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Neoadjuvant Study With Combination Immuno-oncology for Primary Clear Cell Renal Cell Cancer

Prospective, Randomized, Neoadjuvant Phase II Study With Combination Immuno-oncology in Primary Clear Cell Renal Cancer at Risk for Recurrence or Distant Metastases (NESCIO-trial)

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05148546
Acronym
NESCIO
Enrollment
69
Registered
2021-12-08
Start date
2022-04-28
Completion date
2029-04-30
Last updated
2025-09-30

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

Conditions

Renal Cell Carcinoma

Keywords

Resectable renal cell carcinoma, Checkpoint inhibition, Immunotherapy, PD-1 inhibitor, CTLA-4 inhibitor, LAG-3 inhibitor, Nivolumab, Ipilimumab, Relatlimab, Neoadjuvant, NESCIO, M21NSC, Checkpoint blockade

Brief summary

The NESCIO-trial is a multicenter, randomized, open-label, three-arm phase II trial investigating different combinations of neoadjuvant immunotherapy in patients with primary, resectable, intermediate to high-risk, clear-cell renal cell carcinoma. In this trial patients will be randomized 1:1:1 to receive either 2 cycles of nivolumab 360mg every 3 weeks (arm A), 2 cycles of ipilimumab 1 mg/kg + nivolumab 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks (arm B) or 2 cycles of relatlimab 360mg + nivolumab 360mg every 3 weeks (arm C), prior to surgery at week 7. After 42 patients (14 per arm) have been recruited, an interim analysis will be performed to evaluate the observed efficacy and toxicity within each arm and either allow for early discontinuation of the treatment or continuing recruitment for the second stage. As the primary endpoint, the pathological response (decrease in tumor) will be evaluated. If at most one pathologic response in the primary tumor is observed, the treatment arm will be closed for insufficient activity on the primary tumor. If at least 2 pathologic responses are observed, 9 additional patients will be included to a total of 23 patients per cohort. A maximum of 69 patients will be recruited for this study. Follow up will start at week 12 with a CT-scan according to the national/center's standard. Patients will be evaluated every 3 months by physical examination and lab testing for up to two years, thereafter according to institutional guidelines up to 5 years following surgery.

Interventions

Patients will receive 2 cycles of nivolumab 360mg (arm A and C) or 3mg/kg (arm B) every 3 weeks followed by a nephrectomy.

DRUGNeoadjuvant ipilimumab

Patients will receive 2 cycles of ipilimumab 1mg/kg every 3 weeks followed by a nephrectomy.

DRUGNeoadjuvant relatlimab

Patients will receive 2 cycles of relatlimab 360mg every 3 weeks followed by a nephrectomy.

Sponsors

Bristol-Myers Squibb
CollaboratorINDUSTRY
The Netherlands Cancer Institute
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Intervention model description

Open-label three-arm randomized phase II trial

Eligibility

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

Inclusion criteria

* Adults at least 18 years of age; * World Health Organization (WHO) Performance Status 0 or 1; * Histologically confirmed resectable clear cell RCC (measurable according to RECIST 1.1), that can be biopsied, and no history of distant metastases; * Intermediate to high risk will be based on clinical TNM and biopsy nuclear grade. These are: 1. cT1b-cT2a grade 4 cN0 cM0 2. cT2b grade 3 cN0 cM0 3. cT3 any grade cN0 cM0 4. cT4 any grade cN0 cM0 5. cT any cN1 (fully resectable) cM0 * No other malignancies, except adequately treated and a cancer-related life-expectancy of more than 5 years; * Patient willing to undergo triple tumor biopsies and extra blood withdrawal during screening and in case of relapse; * No prior immunotherapy targeting CTLA-4, PD-1 or PD-L1, or LAG-3; * No immunosuppressive medications within 2 weeks prior start immunotherapy; * Screening laboratory values must meet the following criteria: WBC ≥ 2.0x109/L, Neutrophils ≥1.5x109/L, Platelets ≥100 x109/L, Hemoglobin ≥5.5 mmol/L, Creatinine ≤1.5x ULN, AST ≤ 1.5 x ULN, ALT ≤ 1.5 x ULN, Bilirubin ≤1.5 X ULN, normal CK and Troponin T, normal LDH; * Women of childbearing potential must use appropriate method(s) of contraception. They should use an adequate method to avoid pregnancy for 23 weeks (30 days plus the time required for nivolumab to undergo five half-lives) after the last dose of investigational drug; * Women of childbearing potential must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test (minimum sensitivity 25 IU/L or equivalent units of HCG) within 24 hours prior to the start of study treatment; * Women who are not of childbearing potential (i.e., who are postmenopausal), or surgically sterile as well as azoospermic men do not require contraception; * Patient is capable of understanding and complying with the protocol requirements and has signed the Informed Consent document.

Exclusion criteria

* Distantly metastasized RCC; * Brain metastases (based on symptoms); * Non-clear cell RCC; * No measurable lesion according to RECIST 1.1; * Subjects with any active autoimmune disease or a documented history of autoimmune disease, or history of syndrome that required systemic steroids or immunosuppressive medications, except for subjects with vitiligo or resolved childhood asthma/atopy; * Prior CTLA-4 or PD-1/PD-L1 or LAG-3 targeting immunotherapy; * Radiotherapy prior or post-surgery; * Patients will be excluded if they test positive for hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBV sAg) or hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid (HCV antibody), indicating acute or chronic infection; if treated and being at least one year free from HCV patients are allowed to participate; * Patients will be excluded if they have known history of testing positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or known acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS); * Allergies and Adverse Drug Reactions (like mastocytosis); * History of severe hypersensitivity reaction to any monoclonal antibody; * Underlying medical conditions that, in the Investigator's opinion, will make the administration of study drug(s) hazardous or obscure the interpretation of toxicity or adverse events; * Pregnant or nursing; * Concurrent medical condition requiring the use of immunosuppressive medications, or immunosuppressive doses of systemic or absorbable topical corticosteroids; * Use of other investigational drugs before study drug administration 30 days and 5 half-times before study inclusion. Relatlimab-specific

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Pathologic response rateAt 6 weeksPathologic response rate is defined as the proportion of patients demonstrating a complete pathologic or partial pathologic response, according to central revision (pathology of NKI)

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Objective response rateAt 6 weeksORR is defined as the proportion of patients demonstrating a complete or partial response according to RECIST 1.1
Recurrence Free Survival (RFS)Up to 5 years after start of treatmentRFS is defined as the time from randomization to recurrence or death from any cause, whichever occurs first. Subjects last known to be alive, who have not experience recurrence, will be censored.
Event-free Survival (EFS)Up to 5 years after start of treatmentEFS is defined as the time from randomization to recurrence, distant metastasis, or death from any cause, whichever occurs first. Subjects who are event-free at the end of follow-up will be censored.
Rate of distant metastasesUp to 5 years after start of treatmentThe proportion of patients starting treatment who experience distant metastases during follow-up.
Safety, measured by the frequency of immune-related adverse events leading to postponing of surgery for >2 weeksAt 8 weeks
Surgical morbidity following neoadjuvant immunotherapyUp to 1 year after start of treatmentSurgical complication rates according to Clavien-Dindo classification
Description of associations of TMB, fs/INDELs, HERVE-E, RNA tumor/immune signatures, and surface marker expression with tumor immune infiltrates and responseUp to 5 years after start of treatment
Cell free methylated DNA profiles following neoadjuvant immunotherapy between baseline and surgeryAt 6 weeks
Collection of fresh tumor tissue for investigating TIL, scRNA and TCRseqAt 6 weeks
Rate of local recurrencesUp to 5 years after start of treatmentThe proportion of patients starting treatment who experience a local recurrence during follow-up.

Countries

Netherlands, United Kingdom

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026