RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To report urinary bother, urinalysis changes, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) over 2 years for subjects enrolled in a phase I dose-escalation trial (NCT02324582) of intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in combination with systemic pembrolizumab for recurrent or persistent high-grade non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (HGNMIBC). METHODS: Eighteen patients consented to the study. Five were screen failures. Clinical activity was determined using cystoscopy and cytology with a biopsy of suspicious lesions. Urinalysis and International Prostate symptom score were assessed at pre-treatment, Week 10 (during combined BCG and pembrolizumab treatment), and 3 and 6 months from treatment completion. IPSS was analyzed using a mixed-model repeated measures analysis. A Chi-square test was used to compare urinalysis results at each interval. RESULTS: The pathologic disease stage after restaging transurethral resection and before treatment was pTa in 6 (46.2%), CIS in 6 (46.2%), and pT1 in 1 (7.7%). There was no increase in reported urinary bother throughout treatment. Quality of life measurements demonstrated no change in subjective burden. On urinalysis, we did not observe significant differences at 3 months compared to baseline evaluation. At 12 months, the DFS and OS were 69.23% and 92.31%, respectively. At 24 months, the DFS and OS were 38.46% and 92.31%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with BCG combined with intravenous pembrolizumab is not showing increased urinary bother or adverse urinalysis changes. Two-year response data is promising and await confirmation in the phase III study (Keynote 676).
RESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: We conducted the first phase I dose-escalation trial (NCT02324582) of intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in combination with systemic pembrolizumab in patients with high-grade non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (HGNMIBC) who had persistent or recurrent disease after prior intravesical therapy with BCG. The primary endpoint was the safety of this combination. The secondary endpoint was clinical activity at three months following BCG treatment. METHODS: Eighteen patients were consented for the study, five of which were screen failures. Six doses of pembrolizumab were administered every 3 weeks over 16 weeks concurrently with six weekly doses of BCG beginning at week 7. Patient safety was evaluated from the time of consent through 30 days following pembrolizumab treatment. Clinical activity was determined using cystoscopy and biopsy of suspicious lesions. RESULTS: Treatment-related adverse events included one grade 4 adverse event (AEs) (adrenal insufficiency). There were nine grade 3 AEs (chest discomfort, pulmonary embolism, arthritis, wrist edema, injection site reaction, bilateral wrist pain, cardiomyopathy, hypokalemia, urinary tract infection). There were 49 grade 1 and 30 grade 2 AEs (88% of AEs). Eleven patients finished the treatment, and two patients died during the study. Of 13 patients treated, nine patients (69%) had no evidence of disease at 3 months following BCG treatment. CONCLUSIONS: We report for the first time that combining BCG and pembrolizumab in treating HGNMIBC is safe allowing complete treatment of most patients. A phase III trial has opened to test the efficacy of this combination in HGNMIBC (KEYNOTE-676).