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ABSTRACT: Background and aim
This study investigated the administration of combination therapy, allogeneic natural killer (NK) cells and pembrolizumab in the treatment of advanced biliary tract cancer to determine the safety and tolerability (phase 1) and the efficacy and safety (phase 2a).Methods
Forty patients (phase 1, n = 6; phase 2a, n = 34) were enrolled between December 2019 and June 2021. The patients received highly activated allogeneic NK cells ("SMT-NK") on weeks 1 and 2 and pembrolizumab on week 1. This 3-week schedule (one cycle) was repeated until confirmed disease progression, intolerable adverse events (AEs), patient withdrawal, or finishing the maximum treatment schedule. The tumor response was evaluated after every three cycles.Results
In phase 1, four patients (66.7%) experienced seven AEs, but no severe AE was observed. In phase 2a, 126 AEs occurred in 29 patients (85.3%). Severe AEs (≥grade 3) were reported in 16 patients (47.1%). The overall response rate (ORR) was 17.4% in the full analysis set and 50.0% in the per-protocol set.Conclusions
SMT-NKs plus pembrolizumab resulted in no severe AEs directly related to the drug combination. The combination therapy also exerted antitumor activity with improved efficacy compared to the recent monotherapy with pembrolizumab in patients with advanced biliary tract cancer.
SUBMITTER: Leem G
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9454779 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Leem Galam G Jang Sung-Ill SI Cho Jae-Hee JH Jo Jung Hyun JH Lee Hee Seung HS Chung Moon Jae MJ Park Jeong Youp JY Bang Seungmin S Yoo Da-Kyung DK Cheon Hyo-Cheon HC Kim Jae-Eun JE Lim Kyeong-Pill KP Jung In-Hye IH Im Jung-Min JM Chung Yong-Yoon YY Park Seung Woo SW
Cancers 20220830 17
<h4>Background and aim</h4>This study investigated the administration of combination therapy, allogeneic natural killer (NK) cells and pembrolizumab in the treatment of advanced biliary tract cancer to determine the safety and tolerability (phase 1) and the efficacy and safety (phase 2a).<h4>Methods</h4>Forty patients (phase 1, <i>n</i> = 6; phase 2a, <i>n</i> = 34) were enrolled between December 2019 and June 2021. The patients received highly activated allogeneic NK cells ("SMT-NK") on weeks 1 ...[more]