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A Pilot Study of Metformin Therapy in Patients With Relapsed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and Untreated CLL

A Phase II Pilot Study of Metformin Therapy in Patients With Relapsed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Untreated CLL Patients With Genomic Deletion 11q

Status
Completed
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT01750567
Enrollment
37
Registered
2012-12-17
Start date
2012-11-01
Completion date
2025-02-28
Last updated
2026-07-20

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Relapsed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Keywords

Relapsed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, untreated CLL patients, genomic deletion 11q

Brief summary

Metformin is an antidiabetic drug which is an inexpensive and generally well tolerated medication. More recently metformin has been shown to act against carcinomas by two mechanisms: 1) an indirect, insulin-dependent mechanism which sensitizes tissues to insulin, inhibits hepatic gluconeogenesis, and stimulates uptake of glucose in muscle, thereby reducing fasting blood glucose and circulating levels of insulin, lowering the pro survival activity of the insulin/INSR axis, and 2) a direct, insulin-independent mechanism which activates the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway and leads to inhibition of the mTOR pathway. Given the investigators preliminary published data on insulin and mTOR inhibition\[1\] metformin is an attractive candidate for a pilot clinical trial in CLL patients.

Interventions

DRUGMetformin

Metformin is an antidiabetic drug which is an inexpensive and generally well tolerated medication.

Sponsors

University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

1. Patients should have a confirmed diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia defined as all of the following: * ALC \> 5000 * Positive for either CD19 or CD 20 together with CD23 and CD5. * Less than 55% atypical cells 2. Patients who relapse after receiving a one or more courses of fludarabine, bendamustine, cytoxan, rituxan, chlorambucil, or campath based therapy. 3. Patients should have findings of relapse by one or both of the following: * ALC \> 5000 on 2 consecutive occasions and increasing * Any increase in lymphadenopathy over best response that has persisted for more than 3 months 4. Patient with confirmed del11q mutation may be included if untreated. 5. Age \> or equal to 18 years old and \< 80 years of age during the course of therapy 6. ECOG performance 0-2 7. Life expectancy \> 12 months 8. Patients must have normal organ function as defined as below: * AST and ALT \< 2 times the upper limit of normal * alkaline phosphatase \< 2 ULN * serum conjugated bilirubin \< 1.5 ULN (exception of Gilbert disease) * serum creatinine less than or equal to 1.5 in males, or 1.4 in females * GFR \> 59 9. Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document 10. Patient must be able to drink and eat more than 75% of their usual daily meals.

Exclusion criteria

1. Patients with active CLL disease requiring urgent chemotherapy 2. Patients may not be receiving any other investigational agents. 3. Patients less than 30 days from last treatment for CLL. 4. History of allergic reactions attributed to metformin or other biguanides. 5. Known diabetes (type 1 or 2), fasting glucose \> or equal to 7.0 mmol/L (126 mg/dL), or HgbA1C \> 6.5 6. Currently taking metformin, sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones or insulin for any reason 7. Current or planned pregnancy or lactation in women of child bearing age (confirmed by negative pregnancy test prior to start of therapy). 8. Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection and sepsis, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements 9. Conditions which would increase risk of lactic acidosis including: * Known alcoholism or ingestion of more than 3 alcoholic beverages per day * History of congestive heart failure defined as NYHA class III or IV * History of metabolic acidosis * Ongoing or active infection concerning for sepsis or SIRS

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Time to Treatment FailureUntil the patient meets failure criteria and stops Metformin; up to 6 months after start of metformin therapy and yearly thereafter, assessed up to 12 yearsWhile patients are on metformin therapy, time to treatment failure will be defined as one or all of the following criteria: 1. ALC \> 5000 on 3 occasions after start of metformin treatment and increasing by 25% or more on each occasion, which will be measured every 3 months. 2. An increase of Rai Stage (0-3) by one stage. 3. An increase in any lymph node by \>50% as assessed by either physical exam (all patients) or CT scanning (only if ordered as part of routine clinical management). 4. Worsening cytopenias (Hemoglobin \<11 g/dl) associated with a bone marrow biopsy result indicating advanced stage CLL (packed CLL marrow).

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Time to First Therapy (TTFT) in Previously Untreated 11q CLL Subsets Only.from time of diagnosis to time of first treatment with anti-neoplastic chemotherapy, assessed up to 12 yearsTo evaluate TTFT in untreated patients, the product-limit method of Kaplan and Meier will be used similarly to the primary endpoint. The main difference between this endpoint and the primary endpoint is that TTFT will be defined from the date of CLL diagnosis for untreated delq11 patients
Changes in the Rate of Increase of Absolute Lymphocyte Count While on Metformin TherapyUntil the patient meets failure criteria and stops Metformin, assessed up to 12 yearsLongitudinal lymphocyte counts will be modeled using mixed models methodology, whereby both fixed effects (dose of metformin) and random effects (intercept - starting lymphocyte count) can be modeled.
Change in Size of Clinically Appreciated Lymphadenopathy in cm and Splenomegaly While on Metformin TherapyBaseline up to 3 months after completing metformin therapy, assessed up to 12 yearsThe proportion of patients that begin metformin therapy with these conditions will be summarized, along with the proportions at study defined clinical assessment points during therapy. No statistical models will be employed, but proportions and 95% exact binomial confidence intervals will be reported for descriptive purposes.
Change in Number of Clinically Appreciated Lymphadenopathy and Splenomegaly While on Metformin TherapyBaseline up to 3 months after completing metformin therapy, assessed up to 12 yearsThe number of patients that begin metformin therapy with these conditions will be summarized, along with the proportions at study defined clinical assessment points during therapy. No statistical models will be employed, but proportions and 95% exact binomial confidence intervals will be reported for descriptive purposes.

Countries

United States

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORSami Malek, MD

University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center

Participant flow

Recruitment details

There were 4 screen fails

Baseline characteristics

Characteristic
Age, Categorical
<=18 years
0 Participants
Age, Categorical
>=65 years
15 Participants
Age, Categorical
Between 18 and 65 years
22 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Hispanic or Latino
1 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Not Hispanic or Latino
32 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
4 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
American Indian or Alaska Native
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Asian
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Black or African American
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
More than one race
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
2 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
White
35 Participants
Region of Enrollment
United States
37 participants
Sex: Female, Male
Female
20 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Male
17 Participants

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
2 / 37
other
Total, other adverse events
32 / 37
serious
Total, serious adverse events
3 / 37

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jul 21, 2026