Phase II Trial of Alpelisib With iNOS Inhibitor and Nab-paclitaxel in Patients With HER2 Negative Metastatic or Locally Advanced Metaplastic Breast Cancer (MpBC)
Summary
This is a research study to test the safety and effectiveness of using the drug alpelisib together with chemotherapy (nab-paclitaxel) and a drug called L-NMMA in patients with HER2 negative metastatic or locally advanced metaplastic breast cancer, who have not responded to previous treatments. Participants in this study in addition to the standard care chemotherapy will also receive the drug alpelisib and L-NMMA. The therapies will be administered every 3 weeks (1 cycle) until disease progression, toxicity or until the participant withdraws from the study. The nab-paclitaxel chemotherapy will be administered intravenously on Day 1 of the 3 week cycles. Participants will take the drug alpelisib by mouth once daily at a dose determined by a safety study and the drug L-NMMA will be given intravenously on days 1 to 5 of the 3 week cycles.
Detailed description
This is a Phase II trial with a dose escalation/de-escalation lead-in that will investigate the efficacy and safety of an iNOS inhibitor and nab-paclitaxel in combination with alpelisib in patients with HER2 negative, metastatic or locally advanced MpBC. The prognosis for metastatic or locally advanced metaplastic breast cancer (MpBC), a rare and highly chemotherapy-resistant subtype of TNBC, is even worse than for non-metaplastic TNBC, with a median overall survival ranging from 3 to 8 months.1 Standard systemic chemotherapy remains the only available treatment option for patients with metastatic or locally advanced MpBC, even though this disease is largely refractory to cytotoxic drugs. Therefore, combination strategies to understand and overcome mechanisms of resistance to improve marginal chemotherapeutic efficacy are needed to improve the prognosis of these patients. We have found that inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is a critical target for overcoming chemotherapy resistance in TNBC.2,3 iNOS expression is increased and associated with poor prognosis in invasive TNBC and MpBC.2-5 It has been shown that nitric oxide (NO) through iNOS induces many of the major oncogenic pathways such as RAS/ERK, HIF1α, NF- κB, and others making this a unique oncogenic driver. One of the major oncogenic pathways activated by iNOS/NO is the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway.6-9 Alterations in the Pl3K/Akt pathway have also been linked with chemotherapy resistance, especially in MpBC.10-14 We hypothesize that addition of the PI3K inhibitor, alpelisib, to a pan-NOS inhibitor (L-NMMA) and nab-paclitaxel will increase objective response rate (ORR) in patients with HER2 negative metastatic or locally advanced MpBC. Both first- and second-line patients will be eligible for this trial. Patients may have received prior immunotherapy, per standard of care.
Arms & interventions
- DrugL-NMMA
Patients with HER2 negative metastatic or locally advanced MpBC, will receive a combination of an iNOS inhibitor, nab-paclitaxel and alpelisib . As prophylaxis against deep venous thrombosis and hypertension, patients will receive aspirin (81 mg po daily) and amlodipine (10 mg po Days 0-5 each cycle). Metformin will be initiated at 500 mg once daily starting one week prior to treatment to reduce risk of severe hyperglycemia. Based on tolerability and serial blood sugar assessments, metformin dose will be increased to 500 mg twice daily, followed by 500 mg with breakfast and 1000 mg with dinner, followed by further increase to 1000 mg twice daily if needed. Insulin sensitizers and/or SGLT2i will be used as second anti-diabetic agents, if necessary. For prophylaxis of alpelisib rash, patients will be treated with an anti-histamine (cetirizine 10 mg daily) along with alpelisib.
Outcome measures
Primary
Define recommended phase II dose (RP2D)
Define recommended phase II dose (RP2D) of Alpelisib in combination with standard dose of q3wk nab-paclitaxel and L-NMMA
Time frame: The RP2D will be defined as the highest dose administered at which 6 patients complete treatment with experiencing <2 DLTs (Study completion is an average of 6 cycles, determined by diseases progression, unacceptable toxicity, physician's discretion)
Objective response rate (ORR)
Objective response rate (ORR) of an iNOS inhibitor and nab-paclitaxel in combination with alpelisib in patients with HER2 negative metastatic or locally advanced MpBC.
Time frame: Study treatment will continue until progression, unacceptable toxicity, treating physician's discretion, or patient withdraws from the study. An average of 6 cycles q3week.
Secondary
PFS of patients with HER2 negative metastatic or locally advanced MpBC
Time frame: Study treatment will continue until progression, unacceptable toxicity, treating physician's discretion, or patient withdraws from the study. An average of 6 cycles q3week.
OS of patients with HER2 negative metastatic or locally advanced MpBC
Time frame: Study treatment will continue until progression, unacceptable toxicity, treating physician's discretion, or patient withdraws from the study. An average of 6 cycles q3week.
Analysis of responses to an iNOS inhibitor and nab-paclitaxel in combination with alpelisib.
Time frame: Study treatment will continue until progression, unacceptable toxicity, treating physician's discretion, or patient withdraws from the study. An average of 6 cycles q3week.
PIK3CA mutation
Time frame: Core biopsy will be collected at Baseline and after Cycle 2. Each cycle is 21 days (q3week).
Eligibility criteria
Study locations (3)
National Institute of Health Clinical Center
Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center
Houston, Texas, 77030
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, Texas, 77030
References
- Moreno AC, Lin YH, Bedrosian I, Shen Y, Babiera GV, Shaitelman SF. Outcomes after Treatment of Metaplastic Versus Other Breast Cancer Subtypes. J Cancer. 2020 Jan 1;11(6):1341-1350. doi: 10.7150/jca.40817. eCollection 2020.(PubMed)
- Granados-Principal S, Liu Y, Guevara ML, Blanco E, Choi DS, Qian W, Patel T, Rodriguez AA, Cusimano J, Weiss HL, Zhao H, Landis MD, Dave B, Gross SS, Chang JC. Inhibition of iNOS as a novel effective targeted therapy against triple-negative breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. 2015 Feb 22;17(1):25. doi: 10.1186/s13058-015-0527-x.(PubMed)
- Dave B, Gonzalez DD, Liu ZB, Li X, Wong H, Granados S, Ezzedine NE, Sieglaff DH, Ensor JE, Miller KD, Radovich M, KarinaEtrovic A, Gross SS, Elemento O, Mills GB, Gilcrease MZ, Chang JC. Role of RPL39 in Metaplastic Breast Cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2016 Dec 31;109(6):djw292. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djw292. Print 2017 Jun.(PubMed)
- Davila-Gonzalez D, Choi DS, Rosato RR, Granados-Principal SM, Kuhn JG, Li WF, Qian W, Chen W, Kozielski AJ, Wong H, Dave B, Chang JC. Pharmacological Inhibition of NOS Activates ASK1/JNK Pathway Augmenting Docetaxel-Mediated Apoptosis in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2018 Mar 1;24(5):1152-1162. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-17-1437. Epub 2018 Jan 4.(PubMed)
- Garrido P, Shalaby A, Walsh EM, Keane N, Webber M, Keane MM, Sullivan FJ, Kerin MJ, Callagy G, Ryan AE, Glynn SA. Impact of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression on triple negative breast cancer outcome and activation of EGFR and ERK signaling pathways. Oncotarget. 2017 Jul 26;8(46):80568-80588. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.19631. eCollection 2017 Oct 6.(PubMed)
- Switzer CH, Glynn SA, Cheng RY, Ridnour LA, Green JE, Ambs S, Wink DA. S-nitrosylation of EGFR and Src activates an oncogenic signaling network in human basal-like breast cancer. Mol Cancer Res. 2012 Sep;10(9):1203-15. doi: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-12-0124. Epub 2012 Aug 9.(PubMed)
- Ridnour LA, Barasch KM, Windhausen AN, Dorsey TH, Lizardo MM, Yfantis HG, Lee DH, Switzer CH, Cheng RY, Heinecke JL, Brueggemann E, Hines HB, Khanna C, Glynn SA, Ambs S, Wink DA. Nitric oxide synthase and breast cancer: role of TIMP-1 in NO-mediated Akt activation. PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e44081. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044081. Epub 2012 Sep 5.(PubMed)
- Thomas DD, Ridnour LA, Isenberg JS, Flores-Santana W, Switzer CH, Donzelli S, Hussain P, Vecoli C, Paolocci N, Ambs S, Colton CA, Harris CC, Roberts DD, Wink DA. The chemical biology of nitric oxide: implications in cellular signaling. Free Radic Biol Med. 2008 Jul 1;45(1):18-31. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2008.03.020. Epub 2008 Apr 4.(PubMed)
- Prueitt RL, Boersma BJ, Howe TM, Goodman JE, Thomas DD, Ying L, Pfiester CM, Yfantis HG, Cottrell JR, Lee DH, Remaley AT, Hofseth LJ, Wink DA, Ambs S. Inflammation and IGF-I activate the Akt pathway in breast cancer. Int J Cancer. 2007 Feb 15;120(4):796-805. doi: 10.1002/ijc.22336.(PubMed)
- Yu HG, Ai YW, Yu LL, Zhou XD, Liu J, Li JH, Xu XM, Liu S, Chen J, Liu F, Qi YL, Deng Q, Cao J, Liu SQ, Luo HS, Yu JP. Phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt pathway plays an important role in chemoresistance of gastric cancer cells against etoposide and doxorubicin induced cell death. Int J Cancer. 2008 Jan 15;122(2):433-43. doi: 10.1002/ijc.23049.(PubMed)
- Huang WC, Hung MC. Induction of Akt activity by chemotherapy confers acquired resistance. J Formos Med Assoc. 2009 Mar;108(3):180-94. doi: 10.1016/S0929-6646(09)60051-6.(PubMed)
- Cai Y, Tan X, Liu J, Shen Y, Wu D, Ren M, Huang P, Yu D. Inhibition of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway enhances the sensitivity of the SKOV3/DDP ovarian cancer cell line to cisplatin in vitro. Chin J Cancer Res. 2014 Oct;26(5):564-72. doi: 10.3978/j.issn.1000-9604.2014.08.20.(PubMed)
- Li B, Li J, Xu WW, Guan XY, Qin YR, Zhang LY, Law S, Tsao SW, Cheung AL. Suppression of esophageal tumor growth and chemoresistance by directly targeting the PI3K/AKT pathway. Oncotarget. 2014 Nov 30;5(22):11576-87. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.2596.(PubMed)
- Wang Q, Shi YL, Zhou K, Wang LL, Yan ZX, Liu YL, Xu LL, Zhao SW, Chu HL, Shi TT, Ma QH, Bi J. PIK3CA mutations confer resistance to first-line chemotherapy in colorectal cancer. Cell Death Dis. 2018 Jul 3;9(7):739. doi: 10.1038/s41419-018-0776-6.(PubMed)
- Takala S, Heikkila P, Nevanlinna H, Blomqvist C, Mattson J. Metaplastic carcinoma of the breast: Prognosis and response to systemic treatment in metastatic disease. Breast J. 2019 May;25(3):418-424. doi: 10.1111/tbj.13234. Epub 2019 Mar 29.(PubMed)