Oncolytic immunotherapy with nivolumab in muscle-invasive bladder cancer: a phase 1b trial

Mené sur 21 patients atteints d'un cancer de la vessie avec envahissement musculaire et inéligibles à un traitement par cisplatine, cet essai de phase IB détermine la dose maximale tolérée du crétostimogène grenadénorepvec (un virus oncolytique de type 5) en combinaison avec le nivolumab, puis évalue l'efficacité de cette combinaison du point de vue du taux de réponse complète

Nature Medicine, sous presse, 2024, résumé

Résumé en anglais

There is a critical unmet need for safe and efficacious neoadjuvant treatment for cisplatin-ineligible patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Here we launched a phase 1b study using the combination of intravesical cretostimogene grenadenorepvec (oncolytic serotype 5 adenovirus encoding granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor) with systemic nivolumab in cisplatin-ineligible patients with cT2-4aN0-1M0 muscle-invasive bladder cancer. The primary objective was to measure safety, and the secondary objective was to assess the anti-tumor efficacy as measured by pathologic complete response along with 1-year recurrence-free survival. No dose-limiting toxicity was encountered in 21 patients enrolled and treated. Combination treatment achieved a pathologic complete response rate of 42.1% and a 1-year recurrence-free survival rate of 70.4%. Pathologic response was associated with baseline free E2F activity and tumor mutational burden but not PD-L1 status. Although T cell infiltration was broadly induced after intravesical oncolytic immunotherapy, the formation, enlargement and maturation of tertiary lymphoid structures was specifically associated with complete response, supporting the importance of coordinated humoral and cellular immune responses. Together, these results highlight the potential of this combination regimen to enhance therapeutic efficacy in cisplatin-ineligible patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, warranting additional study as a neoadjuvant therapeutic option. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04610671.