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Clinical Trial
. 2024 Sep 10;42(26):3094-3104.
doi: 10.1200/JCO.23.01566. Epub 2024 Jun 6.

Nanoliposomal Irinotecan With Fluorouracil and Leucovorin or Gemcitabine Plus Cisplatin in Advanced Cholangiocarcinoma: A Phase II Study of the AIO Hepatobiliary-YMO Cancer Groups (NIFE-AIO-YMO HEP-0315)

Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Nanoliposomal Irinotecan With Fluorouracil and Leucovorin or Gemcitabine Plus Cisplatin in Advanced Cholangiocarcinoma: A Phase II Study of the AIO Hepatobiliary-YMO Cancer Groups (NIFE-AIO-YMO HEP-0315)

Thomas J Ettrich et al. J Clin Oncol. .

Abstract

Purpose: First-line therapy options in advanced cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) are based on the ABC-02 trial regimen (gemcitabine/cisplatin [G/C]). The NIFE trial examined nanoliposomal irinotecan/fluorouracil/leucovorin (nal-IRI/FU/LV) as alternative first-line therapy in advanced CCA.

Methods: NIFE is a prospective, open-label, randomized, multicenter phase II study that aimed at detecting efficacy comparable with the standard treatment. Patients with advanced CCA were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive nal-IRI/FU/LV (arm A) or G/C (arm B). Stratification parameters were intrahepatic versus extrahepatic CCA, sex, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG; 0/1). Arm A was designed as a Simon's optimal two-stage design and arm B served as a randomized control group. The primary goal was to exclude an inferior progression-free survival (PFS) at 4 months of only 40%, while assuming a rate of 60% on G/C population.

Results: Between 2018 and 2020, overall 91 patients were randomly assigned to receive nal-IRI/FU/LV (n = 49) or G/C (n = 42). The NIFE trial formally met its primary end point with a 4-month PFS rate of 51% in patients receiving nal-IRI/FU/LV. The median PFS was 6 months (2.4-9.6) in arm A and 6.9 months (2.5-7.9) in arm B. Median overall survival (OS) was 15.9 months (10.6-20.3) in arm A and 13.6 months (6.5-17.7) in arm B. The exploratory comparison of study arms suggested a numerical but statistically not significant advantage for nal-IRI/FU/LV (hazard ratio for PFS, 0.85 [95% CI, 0.53 to 1.38] and for OS, 0.94 [95% CI, 0.58 to 1.50]). Analysis for stratification parameters revealed no differences for sex and ECOG, but for tumor localization. The objective response rate was 24.5% with nal-IRI/FU/LV and 11.9% with G/C. No unexpected toxicities occurred. AEs related to nal-IRI/FU/LV were mainly GI and to G/C hematologic.

Conclusion: Treatment of advanced CCA with nal-IRI/FU/LV demonstrated efficacy in first-line therapy without new safety findings and merits further validation.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03044587.

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Conflict of interest statement

The following represents disclosure information provided by authors of this manuscript. All relationships are considered compensated unless otherwise noted. Relationships are self-held unless noted. I = Immediate Family Member, Inst = My Institution. Relationships may not relate to the subject matter of this manuscript. For more information about ASCO's conflict of interest policy, please refer to www.asco.org/rwc or ascopubs.org/jco/authors/author-center.

Open Payments is a public database containing information reported by companies about payments made to US-licensed physicians (Open Payments).

Thomas J. Ettrich

Consulting or Advisory Role: MSD, Roche, Sanofi, Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Merck Serono, Pierre Fabre, Servier, Lilly, Ipsen, Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH, AbbVie, Takeda

Research Funding: Baxalta/Shire, Lilly (Inst)

Travel, Accommodations, Expenses: Ipsen, Lilly

Dominik P. Modest

Honoraria: Merck Serono, Amgen, Servier, Bristol Myers Squibb, Taiho Pharmaceutical, Onkowissen, Merck, Pierre Fabre, AstraZeneca, Sanofi, Lilly, Takeda, GlaxoSmithKline, Seagen, Cor2Ed, Boehringer Ingelheim

Consulting or Advisory Role: Merck Serono, Amgen, Servier, Pierre Fabre, Lilly, Cor2Ed, Onkowissen, Regeneron, GlaxoSmithKline, Takeda

Research Funding: Amgen (Inst), Servier (Inst)

Travel, Accommodations, Expenses: Amgen, Merck Serono, Servier

Marianne Sinn

Honoraria: Roche Pharma AG, Falk Pharma

Research Funding: BioNTech SE (Inst), BeiGene (Inst), BMS GmbH & Co KG (Inst), Novartis/Pfizer (Inst), AstraZeneca (Inst), Institut Allergosan (Inst), Roche Pharma AG (Inst), Amgen (Inst)

Bernhard Opitz

Honoraria: Roche Pharma AG

Thorsten Goetze

Consulting or Advisory Role: Lilly, MSD Oncology, Bayer, Servier, Roche, Novartis, Incyte, Foundation Medicine, Bristol Myers Squibb

Speakers' Bureau: Lilly, MSD Oncology

Research Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss, Deutsche Krebshilfe (Inst), Lilly (Inst), AstraZeneca (Inst), Incyte (Inst)

Lutz Jacobasch

Consulting or Advisory Role: BeiGene, AbbVie, Incyte

Travel, Accommodations, Expenses: Boehringer Ingelheim, Ipsen, Sanofi

Dirk Waldschmidt

Speakers' Bureau: AstraZeneca, Incyte, Roche Pharma AG, Servier, MSD Oncology, Ipsen, Boehringer Ingelheim

Travel, Accommodations, Expenses: AstraZeneca, Lilly, Servier, Ipsen

Uli Fehrenbach

Honoraria: Bayer Health, Siemens, Ipsen, Asahi Intecc

Travel, Accommodations, Expenses: Bayer Health

Timo Alexander Auer

Honoraria: Bayer Schering Pharma, Boston Scientific, BD Bard

Consulting or Advisory Role: Bayer Schering Pharma

Research Funding: Bayer Schering Pharma (Inst)

Disorn Sookthai

Stock and Other Ownership Interests: Bayer

Thomas Seufferlein

Honoraria: Falk Foundation, Servier, Pierre Fabre, BMS GmbH & Co KG, AstraZeneca, MSD Oncology, Takeda

Consulting or Advisory Role: Servier, Pierre Fabre, Cantargia AB, Boehringer Ingelheim, Mirati Therapeutics, Scandion Oncology, Olympus Medical Systems, BioNTech SE

Research Funding: Lilly/ImClone (Inst)

Travel, Accommodations, Expenses: Takeda

Lukas Perkhofer

Consulting or Advisory Role: AstraZeneca, Servier

Expert Testimony: AstraZeneca

Travel, Accommodations, Expenses: AstraZeneca

No other potential conflicts of interest were reported.

Figures

FIG 1.
FIG 1.
CONSORT diagram. G/C, gemcitabine/cisplatin; IC/EC, inclusion criteria/exclusion criteria; ITT, intention-to-treat; nal-IRI/FU/LV, nanoliposomal irinotecan/fluorouracil/leucovorin.
FIG 2.
FIG 2.
Waterfall plot of best overall response. Each bar represents one patient and describes the best response assessment during the trial (relation of shortest tumor diameter to baseline assessment according to RECIST [version 1.1]). Arm A: nal-IRI/FU/LV blue bars, arm B: gemcitabine/cisplatin red bars. G/C, gemcitabine/cisplatin; nal-IRI/FU/LV, nanoliposomal irinotecan/fluorouracil/leucovorin.
FIG 3.
FIG 3.
PFS and OS in the ITT population. (A) PFS in patients randomly assigned to nal-IRI/FU/LV (arm A, n = 49) or gemcitabine/cisplatin (arm B, n = 42). (B) OS in patients randomly assigned to nal-IRI/FU/LV (arm A, n = 49) or gemcitabine/cisplatin (arm B, n = 42). G/C, gemcitabine/cisplatin; HR, hazard ratio; ITT, intention-to-treat; nal-IRI/FU/LV, nanoliposomal irinotecan/fluorouracil/leucovorin; OS, overall survival; PFS, progression-free survival.
FIG 4.
FIG 4.
Efficacy analyses in subgroups for (A) PFS and (B) OS. Forest plots with indicated analyses: (A) HRs for progression or death with 95% CIs and (B) HRs for death with 95% CIs. CCA, cholangiocarcinoma; ECOG, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group; G/C, gemcitabine/cisplatin; HR, hazard ratio; nal-IRI/FU/LV, nanoliposomal irinotecan/fluorouracil/leucovorin; OS, overall survival; PFS, progression-free survival.
FIG A1.
FIG A1.
(A) PFS in the ITT population for ICCA and ECCA subgroups. (B) OS in the ITT population for ICCA and ECCA subgroups. Thick marks indicate censored observations. CCA, cholangiocarcinoma; ECCA, extrahepatic CCA; G/C, gemcitabine/cisplatin; HR, hazard ratio; ICCA, intrahepatic CCA; ITT, intention-to-treat; mPFS, median PFS; nal-IRI/FU/LV, nanoliposomal irinotecan/fluorouracil/leucovorin; OS, overall survival; PFS, progression-free survival.

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