A Phase 2 interventional study of Durvalumab and Tremelimumab in Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Cirrhosis and Portal Hypertension, sponsored by University of Cincinnati. Terminated at 3 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-06.
Sponsored by University of Cincinnati · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
Immunotherapy can safely downstage patients and achieve durable systemic disease control to improve clinical outcomes in HCC patients undergoing liver transplant.
ESR-20-21010 is a single-arm, open-label, Phase II, multicenter clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of durvalumab and tremelimumab for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients who have cirrhosis or portal hypertension and are evaluated by institutional Liver Transplant team and deemed eligible for transplant.
The key eligibility requirements include HCC, Child-Pugh score of up to 7, and ECOG PS of 0 or 1.
Patients will be treated with the immunotherapy combination for up to 4 months. After a minimum 28 day washout, they will undergo locoregional therapy per institutional standards. Eventually, after a minimum 72-day washout from the end of immunotherapy, they will undergo liver transplant.
The primary endpoint is proportion of patients experiencing post-transplant rejection (within 30 days of transplant). A total of 30 patients are to be enrolled, to allow at least 20 transplants for adequate primary endpoint analysis. An interim analysis after 10 patients will be performed to ensure safety. If there are untoward safety signals, study modification/discontinuation will be discussed.
3,182 studies on the registry are indexed under Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; 954 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 8 is below the median of 55 across 2,298 interventional studies indexed under Carcinoma, Hepatocellular.
Browse Carcinoma, Hepatocellular studies →University of Cincinnati is the lead sponsor of 314 studies on the registry; 43 are open to participants now.
Of its 22 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 15 (68%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
History of another primary malignancy except for:
Active or prior documented autoimmune or inflammatory disorders (including inflammatory bowel disease [e.g., colitis or Crohn's disease], diverticulitis [with the exception of diverticulosis], systemic lupus erythematosus, Sarcoidosis syndrome, or Wegener syndrome [granulomatosis with polyangiitis, Graves' disease, rheumatoid arthritis, hypophysitis, uveitis, etc.]). The following are exceptions to this criterion:
Current or prior use of immunosuppressive medication within 14 days before the first dose of durvalumab or tremelimumab. The following are exceptions to this criterion:
Patients will be treated with the immunotherapy combination for up to 4 months. After a minimum 28 day washout, they will undergo locoregional therapy per institutional standards. Eventually, after a minimum 72-day washout from the end of immunotherapy, they will undergo liver transplant.
Drug: Durvalumab · Drug: Tremelimumab · Procedure: Liver Transplant
1500 mg IV, Q4W
Also known as: MEDI4736
300 mg IV, 1 dose on day 1 of only the first cycle
minimum 72-day washout from the end of immunotherapy, patients will undergo liver transplant.
Cellular Rejection Rates
To assess the safety of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to cellular rejection rates
Time frame: Up to 30 days post transplant. The average time from consent to transplant was 11.88 months.
Adverse Events During Treatment
To assess the safety of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients who have received a transplant, with respect to adverse events during treatment.
Time frame: Adverse events will be collected from study drug initiation until 90 days after the last durvalumab+tremelimumab dose or before new anti-cancer therapy, whichever comes first, up to 7 months.
Radiologic Responses Via RECIST 1.1 and/or mRECIST
To assess the efficacy of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to radiologic responses. This will be be defined the number of individuals that had complete response, partial response, or stable disease. Progressive disease will not be included. Per Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors Criteria (RECIST v1.0) for target lesions and assessed by MRI: Complete Response (CR), Disappearance of all target lesions; Partial Response (PR), \>=30% decrease in the sum of the longest diameter of target lesions; Overall Response (OR) = CR + PR.
Time frame: Timeframe includes 4 months of I/0 treatment. Radiologic responses were measured after the I/O treatment phase of the study
Pathologic Responses Via Explanted Liver Assessment
To assess the efficacy of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to Pathologic responses. However, due to the feasibility of the trial, we were not able to collect data for this outcome.
Time frame: Timeframe includes the 30 day window after a transplant.
Recurrence-free Survival and Overall Survival Outcomes Based on Survival Follow up Reporting
To assess the efficacy of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to Survival outcomes. However, due to the feasibility of the trial, we were not able to collect data for this outcome.
Time frame: Survival follow up will continue for 5 years after end of Treatment
Graft Loss
To assess the safety of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect graft loss
Time frame: Day 72 post completion of immunotherapy, approximately 6.5 months
Mortality
To assess the safety of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to mortality rates up to 30 days after transplant
Time frame: Day 72 post completion of immunotherapy, approximately 7.5 months.
| Milestone | Durvalumab + Tremelimumab + Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| Started | 8 |
| Completed | 5 |
| Not completed | 3 |
| Milestone | Durvalumab + Tremelimumab + Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| Started | 5 |
| Completed | 5 |
| Not completed | 0 |
To assess the safety of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to cellular rejection rates
| Participants | Participants That Received a Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| Cellular Rejection Rates | 0 |
To assess the safety of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients who have received a transplant, with respect to adverse events during treatment.
| Participants | Participants That Actually Received a Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| Adverse Events During Treatment | 5 |
To assess the efficacy of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to radiologic responses. This will be be defined the number of individuals that had complete response, partial response, or stable disease. Progressive disease will not be included. Per Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors Criteria (RECIST v1.0) for target lesions and assessed by MRI: Complete Response (CR), Disappearance of all target lesions; Partial Response (PR), \>=30% decrease in the sum of the longest diameter of target lesions; Overall Response (OR) = CR + PR.
| Participants | Participants That Received a Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| Radiologic Responses Via RECIST 1.1 and/or mRECIST | 8 |
To assess the efficacy of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to Pathologic responses. However, due to the feasibility of the trial, we were not able to collect data for this outcome.
No measurements were reported for this outcome.
To assess the efficacy of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to Survival outcomes. However, due to the feasibility of the trial, we were not able to collect data for this outcome.
| Participants | Participants That Received a Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| Recurrence-free Survival and Overall Survival Outcomes Based on Survival Follow up Reporting | 0 |
To assess the safety of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect graft loss
| Participants | Participants That Received a Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| Graft Loss | 0 |
To assess the safety of immunotherapy for treatment of HCC in patients listed for a liver transplant, with respect to mortality rates up to 30 days after transplant
| Participants | Participants That Received a Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| Mortality | 0 |
Collected over Deaths, Serious Adverse Events (SAEs) and Adverse Events will be collected from the initiation of study drug and for 90 days after the last dose of durvalumab+tremelimumab or before initiation of a new anti-cancer therapy. Non-serious events are listed at a 0% frequency threshold.
| Group | Deaths | Serious | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Durvalumab + Tremelimumab + Liver Transplant | 1/8 (12.5%) | 5/8 (62.5%) | 8/8 (100%) |
| Event | Durvalumab + Tremelimumab + Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| Alanine aminotransferase increasedInvestigations | 1/8 |
| Aspartate aminotransferase increasedInvestigations | 1/8 |
| ColitisGastrointestinal disorders | 1/8 |
| DehydrationMetabolism and nutrition disorders | 1/8 |
| Ductal carcinoma in-situNeoplasms benign, malignant and unspecified (incl cysts and polyps) | 1/8 |
| Pan colitisGastrointestinal disorders | 1/8 |
| Hepatic artery thrombosisHepatobiliary disorders | 1/8 |
| Lung infectionInfections and infestations | 1/8 |
| Event | Durvalumab + Tremelimumab + Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| FatigueGeneral disorders | 6/8 |
| Abdominal painGastrointestinal disorders | 5/8 |
| DiarrheaGastrointestinal disorders | 5/8 |
| FeverGeneral disorders | 4/8 |
| NauseaGastrointestinal disorders | 4/8 |
| Weight lossInvestigations | 4/8 |
| ConstipationGastrointestinal disorders | 3/8 |
| Lipase increasedInvestigations | 3/8 |
| MyalgiaMusculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders | 3/8 |
| VomitingGastrointestinal disorders | 3/8 |
Eight subjects were enroll but only four met the liver transplant part of the protocol.
| Age, Categorical(Participants) | Durvalumab + Tremelimumab + Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| <=18 years | 0 |
| Between 18 and 65 years | 3 |
| >=65 years | 5 |
| Age, Continuous(years) | Durvalumab + Tremelimumab + Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| Median | 68 (50 to 74) |
| Sex: Female, Male(Participants) | Durvalumab + Tremelimumab + Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| Female | 3 |
| Male | 5 |
| Race (NIH/OMB)(Participants) | Durvalumab + Tremelimumab + Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 0 |
| Asian | 0 |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 0 |
| Black or African American | 1 |
| White | 7 |
| More than one race | 0 |
| Unknown or Not Reported | 0 |
| Region of Enrollment(participants) | Durvalumab + Tremelimumab + Liver Transplant |
|---|---|
| United States | 8 |
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