SAN FRANCISCO – , according to final results of the German and Austrian phase 2 randomized LICC trial. However, information gleaned from the results, which were reported at the 2019 GI Cancers Symposium, will help inform future research.
Dr. Carl C. Schimanski
“Hepatic metastectomy … is deemed the only potential curative treatment for stage IV colorectal cancer with limited liver disease. However, high recurrence rates after resection remain a major challenge: They range up to 50%-75% within the first 2 years,” said lead investigator Carl C. Schimanski, MD, PhD, of the Klinikum Darmstadt GmbH in Darmstadt, Germany.
Tecemotide is a liposome carrying mucin 1 (MUC1) antigen and an adjuvant that is taken up by antigen-presenting cells, ultimately leading to production of MUC1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes that target tumors. “MUC1 has been described to be expressed in up to 100% of colorectal cancer metastasis, so we thought this might be a good target,” Dr. Schimanski explained.
All 121 patients in the LICC trial had recently undergone primary or secondary resection, with either R0 or R1 outcome, for liver-only metastases of colorectal cancer. They were treated on a double-blind basis with a single dose of cyclophosphamide to reduce regulatory T cells, followed by tecemotide (weekly for 8 weeks, then every 6 weeks for up to 2 years) or with placebo.