Antibodies that inhibit PD-1 on the surface of T cells have revolutionized the treatment and outcomes of patients with metastatic melanoma. However, metastasis to the central nervous system (CNS) remains a common and devastating complication of advanced melanoma, and the CNS is a frequent site of treatment failure for current therapies. There are multiple treatment options for melanoma patients with parenchymal brain metastases. In contrast, there are very few treatment options for patients that develop leptomeningeal disease (LMD). LMD can cause significant neurological deficits, and the median survival for melanoma patients with LMD is less than 2 months. Thus, there is a critical unmet need to develop more effective treatments for patients with LMD from melanoma. Previous experience with trastuzumab and rituximab in breast cancer and lymphoma, respectively, have demonstrated that intrathecal (IT) administration of cancer therapies can increase drug levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and clinical benefit in patients with LMD. Our unique and long-term experience with intrathecal IL2 (IT IL2) has similarly demonstrated that intrathecal immunotherapy can achieve durable disease control and survival in a subset of melanoma patients with LMD. However, long-term survival with IT IL2 is rare, and treatment-related toxicity with IT IL2 is universal. Thus, there remains an unmet need for therapies for LMD that are more active and less toxic. We hypothesize that IT administration of anti-PD-1 antibodies will be safe and induce an anti-tumor immune response in the CSF in metastatic melanoma patients with LMD. In order to test this hypothesis, in Aim 1 we will conduct a novel phase I/Ib study to determine the safety and maximum tolerated dose of combined IT and intravenous (IV) administration of the anti-PD-1 antibody nivolumab in metastatic melanoma patients with LMD. This is trial, which has recently been approved by the FDA, will be the first to assess the safety of IT anti-PD-1, and it represents an important new option for patients with LMD.
In Aim 2, CSF and blood collected from patients in the trial at multiple timepoints will be analyzed for immune cell subsets and cytokines. The results will be analyzed to characterize the effects of IT + IV nivolumab treatment, and to improve our understanding of the immune microenvironment of the CSF.
In Aim 3, cell-free tumor DNA (ctDNA) isolated CSF and blood will undergo next generation sequencing (NGS) to detect and quantify somatic mutations. Results will be used to evaluate changes in mutation burden and profile over time, and to compare mutations detected in the CSF to those detected in blood and in tumor tissue. Together these studies address an unmet clinical need for new treatment options for melanoma patients with LMD, and to improve our understanding of the molecular and immune features of this aggressive disease. The results of these studies will also provide important information to prioritize and optimize future trials for patients with LMD from melanoma and other cancer types.
Patients with leptomeningeal disease (LMD) from melanoma have a very poor prognosis and very few treatment options. We will conduct the first-ever clinical trial to determine the safety, maximum tolerated dose, efficacy, and immune and molecular effects of combined intrathecal and intravenous treatment with the antiPD- 1 antibody nivolumab in metastatic melanoma patients with LMD. The results of these studies will provide critical information about this novel therapeutic approach, increase our understanding of the pathogenesis of LMD, and inform the design of future clinical trials for this patient population.
