ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT04817254Updated Apr 17, 2026

Association of Peripheral Blood Immunologic Response to Therapeutic Response to Adjuvant Treatment With Immune Checkpoint Inhibition (ICI) in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma or Gliosarcoma

A Phase 2 interventional study of TMZ and ipilimumab 3mg/kg in Glioblastoma, Gliosarcoma and Malignant Glioma, sponsored by National Cancer Institute (NCI). Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-04-17.

Sponsored by National Cancer Institute (NCI) · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
47
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Where this study stands

Counted across the records on this site · 2026-11-12

Among 122 studies in Glioblastoma by National Cancer Institute (NCI) — 6 open to participants now, 15 under way, 1 of them phase 3. Glioblastoma · National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Enrollment
54th of 106
47 · median 48
Started
2021
the only one that year
Phase 2
43 of 122
none open now
Registered
115th of 122
by date

Among the 122 studies in Glioblastoma by National Cancer Institute (NCI), this one is the 54th largest by enrollment of the 106 interventional ones, is the only one that started in 2021, is one of 43 in phase 2, and was the 115th registered.

By phase

122 studies; the count open now beside each. This study's row is marked.

Phase 143 · 3 open
Phase 2this study43 · 0 open
Phase 1/226 · 2 open
Observational5 · 1 open
No phase3 · 0 open
Phase 2/31 · 0 open
Phase 31 · 0 open

By the year they started

First in 1995; this study’s year is marked. 1 started in 2021.

Size and results

Median enrollment 48 across the 106 interventional studies, 200 across the 5 observational. Of the 104 that completed or were terminated, 51 (49%) have results posted.

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Watch this landscapeDownload CSVWith an account: a weekly mail of what changed among 122 studies in Glioblastoma by National Cancer Institute (NCI), or all of them as a file.
02

Study summary

Background:

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a type of malignant glioma. These cancers are nearly always fatal. People who develop these cancers get aggressive treatments. But the tumors almost always recur. Researchers want to study people with newly diagnosed disease to learn more.

Objective:

To study people with newly diagnosed GBM or gliosarcoma to look at the changes in immune cells in the blood of those who take ipilimumab and nivolumab, along with temozolomide.

Eligibility:

Adults ages 18 and older with newly diagnosed GBM or gliosarcoma, who have had surgical removal of their tumor and have completed standard initial chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Design:

Participants will be screened with the following:

Medical record review

Medical history

Physical exam

Tests to assess their nervous system and their ability to do typical activities

Blood tests

Tumor assessment. For this, they will have magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). They may get a contrast dye through an intravenous (IV) catheter. The MRI scanner makes noise. They will get earplugs.

Electrocardiogram. It measures heart rate and rhythm. They will lie still. Sticky pads will be placed on their chest, arms, and legs.

Screening tests will be repeated during the study.

Treatment will be given in cycles. Each cycle lasts 4 weeks. Participants will get nivolumab and ipilimumab via IV. They will take temozolomide by mouth. They will keep a pill diary.

Participants will fill out surveys about their symptoms.

Participants will have follow-up visits about 60 days and 100 days after treatment ends. Then they will be contacted every 6 months for the rest of their life.

Read the detailed description

Background:

Glioblastoma (GBM) represents an aggressive malignancy with limited therapeutic options. The immunosuppressive nature of GBM may be reversible with immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment, however, initial studies have yet to demonstrate this. It is postulated that trafficking of peripherally activated lymphocytes may play a role in generating a robust intracranial immune response. Therefore, a blood-based assay to identify peripheral blood response may both predict response and better identify the ideal patient populations for future ICI clinical trials.

Objectives:

Determine if the outcomes, as measured by overall survival, is improved in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma when treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors result in an immune response in peripheral blood T lymphocytes.

Eligibility:

Histologically confirmed, newly diagnosed primary glioblastoma or gliosarcoma;

Age greater than or equal to 18 years;

Adequate organ function;

Karnofsky performance score greater than or equal to 70;

Subjects must recently complete resection and chemoradiation;

Subjects must not have prior immunotherapy, other current investigational agents, or corticosteroid treatment > 30mg cortisone-equivalents per day.

Design:

Open-label, investigator-initiated exploratory study of newly-diagnosed GBM who have completed resection and chemoradiation.

Participants will be randomized to be treated in Arm 1 or 2, consistent of adjuvant chemotherapy (temozolomide (TMZ)) and immunotherapy (nivolumab + ipilimumab):

TMZ (150-200 mg/m2 PO on days 1-5 q28 days for cycles 1-6)

Arm 1:

Nivolumab (1 mg/kg IV q2weeks for cycles 1-4, then 480 mg IV q4weeks for cycles 5-16) + ipilimumab (1 mg/kg IV q4 weeks for cycles 1-4)

Arm 2:

Nivolumab (1 mg/kg IV q2weeks for cycles 1-4, then 480 mg IV q4weeks for cycles 5-16) + ipilimumab (3 mg/kg IV q4 weeks for cycles 1-4)

For the primary objective, serial examination of peripheral blood, including comprehensive flow cytometric analysis of leukocyte populations and cytokines, and Interferon- >= (IFN- >=) ELISPOT functional analysis of CD4+/8+ response to common recall antigens will be used to determine systemic response to ICI treatment.

For the secondary objectives, correlative studies assess peripheral blood T cells' ability to respond to an in vitro stimulation paradigm, including nivolumab and ipilimumab, in a microbead-based model. The T cell response to pretreatment in vitro stimulation would be compared to post-treatment in vivo stimulation to determine if this in vitro model can predict in vivo response.

Additional exploratory studies are planned to characterize the in vivo immune response to adjuvant chemotherapy and immunotherapy, including but not limited to:

Phospho-flow functional analysis of NK cell response to IFN/IL-15 stimulation.

03

Conditions studied

  • Glioblastoma
  • Gliosarcoma
  • Malignant Glioma

Keywords

  • Brain Cancer
  • Quality of Life
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

  • Participants must have newly diagnosed confirmed primary glioblastoma or gliosarcoma
  • Participants must have undergone an extensive resection of unifocal, confined to the supratentorial compartment, tumor.
  • Participant must have completed chemoradiation (external beam radiation with concurrent temozolomide) a maximum of 5 weeks prior to initiation of study therapy. Potential participants who have a limited short term, reversable, unrelated to their underlying disease, concurrent illness, the initiation of treatment may be delayed up to 14 days, if the participant meet all other I/E criteria at that time.
  • Age greater than or equal to 18 years.
  • greater than or equal to 70%
  • Participants must have adequate organ and marrow function as defined below:

    • greater than or equal to 1,500/mcL
    • Count >100,000/mcL
    • > 9.0 g/dL (may be transfused to achieve this level)
    • BUN less than or equal to 30 mg/dL
    • Serum creatinine less than or equal to 1.7 mg/dL or as measured by 24 hour urine collection as > 60 ml/min.
    • Total (except participants with Gilbert s Syndrome, who are eligible for the study but exempt from the total bilirubin eligibility criterion) less than or equal to 2.0 mg/dL
    • and AST less than or equal to 2.5x institutional .
  • The effects of study treatment on the developing human fetus are unknown. For this reason, participants of must agree to abstinence or use adequate which includes a combination of TWO of the following:

    • Barrier method of contraception: condoms (male or female) with or without a spermicidal agent, diaphragm, or cervical cap with spermicide
    • IUD
    • Hormone-based contraceptive
    • Tubal ligation

Note: Consider use in individuals of (IOCBP) only or both individuals who can father children and IOCBP starting from the enrollment and for the duration of study treatment and up to 6 months (IOCBP) after the last dose of study drug and 6 months (if individual can father children) after the last dose of temozolomide. Should a IOCBP become pregnant or suspect pregnancy while the individual or partner is participating in this study, the individual should inform the treating physician immediately.

-The participant must be able to understand and be willing to sign a written document.

Exclusion criteria

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

  • Definitive clinical or radiologic evidence of progressive disease.
  • Prior placement of Gliadel wafer or local brachytherapy. Note: Tumor Treating Fields are allowed.
  • Participants who are receiving any other agents.
  • Participants who have a history of receiving immune therapy, such as a vaccine therapy, dendritic cell vaccine or intracavitary or convectional enhanced delivery of therapy.
  • History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to nivolumab, ipilimumab or temozolomide.
  • History of allergic reactions attributed to gadolinium contrast.
  • History of severe reaction to any monoclonal antibody.
  • Prior or concurrent unless its natural history or treatment does not have the potential to interfere with the safety or efficacy assessment of the investigational regimen.
  • Participants with active disease or history of autoimmune disease that might recur, which may affect vital organ function or require immune suppressive treatment including systemic . These include but are not limited to participants with a history of immune related neurologic disease, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune (demyelinating) neuropathy, Guillain-Barre syndrome or CIDP, myasthenia gravis; systemic autoimmune disease such as SLE, connective tissue diseases, scleroderma, inflammatory bowel disease

(IBD), Crohn s, ulcerative colitis, and hepatitis; and participants with a history of toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), Stevens-Johnson syndrome, or phospholipid syndrome. Such diseases should be excluded because of the risk of recurrence or exacerbation of disease.

Note: Participants with vitiligo, endocrine deficiencies including thyroiditis managed with replacement hormones including physiologic corticosteroids are eligible. Participants with rheumatoid arthritis and other arthropathies, Sjogren s syndrome, psoriasis controlled with topical medication, and participants with positive serology, such as antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and anti-thyroid antibodies should be evaluated for the presence of target organ involvement and potential need for systemic treatment but should otherwise be eligible.

  • The participant must not be currently on a corticosteroid dose greater than physiologic replacement dosing defined as 30 mg of cortisone per day or its equivalent. Participants must have stopped corticosteroids above this threshold at least 7 days prior to initiation of study treatment.
  • Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations (within timeframes identified in the bullets below) that

would limit compliance with study requirements.

  • Individual who are pregnant are excluded from this study because study treatment potential for teratogenic or abortifacient effects is unknown. Because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to study treatment of the mother, breastfeeding should be discontinued.
  • Known active, chronic, or history of hepatitis infection.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(18)

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.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Karnofsky performance status (KPS)

A 0–100 scale of how well someone can carry out everyday activities. 100 is no complaints and no signs of illness; 70 is able to look after yourself but not to work or keep up normal activity; 50 is needing considerable help and frequent medical care.

Studies often ask for 60 or 70 and above. Your doctor gives the score.

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.

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.

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).

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.

Reproductive potential

Able to have children. For women this usually means from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery; for men, unless permanently sterile. Read who the line is about — participants, women, men, or their partners.

Criteria about it usually ask for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

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.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

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.

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.

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.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

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.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
47 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Arm 1

    Nivolumab + Ipilimumab 1mg/kg + TMZ

    Drug: TMZ · Drug: Nivolumab · Drug: ipilimumab 1mg/kg

  • Experimental
    Arm 2

    Nivolumab + Ipilimumab 3mg/kg + TMZ

    Drug: TMZ · Drug: ipilimumab 3mg/kg · Drug: Nivolumab

Interventions

  • DrugTMZ

    150 mg/m2 on days 1-5 of cycles 1-6

  • Drugipilimumab 3mg/kg

    Drug page: Ipilimumab

    3 mg/kg q 4 weeks for cycles 1-4

  • 1 mg/kg IV q2weeks for cycles 1-4, then 480 mg q 4 weeks for cycles 5-16

  • Drugipilimumab 1mg/kg

    Drug page: Ipilimumab

    1 mg/kg q 4 weeks for cycles 1-4

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Determine if the outcomes, as measured by overall survival, is improved in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma when treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors result in an immune response in peripheral blood T lymphocytes.

    Correlation between the Median amount of time subject survives after therapy and quantitative analysis of peripheral blood T lymphocytes.

    Time frame: death

Secondary outcomes

  1. Determine if the T cell response measured by the ex vivo tosylactivated bead assay correlates with subsequent systemic response to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

    Correlation between T cell response to immune checkpoint inhibitors and survival

    Time frame: Baseline, Day 1 of each Cycle and 60 day and 100 day post treatment

  2. Determine if T cell response to immune checkpoint inhibitors measuring the change in the pre-treatment and post-treatment blood correlates with progression-free survival

    Measurement of pretreatment and posttreatment blood correlates and its correlation T cell response to checkpoint inhibitors.

    Time frame: disease progression

  3. Determine if in vitro peripheral blood T cell response to a stimulation paradigm including nivolumab and ipilimumab correlates with progression-free survival, evaluating 2 different dosing regimens of the ICIs.

    Correlation between T cell response with varying dose regimen of immune checkpoint inhibitors and disease progression

    Time frame: disease progression

  4. Determine if in vitro peripheral blood T cell response to a stimulation paradigm including nivolumab and ipilimumab correlates with overall survival, evaluating 2 different dosing regimens of the ICIs.

    Correlation between T cell response with varying dose regimen of immune checkpoint inhibitors and death

    Time frame: death

  5. Evaluate changes in patient reported outcome measures using self-reported symptom severity and interference with daily activities using the MDASI-BT with treatment response and progression-free and overall survival.

    Proportion of patients that have an improvement in quality of life

    Time frame: Study Calendar, last collection of QOL Questioner

07

Study locations

1 site
  • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
    Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — BTRIS: All IPD recorded in the medical record will be shared with intramural investigators upon request. @@@@@@CTA: All collected IPD will be shared with collaborators under the terms of collaborative agreements.

Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form

Time frame: BTRIS: Clinical data available during the study and indefinitely.@@@@@@All collected IPD will be available after primary analysis have been published.

Access criteria: BTRIS: Clinical data will be made available via subscription to BTRIS and with the permission of the study PI.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Dec 2021 to primary completion in Mar 2026, 51 months.

Of 198 non-industry phase 2 interventional studies under Glioblastoma, half reached primary completion within 59 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 41 and three quarters within 89. This study's 51 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 249 studies reached it within 56 months; a quarter within 40 and three quarters within 87.

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

Registered
Mar 25, 2021
First posted
Mar 26, 2021
StartActual
Dec 8, 2021
Primary completionActual
Mar 20, 2026
CompletionActual
Mar 20, 2026
Last update
Apr 17, 2026
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.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
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 Apr 17, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04817254
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Mar 26, 2021
Start date
Dec 8, 2021
Primary completion
Mar 20, 2026
Completion
Mar 20, 2026
Last update
Apr 17, 2026

Study contacts

Kevin A Camphausen, M.D.
principal investigator · National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Oversight

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

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This study is completed, as verified in Apr 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Studies of the drug tested here: Ipilimumab

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