal limits (WNL). If patient is on warfarin for prophylactic clot presentation for indwelling catheter, Partial PT/PTT may be +/- 15 %
• thromboplastin time (PTT) WNL. If patient on warfarin for prophylactic clot presentation for indwelling catheter, PT/PTT may be +/- 15 %
• Age >18 years.
• Patient must be able to swallow enteral medications with no requirement for a feeding tube. Patient's must not have intractable nausea or vomiting which prohibits the patient from oral medications
• Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document.

Exclusion criteria

• Subjects deemed surgically unresectable or subjects unwilling to undergo surgical resection.
• Subjects who have received chemotherapy within 12 months prior to randomization.
• Prior use of radiotherapy or investigational agents for pancreatic cancer.
• Any evidence of metastasis to distant organs (liver, lung, peritoneum).
• Symptomatic evidence of gastric outlet obstruction
• Inability to adhere to study and/or follow-up procedures
• History of allergic reactions or hypersensitivity to the study drugs (hydroxychloroquine, gemcitabine, abraxane).
• Women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation. All females of childbearing potential must have a blood test or urine study within two weeks prior to randomization to rule out pregnancy.
• Patients with porphyria are ineligible.
• Patients with psoriasis are ineligible unless the disease is well controlled and they are under the care of a specialist who agrees to monitor the patient for exacerbations.
• Patients requiring the use of enzyme-inducing anti-epileptic medication that includes: phenytoin, carbamazepine, phenobarbital, primidone or oxcarbazepine are excluded.
• Patients with previously documented macular degeneration or diabetic retinopathy are excluded.
• Baseline electrocardiogram (EKG) with corrected QT interval (QTc) >470 msec (including subjects on medication). Subjects with ventricular pacemaker for whom QT interval is not measurable will be eligible on a case-by-case basis.
• Patient with a history of interstitial lung disease, history of slowly progressive dyspnea, sarcoidosis, silicosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis or pulmonary hypersensitivity pneumonitis
• Patient with known active infection with HIV, Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C
• Patients requiring use of warfarin for therapeutic purposes.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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104 participants in 2 patient groups

gemcitabine and abraxane

Experimental group

Description:

Gemcitabine and Abraxane will be administered on an outpatient basis on Days 3, 10, 17, 31, 38, and 45 as an intravenous infusion. The dose on Day 3 will be 1000 mg/m of gemcitabine followed by a 125 mg/m2 of abraxane and the infusion will take 1 hour. The second dose and infusion time may be decreased. Prior to each gemcitabine infusion, subjects will be pre-medicated with an FDA-approved anti-emetic (anti-nausea medication) in an effort to prevent nausea, at the discretion of the study physician.

Treatment:

Drug: gemcitabine

Drug: abraxane

gemcitabine, abraxane and hydroxychloroquine

Experimental group

Description:

Gemcitabine and Abraxane will be administered on an outpatient basis on Days 3, 10, 17, 31, 38, and 45 as an intravenous infusion. The dose on Day 3 will be 1000 mg/m of gemcitabine followed by a 125 mg/m2 of abraxane and the infusion will take 1 hour. The second dose and infusion time may be decreased. Prior to each gemcitabine infusion, subjects will be pre-medicated with an FDA-approved anti-emetic (anti-nausea medication) in an effort to prevent nausea, at the discretion of the study physician. Hydroxychloroquine is an oral drug (capsule) that subjects will take once or twice a day at home. The dose of hydroxychlorquien will be 1200mg. This is an experimental drug. Subjects will take their first dose of hydroxychloroquine on Day 1 (48 hours before the first infusion of gemcitabine/abraxane), and will continue to take it every day until the day before surgery.

Treatment:

Drug: gemcitabine

Drug: abraxane

Drug: hydroxychloroquine