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Active, not recruitingNCT03607890Updated Oct 8, 2026

Study of Nivolumab and Relatlimab in Advanced Mismatch Repair Deficient Cancers Resistant to Prior PD-(L)1 Inhibitor

A Phase 2 interventional study of Nivolumab and Relatlimab in Refractory MSI - H Solid Tumors Prior of PD-(L) 1 Therapy and MSI-H Tumors, sponsored by Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Active, not recruiting at 2 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-08.

Sponsored by Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

Updated Oct 8, 2026Primary completion movedStudy completion movedGo to Updates ↓
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
38
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and clinical activity of nivolumab and relatlimab in patients with microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) solid tumors refractory to prior PD-(L)1 therapy.

02

Conditions studied

  • Refractory MSI - H Solid Tumors Prior of PD-(L) 1 Therapy
  • MSI-H Tumors

Keywords

  • Relatlimab
  • Nivolumab
  • Immunotherapy
  • Anti - PD-1
  • Anti - LAG-3
  • Antibodies
  • MSI
  • MMR deficient
  • Microsatellite instability
03

In context

Turcot syndrome

60 studies on the registry are indexed under Turcot syndrome; 29 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 38 is close to the median of 38 across 45 interventional studies indexed under Turcot syndrome.

Browse Turcot syndrome studies →

Lead sponsor

Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins is the lead sponsor of 582 studies on the registry; 71 are open to participants now.

Of its 114 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 68 (60%) 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

  • Age ≥18 years.
  • (ECOG) performance status 0 or 1
  • Have or locally advanced mismatch repair deficient/MSI-H disease.
  • Patients must have received prior /PD-L1 inhibitor therapy
  • Patients with the presence of at least one .
  • of greater than 3 months.
  • Patients must have adequate organ and marrow function defined by study - specified laboratory tests.
  • Documented (LVEF) ≥ 50% - 6 month prior to drug administration.
  • Must use acceptable form of while on study.
  • Ability to understand and willingness to sign a written document.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Known history or evidence of .
  • Require any antineoplastic therapy.
  • History of prior treatment with anti-LAG3.
  • Had chemotherapy, radiation, or within 14 days prior to study treatment.
  • Had any cytotoxic drug within 4 weeks prior to study treatment.
  • Have received any investigational drugs, a , any allergen hyposensitization therapy, growth factors or major surgery within 28 days prior to study treatment.
  • Major surgery
  • reaction to any monoclonal antibody.
  • Has an active known or suspected disease.
  • Has a diagnosis of immunodeficiency.
  • Prior tissue or organ allograft or bone marrow transplantation.
  • Requires daily supplemental oxygen
  • History of interstitial lung disease.
  • Significant heart disease
  • History of encephalitis, meningitis, or uncontrolled seizures in the year prior to .
  • Infection with or or C at screening.
  • Has an active infection.
  • Unable to have blood drawn.
  • Patient with uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, uncontrolled infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements.
  • Prior life-threatening toxicity to , anti-PD-L1, anti-PD-L2,or anti-CTLA4
  • Woman who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(17)

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.

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.

Metastases

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

PD-1, PD-L1 and checkpoint inhibitors

PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 are proteins that act as brakes on the immune system. Checkpoint inhibitors, such as pembrolizumab or nivolumab, block them so the immune system can attack a cancer.

PD-L1 can also be measured in a tumour sample. Some scores count stained tumour cells only (TPS); others also count certain immune cells (CPS). The study names the score and the minimum it uses.

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.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

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.

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.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

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.

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.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

Live vaccines

Vaccines made with a weakened form of the germ, such as measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), chickenpox and yellow fever. They can be risky when the immune system is weakened. Flu injections are not live; the nasal flu spray is.

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.

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.

Allogeneic and autologous transplant

Stem cell (bone marrow) transplants. Allogeneic uses cells from a donor; autologous uses your own cells, collected earlier and given back.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
38 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Cohort 1: Nivolumab and Relatlimab

    480mg/160mg (co-administered)

    Drug: Nivolumab · Drug: Relatlimab

  • Experimental
    Cohort 2: Nivolumab and Relatlimab

    480mg/960mg or 480mg/160mg (sequential administration)

    Drug: Nivolumab · Drug: Relatlimab

  • Experimental
    Cohort 3: Nivolumab and Relatlimab

    480mg/480mg (sequential administration)

    Drug: Nivolumab · Drug: Relatlimab

Interventions

  • Patients will receive treatment every 28 days for up to 2 years. Nivolumab will be administered IV on day 1 (28 day cycle).

    Also known as: anti-PD-1, OPDIVO

  • Patients will receive treatment every 28 days up to 2 years. Relatlimab will be administered IV on day 1 (28 day cycle).

    Also known as: BMS-986016

  • Patients will receive treatment every 28 days for up to 2 years. Nivolumab will be administered IV on day 1 (28 day cycle).

    Also known as: anti-PD-1, OPDIVO

  • Patients will receive treatment every 28 days up to 2 years. Relatlimab will be administered IV on day 1 (28 day cycle).

    Also known as: BMS-986016

  • Patients will receive treatment every 28 days for up to 2 years. Nivolumab will be administered IV on day 1 (28 day cycle).

    Also known as: anti-PD-1, OPDIVO

  • Patients will receive treatment every 28 days up to 2 years. Relatlimab will be administered IV on day 1 (28 day cycle).

    Also known as: BMS-986016

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Objective response rate (ORR) using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST 1.1)

    Time frame: 4 years

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number of participants experiencing study drug-related toxicities

    Time frame: 4 years

07

Study locations

2 sites
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

1 registry update since Sep 25, 2026
Primary completion
Oct 2026→Oct 2027
Oct 8, 2026
Study completion
Oct 2026→Oct 2027
Oct 8, 2026
Show all 1 update
  1. Oct 8, 2026
    Primary completion Oct 2026→Oct 2027
    Study completion Oct 2026→Oct 2027
    + 1 other change: verification date

From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03607890
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jul 31, 2018
Start date
Nov 16, 2018
Primary completion
Oct 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Oct 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 8, 2026

Study contacts

Dung Le, MD
principal investigator · Johns Hopkins Medical Institution

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Oct 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Discussion

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Studies of the drug tested here: Relatlimab

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