PROSPECT: A Randomized, Double-blind, Global Phase 3 Efficacy Trial of PROSTVAC-VF in Men with Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer James L. Gulley M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.P. Director, Clinical Trials Group & Deputy Chief Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology Senior Investigator, Medical Oncology Branch Center for Cancer Research National Cancer Institute, NIH
Disclosure Information I have no personal financial relationships to disclose. The National Cancer Institute has a CRADA with BN ImmunoTheratpeutics (BNIT) for preclinical studies and BNIT has licensed this vaccine for clinical trials. The therapeutic vaccine I will discuss is experimental and was originally developed within the NCI.
Disease Continuum in Prostate Cancer Death Docetaxel* Castration Tumor volume Local Therapy 2 nd -line Hormonal therapy Sipuleucel-T* Cabazitaxel* Abiraterone* Enzalutamide* Alpharadin? Asymptomatic Symptoms Non-Metastatic Metastatic Castration Sensitive Castration Resistant Death from Prostate Cancer Time *Approved in US and shown to improve OS in CRPC 3
Recombinant Vaccine Vectors Pox vectors Vaccinia (rv-) elicits a strong immune response host induced immunity limits its continuous use used in over 1 billion people world-wide for eradication of variola Avipox (fowlpox rf-, ALVAC) derived from avian species safe; does not replicate can be used repeatedly with little if any host neutralizing immunity Can insert multiple transgenes Do not integrate into host DNA Efficiently infect antigen presenting cells including dendritic cells
Stimulation Index Comparison of T-cell Responses in CEA-Transgenic Mice Vaccinated with CEA Protein vs. rv-cea 20 rv-cea 15 10 5 CEA Protein 0 100 50 25 12 6 3 [CEA], (mg/ml) 5
T-Cell Dependence on Costimulation Signal 1 + Signal 2 No Signal 1 No Signal 2 Antigen Presenting Cell Antigen Presenting Cell Antigen Presenting Cell MHC TCR Costimulatory Molecule MHC TCR Costimulatory Molecule TCR T-Cell T-Cell T-Cell Activation of Antigen-Specific T-cells Clonal Anergy Apoptosis Ignorance Clonal Anergy Apoptosis Ignorance 6
T-cell Activation (CPM x 10 5 ) Costimulatory Molecule Candidates l Major Costimulatory Effect must be on the T-cell l No Overlap of T-cell Ligands l No Redundancy of Costimulatory Mechanisms APC MHC + Peptide TCR T-Cell Costimulatory Molecule Ligand Costimulatory Mechanism B7-1 (CD80) CD28 CTLA-4 IL-2-R upregulation, IL-2 secretion ICAM-1 (CD54) LFA-1 Tyrosine Kinase, Phospholipase C LFA-3 (CD58) CD2 (Region 1) Tyrosine Kinase, Ca 2+ Mobilization camp Production None LFA-3 ICAM-1 B7-1 TRICOM Costimulatory Molecule
PROSTVAC-VF Proposed Mode of Action Tumor antigen gene Costimulatory molecule genes PSA LFA-3 ICAM-1 B7-1 (TRIad of COstimulatory Molecules) Induction of tumorspecific immune responses (T-cells) Vaccines: PROSTVAC-V PROSTVAC-F Developed within the NCI --Preclinical (Schlom et al.) --Clinical (Gulley et al.) 8
How Pox viral vaccines activate TAA specific T-cells Pox virus- TAA Tarassoff, Gulley The Oncologist, 2006
Antigen spreading Improved clinical outcomes associated with antigen spreading Disis ML et al. Concurrent trastuzumab and HER2/ neu-specific vaccination in patients with metastatic breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 2009 Hardwick N, et al. Epitope spreading contributes to effective immunotherapy in metastatic melanoma patients. Immunotherapy 2011 Walter S. et al. Multipeptide immune response to cancer vaccine IMA901 after single-dose cyclophosphamide associates with longer patient survival. Nature Medicine, 2012 Gulley JL. Therapeutic vaccines: The ultimate personalized therapy? Hum Vaccin Immunother, 2012
Background and Rationale Clinical Experience Pox-viral PSA-containing vectors have been evaluated in approximately 600 patients, over 300 of these patients have received PROSTVAC-VF In Phase 1 and 2 trials, PROSTVAC-VF was well tolerated 1-4 o The most common adverse events were Grade 1 and 2 injection site reactions and fatigue 1,2 In a randomized, multicenter phase 2 trial of PROSTVAC-VF in 32 patients with mcrpc, patients with greater PSA-specific T- cell responses showed a trend toward improved survival 3 1 DiPaola RS, et al. J Transl Med. 2006;4:1-5; 2 Arlen PM Gulley et al. J Urol. 2007;178(4 Pt 1):1515-1520; 3 Gulley JL, et al. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2010;59(5):663-674; 4 Kantoff PW Gulley et al. J Clin Oncol. 2010;28(7):1099-1105. 12
PROSTVAC-VF Gr 2 Adverse Events PROSTVAC-V: 139 Injections PROSTVAC-F: 679 Injections Adverse Event # (%) of Injections Injection Site Reaction 230 (28.1) Fever 18 (2.2) Fatigue 10 (1.2) Myalgias 6 (0.7) Bone Pain 4 (0.5) Arthralgias 3 (0.4) Headache 3 (0.4) Diaphoresis 2 (0.2) Flu-like Syndrome 2 (0.2) Hypotension 2 (0.2) Allergic Rhinitis 1 (0.1) 6 NCI Trials, n=145 patients (NCT00450619, NCT00450463, NCT00113984, NCT00096551, NCT00060528) 13
Kim Gulley et al., ASCO GU, 2013
Phase 2 Results: PROSTVAC-VF Significantly Improved Overall Survival Survival (% of patients) 100 80 60 25.1 Months N Deaths, n Median Survival, months Control 40 37 16.6 PROSTVAC-VF 82 65 25.1 40 20 16.6 Months Hazard ratio 0.56 (95% CI: 0.37-0.85) P=0.0061 0 0 12 24 36 48 60 Months Kantoff PW Gulley JL et al. J Clin Oncol. 2010;28(7):1099-1105. 15
Therapeutic vaccines vs. Conventional therapy Target Conventional Therapy Tumor or its microenvironment Pharmacodynamics Often immediate action Memory Response No Yes Tumor Evolution / new mutations Resistance to therapy Therapeutic Vaccines Immune system Delayed New immunogenic targets Limitations Toxicity Requires adequate immune system function (both systemically and at tumor site) Gulley et al., ASCO Education Book, 2013
Tumor Burden Tumor Growth Rate Vaccine Cytotoxic Therapy Stein W, Gulley JL, et al. Clin Ca Res, 2011 Time
PSA PROSTVAC Interesting Case History Radical prostatectomy Vaccine treatment Second vaccine treatment External beam radiation Age Gleason grade: 4 + 3 = 7 Age at which Doubling time PSA would equal 1000 Trend before radical prostatectomy ( ) 5.8 months 65 years 18 Trend after radical prostatectomy. External beam radiation ( ) 9.6 months 75 years Trend after first vaccine trial ( ) 28.6 months 93 years Trend after second vaccine trial ( ) 27 years Rojan Gulley, Bubley et al. Clin. GU Ca, in press
Decrease in growth rate (PSA) over time following therapeutic vaccination Days on study PSA DT 4.4 7.7 months at 6 months p=0.002 PROSTVAC treatment starting Day 0 and continued for 6 months, n=50 Gulley DiPaola et al, ASCO GU 2013 (E9802)
Current and Emerging Therapies in CRPC Phase III data Number of patients Stop treatment 2º AE PSA 50% Improvement in Median OS Hazard Ratio Reduction in Death Rate Approved Docetaxel 1006 11% 45% 2.4 months 0.76 24% 2004 Cabazitaxel 755 18% 39% 2.4 months 0.70 30% 2010 Sipuleucel-T 512 1.5% 2.6% 4.1 months 0.78 22% 2010 Abiraterone 1195 19% 38% 3.9 months 0.66 34% 2011 Enzalutamide 1199 8% 54% 4.8 months 0.63 37% 2012 Alpharadin 922 -- -- 2.8 months 0.70 30% -- Phase II PROSTVAC data Multi-Center 125 ~2% 1% 8.5 months 0.56 44% -- NCI 145 0% 3.1% -- -- -- --
Phase 3 PROSPECT Trial Design Asymptomatic/ minimally symptomatic mcrpc patients R a n d o m i z a t i o n Treatment Phase (5 mo)* PROSTVAC-VF + GM-CSF** (n = 400) PROSTVAC-VF (n = 400) Vector Placebo (n = 400) 1 3 5 9 13 17 21 Long-term Follow-up (every 6 mo for 5 yr) S U R V I V A L Prime Boosts Vaccination Weeks *at the end of the 5 month treatment phase, use of other therapies for mcrpc is at the discretion of the investigator **low-dose adjuvant (100 µg) SC days 1-4 of each vaccination Gulley JL, Global PI 21
Key Eligibility Criteria for PROSPECT Inclusion Criteria 18 years with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic mcrpc PSA or radiological progression during androgen-suppression ECOG Performance Score of 0 or 1 Life expectancy 1 year Chemotherapy-naïve Exclusion Criteria Scheduled opioid narcotics for cancer-related pain Metastasis to organs other than lymph nodes and/or bone Rapidly progressing disease Contraindications for vaccinia immunization 22
PROSPECT Study Endpoints Primary: Overall survival PROSTVAC VF with and without GM-CSF compared with placebo Secondary: Proportion of patients who remain event-free (radiological or pain progression, initiation of chemotherapy or death) at 6 months Key Exploratory: Immune response to immunizing antigen, non-vaccine contained prostate antigens, tumor-associated antigens; changes in baseline biomarker levels and circulating tumor cell levels; and characterization of T-cell subpopulations The Phase 3 PROSPECT trial is open for enrollment Website for more information: www.continueyourfight.com 23
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Tumor Burden Tumor Growth Rate Time Stein W., Gulley JL, Schlom J... Fojo A. Clin Ca Res, 2011
Does tumor volume matter for Hypothesis: vaccine strategies? The subset of patients with less aggressive disease / lower tumor burdens are more likely to benefit from vaccine therapy. For a review see Gulley et al., Curr Oncol. 2011 26
Tumor Immune System 27
Phase II Study of PSA-TRICOM 32 patients with metastatic castrationresistant prostate cancer (CRPC) Chemotherapy naive Primary endpoint: immune response by ELISPOT Secondary / exploratory endpoints: Response, Survival Gulley et al., Clin Immunol Immunother, 2010 28
Prognostic Model for Predicting Survival in Men with Hormone-Refractory Metastatic Prostate Cancer By Susan Halabi, Eric J. Small, Philip W. Kantoff, Michael W. Kattan, Ellen B. Kaplan, Nancy A. Dawson, Ellis G. Levine, Brent A. Blumenstein, and Nicholas J. Vogelzang J Clin Oncol., 2003 Conclusion: Can predict survival probabilities. Volume of disease Aggressiveness of disease 29
Halabi Predicted Survival vs. Actual Survival NCI Docetaxel therapy (n=22) Predicted survival by Halabi score (mos) Actual median overall survival (mos) Difference (mos) Patients survival longer than predicted by Halabi nomogram Patients with Patients with All patients Halabi predicted survival < 18 mos Halabi predicted survival 18 mos 16.5 15.5 (-1.0) 11 of 22 (50%) 13.0 15.4 2.4 8 of 13 (62%) 21.0 16.9 (-4.1) 3 of 9 (33%) Vaccine: NCI PROSTVAC (n=32) Halabi Predicted survival (mos) Actual median overall Survival (mos) Difference (mos) Patients survival longer than predicted by Halabi nomogram 17.4 26.6 9.2 22 of 32 (69%) Gulley et al, Ca Immunol Immunother, 2009 12.3 14.6 2.3 10 of 17 (59%) 20.9 Not reached (8 of 15 pts alive at 37.3 mos)* 16.4 12 of 15 (80%) p = 0.035
Survival Based PSA-Specific T-Cell Response ELISPOT >6 Fold Increase p=0.055 ELISPOT<6 Fold Increase
Patient with Metastatic CRPC Treated with PROSTVAC with >6 fold increase in PSA specific T cells Pervasive bone disease at enrollment Halabi predicted survival 16.8 months 5 years on vaccine study No subsequent therapy Died 7 years after enrolling rv-psa-tricom rf-psa-tricom 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Kim, Madan, Gulley, Clin Genitourinary Ca, 2011
immune tumor Combination Studies Rationale: added therapy Immunogenic cell death (boosting anti-cancer immune responses) Immunogenic modulation tumor cell more amenable to immune mediated killing Killing Fas, improved T-cell binding (ICAM) Recognition MHC, TAA Augment immune effectors / decrease immune regulators
Cell Number FAS MHC-I % Lysis Accessory Genes Treatment of LnCaP Prostate Cells with Palliative Levels of 153 0 Gy 25 Gy Sm (Quadramet) Modulates Phenotype, Upregulates Fas 1 1.96 TAA, and Increases ICAM-1 1 29.1 Sensitivity to Antigen-specific CTL Killing Treatment of LnCaP prostate cancer cells with palliative doses of 153 Sm results in the upregulation of MHC class I and Fas 0 Gy 25 gy Apoptotic Genes 0 Gy 25 Gy Treatment of LnCaP prostate cancer Bax (pro) 1 cells with 3.88 palliative doses BCL-2 of 153 Sm (anti) results in 1 the 1.51 upregulation of BCL-xL TAAs (anti) 1 4.39 Tumor Tumor antigen Antigen genes Genes 0 Gy 25 Gy PSA 1 2.79 PSMA 1 4.14 PAP 1 29.0 CEA 1 10.3 MUC-1 1 3.67 0 Gy 25 gy 0 Gy 25 gy Treatment of LnCaP prostate cancer cells with palliative doses of 153 Sm results in increased sensitivity to multiple CTLs 100 p<0.001 p<0.001 80 10 0 10 1 10 2 10 3 10 4 MFI 60 40 20 Chakraborty, Wansley Schlom, Hodge, NCI. Clin Cancer Res. 2008 Collaboration with Nuclear Medicine Branch 0 0 (Mock) 25 50 Day 4 Sm-153 delivered Dose (Gy)
Tumor Burden Tumor Growth Rate Vaccine Cytotoxic Therapy Combination Stein W, Gulley JL, et al. Clin Ca Res, 2011 Time 35
Examples 1. Quadramet +/- vaccine 2. Docetaxel +/- vaccine 3. Flutamide +/- vaccine 36
Conclusion Minimal toxicity Effect on the host immune system indirect effect on the tumor anti-tumor effects may be delayed Overall survival vs radiographic response (RECIST) or time to progression as the appropriate primary endpoint for vaccine alone studies. Induction of host immunity is a dynamic process that can persist long term post-vaccination immune response may become broader and deeper over time earlier may be better Potential for an enhanced effect on concomitant or subsequent therapies
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