Phase Ib Clinical Trial of Autologous Anti-NY-ESO-1 TCR-Engineered T Cells in Patients With Relapsed/Refractory Locally Advanced or Metastatic NY-ESO-1-Expressing Triple Negative Breast Cancer
This phase Ib trial tests the safety, side effects and best dose of anti-HLA-A2/NY-ESO-1 T-cell receptor (TCR)-transduced autologous T lymphocytes (A2-ESO-1 TCR-T cells) in treating patients with NY-ESO-1 overexpression positive triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) that has come back after a period of improvement (relapsed/recurrent) or that does not respond to treatment (refractory), and that may have spread from where it first started (primary site) to nearby tissue, lymph nodes (advanced) or to other places in the body (metastatic). NY-ESO-1 is an antigen found on the surface of many different types of tumor cells including TNBC. Antigens make it possible for immune cells to recognize and kill germ cells that invade the body, however, it is more difficult for immune cells to recognize antigens on tumor cells. T cells are a special type of immune cell in the blood. These T cells may be trained to recognize the NY-ESO-1 antigen on tumor cells, allowing the T cells to attack and kill those tumor cells. The A2-ESO-1 TCR-T cells are T cells that have been removed from the patient's blood through a process called leukapheresis and then changed in the laboratory to recognize NY-ESO-1 on tumor cells. When given back to the patient, these A2-ESO-1 TCR-T cells find and attack tumor cells that express NY-ESO-1. Chemotherapy drugs, such as cyclophosphamide and fludarabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. They are given before the T cells to support optimum activity of the A2-ESO-1 TCR-T cells. IL-2 (aldesleukin) is in a class of drugs known as cytokines. It is a man-made version of a naturally occurring protein that stimulates the body to produce other chemicals which increase the body's ability to fight cancer. A2-ESO-1 TCR-T cells may kill more tumor cells in patients with recurrent or refractory advanced or metastatic TNBC that overexpresses NY-ESO-1.
• Female aged \>= 18 years
• Histologically confirmed advanced or metastatic TNBC that have relapsed on or are refractory to 2 or more lines of standard-of-care therapy including immune checkpoint inhibitors, chemotherapy, trastuzumab deruxtecan (TDX-d) and poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors if indicated, but less than 4 lines of total therapies. TNBC is defined as estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor negative (\< 10% immunohistochemistry \[IHC\] staining) and HER2 negative (IHC 1+ or 0 AND/OR in situ hybridization negative based on:
‣ Single-probe average HER2 copy number \< 4.0 signals/cell
⁃ Dual-probe HER2/CEP17 ratio \< 2.0 with an average HER2 copy number \< 4.0 signals/cell)
• HLA-A2+ and tumoral overexpression of NY-ESO-1 (2 to 3+ IHC staining in \> 50% of cells)
• Have measurable disease based on RECIST 1.1
• Life expectancy \>= 6 months
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1
• Hemoglobin \>= 9.0 g/dL (transfusions permitted)
• Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) \>= 1500/mm\^3
• Platelet count \>= 100,000/mm\^3
• Creatinine (Cr) \< 2 x upper limit of normal (ULN), and Cr clearance (CrCl) \>= 50 mL/min by Cockcroft and Gault
• Alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) \< 2 x ULN (Patients with liver metastases whose ALT/AST are \< 5 x ULN are eligible for enrollment)
• Bilirubin \< 2 x ULN
• White blood cell (WBC) count \> 2500/uL and \< 15000/uL
• Lymphocyte count \>= 500/uL
• Cardiac ejection fraction \>= 50%
• Negative serum pregnancy (human chorionic gonadotropin \[beta-hCG\]) test within 7 days of day 0 (leukapheresis) for women of childbearing potential (WOCBP). WOCBP must be willing to use a highly effective method of contraception for the course of the study through 90 days after A2-ESO-1 TCR-engineered T cell infusion
• Willing and able to provide written informed consent for the study
• Willing to provide biopsy tissues and blood samples as required by the study