ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT00228358Updated Nov 11, 2014

Cyclophosphamide or Denileukin Diftitox Followed By Expanding a Patient's Own T Cells in the Laboratory in Treating Patients With HER-2/Neu Overexpressing Metastatic Breast Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, or Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Previously Treated With HER-2/Neu Vaccine

A Phase 1 interventional study of ex vivo-expanded HER2-specific T cells and cyclophosphamide in HER2-positive Breast Cancer, Recurrent Breast Cancer and Recurrent Non-small Cell Lung Cancer, sponsored by University of Washington. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2014-11-11.

Sponsored by University of Washington · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
8
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This phase I trial studies the safety and the ability to expand laboratory-treated T cells when given together with cyclophosphamide or denileukin diftitox in treating patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)-2/neu overexpressing metastatic breast cancer, ovarian cancer, or non-small cell lung cancer previously treated with HER-2/neu vaccine. Laboratory-expanded T cells may help the immune system in different ways and stop tumor cells from growing. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as cyclophosphamide, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Biological therapy, such as denileukin diftitox, may stimulate the immune system in different ways and stop tumor cells from growing. Giving laboratory-treated T cells together with cyclophosphamide or denileukin diftitox may allow the immune system to kill more tumor cells

Read the detailed description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To assess the feasibility of expanding HER2 specific T cells ex vivo for infusion into subjects who have advanced HER2 overexpressing cancer.

II. To assess the toxicity associated with infusing autologous HER2 specific T cells into patients using either a single dose of cyclophosphamide or ONTAK (denileukin diftitox) prior to T cell infusion.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To investigate to what extent HER2 specific T cell immunity can be boosted in individuals treated with a single dose of cyclophosphamide of ONTAK followed by infusion of autologous HER2 specific T cells.

II. To investigate the potential anti-tumor effects of HER2 specific T cells in patients with HER2 overexpressing advanced-stage cancers.

III. To evaluate how long tumor antigen specific T cell immune augmentation persists in vivo after a single dose of cyclophosphamide or ONTAK followed by infusion of autologous HER2 specific T cells.

OUTLINE: This is a dose-escalation study of ex vivo-expanded HER2-specific T cells. Patients are assigned to 1 of 2 treatment groups.

GROUP A: Patients receive low-dose cyclophosphamide intravenously (IV) on day -1 and 3 escalating doses of autologous ex vivo-expanded HER2-specific T cells IV over 30 minutes on days 1, 10, and 20.

GROUP B: Patients receive ONTAK (denileukin diftitox) IV over 1 hour on day -1 and 3 escalating doses of autologous ex vivo-expanded HER2-specific T cells IV over 30 minutes on days 1, 10, and 20.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed periodically.

02

Conditions studied

  • HER2-positive Breast Cancer
  • Recurrent Breast Cancer
  • Recurrent Non-small Cell Lung Cancer
  • Recurrent Ovarian Epithelial Cancer
  • Recurrent Ovarian Germ Cell Tumor
  • Stage IV Breast Cancer
  • Stage IV Non-small Cell Lung Cancer
  • Stage IV Ovarian Epithelial Cancer
  • Stage IV Ovarian Germ Cell Tumor
03

In context

Breast Neoplasms

14,825 studies on the registry are indexed under Breast Neoplasms; 3,319 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 8 is below the median of 72 across 10,896 interventional studies indexed under Breast Neoplasms.

Browse Breast Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

University of Washington is the lead sponsor of 1,433 studies on the registry; 225 are open to participants now.

Of its 158 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 136 (86%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients with progressive /neu overexpressing breast, ovarian, or non-small cell lung cancer not considered curable by conventional therapies, including trastuzumab

    • Extra-skeletal disease that can be accurately measured >= 10 mm by standard imaging techniques that can include but not limited to computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
    • Skeletal or bone-only disease which is measurable by Fludeoxyglucose F 18 (FDG) PET imaging will also be allowed
    • Patients with ovarian cancer may have ; however, their only indication of progression may be an abnormal CA-125
  • Patients must have documented HER-2/neu overexpression in their tumor (either primary or metastasis) as was required per the eligibility criteria of their original vaccination protocol
  • Patients must have received HER2-specific vaccinations while enrolled on a HER2 vaccine protocol approved at the University of Washington Human Subjects Division
  • Patients must have undergone leukapheresis after vaccination through a protocol approved at the University of Washington Human Subjects Division and have product stored for clinical use
  • Subjects must have a Performance Status Score (Zubrod/ [ECOG] Scale) = 0 or 1
  • Patients can be currently receiving trastuzumab and/or lapatinib and/or hormonal therapy and/or bisphosphonate therapy

    • Patients on trastuzumab and/or lapatinib must have adequate cardiac function as demonstrated by multi gated acquisition () scan or echocardiogram (ECHO) within 90 days of eligibility determination
  • Patients must be off all treatments, and/or systemic therapy, for at least 14 days prior to initiation of study treatment
  • Patients must be off chemotherapy and trastuzumab for at least 1 week prior to the first infusion of T cells
  • Men and women of reproductive ability must agree to use during the study and for one month after the final T cell infusion
  • Patients with a history of must have a stable head imaging study within 30 days of enrollment
  • White blood cells (WBC) >= 3000/mm\^3
  • (ANC) >= 1000/mm\^3
  • (Hgb) >= 10 mg/dl
  • >= 75,000mm\^3
  • Serum creatinine =\< 2.0 mg/dl or > 60 ml/min
  • Total =\< 2.5 mg/dl
  • (AST)/serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) =\< 3 times

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Concurrent enrollment in other treatment studies
  • Patients with any of the following cardiac conditions:

    • Symptomatic restrictive cardiomyopathy
    • Unstable angina within the last 4 months prior to enrollment
    • functional class III-IV heart failure on active treatment
  • Patients with any disease uncontrolled with treatment
  • Pregnant or breast-feeding women
  • Known history of to diphtheria toxin or interleukin (IL)-2 (only for subjects enrolled in Group B)
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(20)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

HER2

HER2 is a protein, made from the ERBB2 gene, that drives the growth of some cancers. A study may look for a level of the protein, extra copies of the gene, or a particular change in it.

In breast cancer, protein tests are read as HER2-positive, HER2-low or HER2-negative; other cancers use their own rules. Check which test result the study requires.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

Measurable disease

The amount of disease can be tracked with a defined measurement, so the study can see whether it shrinks or grows. It might be a tumour measured on a scan or, in some blood cancers such as myeloma, a marker measured in blood or urine.

The criteria or the study team say which measurement counts — having no tumour visible on a scan does not by itself rule you out.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

LVEF (left ventricular ejection fraction)

The share of blood the heart’s main pumping chamber (the left ventricle) pushes out with each beat, measured by an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) or a MUGA scan. About 50–70% is normal.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Brain metastases

Cancer deposits in the brain from a cancer that started elsewhere in the body (CNS metastases include the spinal cord).

Studies differ: some leave out any brain metastases, some accept ones treated and stable for some weeks. Check what this study allows.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

NYHA class (heart failure)

The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.

I
No limits: ordinary activity causes no undue tiredness or breathlessness.
II
Slight limits: comfortable at rest, ordinary activity causes symptoms.
III
Marked limits: comfortable at rest, less than ordinary activity causes symptoms.
IV
Symptoms even at rest; any activity makes them worse.

Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
8 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Group A (cellular infusions after cyclophosphamide)

    Patients receive low-dose cyclophosphamide IV on day -1 and 3 escalating doses of autologous ex vivo-expanded HER2-specific T cells IV over 30 minutes on days 1, 10, and 20.

    Drug: ex vivo-expanded HER2-specific T cells · Drug: cyclophosphamide · Other: flow cytometry · Other: immunoenzyme technique

  • Experimental
    Group B (cellular infusions after ONTAK conditioning)

    Patients receive denileukin diftitox IV over 1 hour on day -1 and 3 escalating doses of autologous ex vivo-expanded HER2-specific T cells IV over 30 minutes on days 1, 10, and 20.

    Drug: ex vivo-expanded HER2-specific T cells · Biological: denileukin diftitox · Other: flow cytometry · Other: immunoenzyme technique

Interventions

  • Drugex vivo-expanded HER2-specific T cells

    Laboratory-expanded T cells, given IV

  • Given IV

    Also known as: CPM, CTX, Cytoxan, Endoxan, Endoxana

  • Given IV

    Also known as: DAB389 interleukin-2, DAB389 interleukin-2 immunotoxin, DAB389-IL2, DABIL2

  • Otherflow cytometry

    Intracellular cytokine staining (correlative study)

  • Otherimmunoenzyme technique

    ELIspot assay (correlative study)

    Also known as: immunoenzyme techniques

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Feasibility of expanding HER2 specific T cells ex vivo to achieve a target T cell expansion of 1x10^10 HER2 specific T cells

    The procedure will be defined as feasible if the minimum target expansion of HER2 specific T cells is achieved in 2/3 expansions in 4/5 subjects within an arm.

    Time frame: Up to day 40

  2. Safety of infusing HER2 specific T cells

    Toxicity grading will be evaluated according to the CTEP CTCAE v3.0 criteria. A specific dose of HER2 specific T cells will be defined as safe if 4 of 5 subjects in a study arm tolerate that dose without dose-limiting toxicity (DLT).

    Time frame: Up to day 40

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number of patients in whom the precursor frequency of antigen specific T cells is increased by 10-fold over baseline within one week after the last infusion

    Time frame: Up to one week following last infusion

  2. Number of patients in whom an immune response is demonstrated if baseline immune response was below detection

    Time frame: Up to one week following last infusion

  3. HER2 specific CD4+ or CD8+ precursor frequencies as assessed by cytokine flow cytometry or ELISPOT

    Time frame: Up to 1 year following last infusion

  4. Anti-tumor effects of HER2 specific T cells as assessed by RECIST criteria

    Time frame: Day 40

  5. Persistence of T cell immune augmentation in vivo after adoptive transfer of HER2 specific T cells

    Time frame: Up to 1 year following last infusion

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/University of Washington Cancer Consortium
    Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
Not marked actual or estimatedDates not marked actual or estimated

The record gives a start of Jun 2003 and a primary completion of May 2011. It does not say whether these dates are actual or estimated.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Sep 13, 2005
First posted
Sep 28, 2005
Start
Jun 2003
Primary completionActual
May 2011
Last update
Nov 11, 2014
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Nov 11, 2014, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00228358
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Sep 28, 2005
Start date
Jun 2003
Primary completion
May 2011
Last update
Nov 11, 2014

Study contacts

Mary Disis
principal investigator · Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/University of Washington Cancer Consortium

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Nov 2014. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Studies of the drugs tested here: Cyclophosphamide · Denileukin diftitox

Start the discussion