A Study to Give Treatment Inside the Eye to Treat Retinoblastoma

Last updated: March 18, 2025
Sponsor: Children's Oncology Group
Overall Status: Active - Recruiting

Phase

2

Condition

Retinoblastoma

Treatment

Examination Under Anesthesia

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Biospecimen Collection

Clinical Study ID

NCT05504291
ARET2121
NCI-2022-06082
U10CA180886
ARET2121
  • Ages < 18
  • All Genders

Study Summary

This phase II trial tests the safety and side effects of adding melphalan (by injecting it into the eye) to standard chemotherapy in early treatment of patients with retinoblastoma (RB). RB is a type of cancer that forms in the tissues of the retina (the light-sensitive layers of nerve tissue at the back of the eye). It may be hereditary or nonhereditary (sporadic). RB is considered harder to treat (higher risk) when there are vitreous seeds present. Vitreous seeds are RB tumors in the jelly-like fluid of the eye (called the vitreous humor). The term, risk, refers to the chance of the cancer not responding to treatment or coming back after treatment. Melphalan is in a class of medications called alkylating agents. It may kill cancer cells by damaging their deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and stopping them from dividing. Other chemotherapy drugs given during this trial include carboplatin, vincristine, and etoposide. Carboplatin is in a class of medications known as platinum-containing compounds. It works in a way similar to the anticancer drug cisplatin, but may be better tolerated than cisplatin. Carboplatin works by killing, stopping or slowing the growth of cancer cells. Vincristine is in a class of medications called vinca alkaloids. It works by stopping cancer cells from growing and dividing and may kill them. Etoposide is in a class of medications known as podophyllotoxin derivatives. It blocks a certain enzyme needed for cell division and DNA repair and may kill cancer cells. Adding melphalan to standard chemotherapy early in treatment may improve the ability to treat vitreous seeds and may be better than standard chemotherapy alone in treating retinoblastoma.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patient must be < 18 years of age at enrollment

  • Patient must have newly diagnosed intraocular (localized) retinoblastoma and meetone of the following criteria:

  • Unilateral Group D retinoblastoma with vitreous seeding; OR

  • Bilateral retinoblastoma with worst eye Group D, with vitreous seeding presentand the contralateral eye is Group A-C; OR

  • Bilateral Group D retinoblastoma with at least one eye with vitreous seeding;OR

  • Bilateral retinoblastoma with one Group D eye with vitreous seeding and oneGroup E eye where the Group E eye has been enucleated prior to any therapy.Note exclusion for high-risk features

  • Bilateral retinoblastoma with one Group D eye with vitreous seeding and oneGroup E eye where the Group E eye has not been enucleated prior to any therapyat the discretion of the treating physician. Note exclusion for patients withevidence of metastatic or extra orbital spread

  • Patients must have a performance status corresponding to Eastern CooperativeOncology Group (ECOG) scores of 0, 1 or 2. Use Karnofsky for patients > 16 years ofage and Lansky for patients =<16 years of age

  • Peripheral absolute neutrophil count (ANC) >= 750/uL (must be performed within 7days prior to enrollment unless otherwise indicated)

  • Platelet count >= 75,000/uL (transfusion independent) (must be performed within 7days prior to enrollment)

  • A serum creatinine based on age/gender as follows (must be performed within 7 daysprior to enrollment; must be repeated prior to the start of protocol therapy if > 7days have elapsed from their most recent prior assessment):

  • 1 month to < 6 months = 0.4 (male and female)

  • 6 months to < 1 year = 0.5 (male and female)

  • 1 to < 2 years = 0.6 (male and female)

  • 2 to < 6 years = 0.8 (male and female)

  • 6 to < 10 years = 1.0 (male and female)

  • 10 to < 13 years = 1.2 (male and female)

  • 13 to < 16 years = 1.5 (male) and 1.4 (female)

  • >= 16 years = 1.7 (male) and 1.4 (female) OR - a 24-hour urine Creatinineclearance >= 70 mL/min/1.73 m^2 OR - a glomerular filtration rate (GFR) >= 70mL/min/1.73 m^2. GFR must be performed using direct measurement with a nuclearblood sampling method OR direct small molecule clearance method (iothalamate orother molecule per institutional standard)

  • Note: Estimated GFR (eGFR) from serum creatinine, cystatin C or other estimatesare not acceptable for determining eligibility

  • For patients < 1 month of age, serum creatinine levels must be < 1.5 x thetreating institution's creatinine upper limit of normal (ULN) for patients < 1 month of age or the creatinine clearance or radioisotope GFR must be >= 70 mL/min/1.73 m^2

  • Total bilirubin =< 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) for age (must be performedwithin 7 days prior to enrollment; must be repeated prior to the start of protocoltherapy if > 7 days have elapsed from their most recent prior assessment)

  • Serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) (alanine aminotransferase [ALT]) =< 135U/L (must be performed within 7 days prior to enrollment; must be repeated prior tothe start of protocol therapy if > 7 days have elapsed from their most recent priorassessment)

  • Note: For the purpose of this study, the ULN for SGPT (ALT) has been set to thevalue of 45 U/L

Exclusion

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with evidence of metastatic or extra-orbital spread

  • Patients must not have an invasive infection at time of protocol entry

  • Patients must not have had any prior anti-cancer therapy other than cryotherapyand/or laser therapy (green or infrared) to the study eye(s) and non-study eye,including systemic chemotherapy, intra-arterial chemotherapy, radioactive plaque,brachytherapy, or radiation therapy.

  • Note: A study eye is defined as being Group D with vitreous seeding. Patientsmay have had enucleation of one eye as long as the remaining eye is Group Dwith vitreous seeds

  • Patients with bilateral disease who undergo enucleation of a Group E eye prior toinitiation of therapy and show evidence of high-risk histopathology features in theenucleated eye. High-risk histopathology includes choroid involvement >= 3 mm, postlamina optic nerve involvement, full thickness scleral invasion or optic nerveinvasion to the cut end

  • Female patients who are pregnant since fetal toxicities and teratogenic effects havebeen noted for several of the study drugs. A pregnancy test is required for femalepatients of childbearing potential

  • Lactating females who plan to breastfeed their infants

  • Sexually active patients of reproductive potential who have not agreed to use aneffective contraceptive method for the duration of their study participation

  • All patients and/or their parents or legal guardians must sign a written informedconsent

  • All institutional, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and National Cancer Institute (NCI) requirements for human studies must be met

Study Design

Total Participants: 26
Treatment Group(s): 8
Primary Treatment: Examination Under Anesthesia
Phase: 2
Study Start date:
November 04, 2022
Estimated Completion Date:
December 31, 2026

Study Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

I. To determine the feasibility of administering intravitreal melphalan by cycle 6 when given in combination with systemic carboplatin, vincristine, and etoposide (CVE) for the treatment of Group D retinoblastoma with vitreous seeding.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To determine the safety and toxicity profile associated with intravitreal melphalan in combination with systemic CVE for the treatment of Group D retinoblastoma with vitreous seeding.

II. To evaluate the efficacy of intravitreal melphalan in conjunction with systemic chemotherapy in Group D intraocular retinoblastoma with vitreous seeding.

EXPLORATORY OBJECTIVES:

I. To determine if eyes that become eligible for injection at cycle 3 or later would have been eligible for injection at diagnosis by retrospective central review of examination under anesthesia (EUA) and ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) images from diagnosis.

II. To validate and standardize the extraction, storage and collection protocols across multiple centers to demonstrate that aqueous humor from eyes undergoing therapy have high enough tumor-derived deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) concentration for whole genome sequencing and RB1 testing.

III. To explore the relationship between highly-recurrent retinoblastoma (RB) somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) and ocular salvage as well as tumor fraction (% of tumor DNA) as a marker of minimal residual disease and risk of intraocular disease relapse.

IV. To evaluate the effects of intravitreal melphalan therapy in the histopathology of enucleated eyes for progressive or recalcitrant retinoblastoma while on therapy.

V. To evaluate the long-term visual potential of eyes salvaged using intravitreal therapy.

OUTLINE:

CYCLES 1-2: Patients receive CVE regimen consisting of: carboplatin intravenously (IV) over 15-60 minutes on days 1 and 2 of each cycle, vincristine IV on day 1 of each cycle, and etoposide IV over 90-120 minutes on day 1 and 2 of each cycle. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 2 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients also undergo ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) and imaging of the eye during a procedure called examination under anesthesia (EUA) at baseline and prior to each cycle. NOTE: UBM is completed prior to cycle 1 only.

CYCLES 3+: Patients receive CVE regimen as in cycles 1-2. Patients also undergo EUA prior to each cycle to determine eligibility to receive melphalan. If found eligible, patients receive intravitreal injection of melphalan once between days -14 to 14 of each cycle. Patients who are not eligible for melphalan for any cycle receive CVE only regimen for that cycle. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 4 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. NOTE: Patients may be eligible to receive additional cycles of melphalan alone (maximum of 6 injections).

Additionally, patients undergo magnetic resonance imaging and may undergo aqueous humor and tissue sample collection throughout the trial.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at 4 weeks, then every 3 months for 1 year, and then every 3-6 months for years 2-5.

Connect with a study center

  • Perth Children's Hospital

    Perth, Western Australia 6009
    Australia

    Active - Recruiting

  • Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine

    Montreal, Quebec H3T 1C5
    Canada

    Active - Recruiting

  • Children's Hospital of Alabama

    Birmingham, Alabama 35233
    United States

    Suspended

  • Children's Hospital Los Angeles

    Los Angeles, California 90027
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford University

    Palo Alto, California 94304
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • Children's Hospital Colorado

    Aurora, Colorado 80045
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • Children's Healthcare of Atlanta - Arthur M Blank Hospital

    Atlanta, Georgia 30329
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • Children's Healthcare of Atlanta - Egleston

    Atlanta, Georgia 30322
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • C S Mott Children's Hospital

    Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • Washington University School of Medicine

    Saint Louis, Missouri 63110
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • Duke University Medical Center

    Durham, North Carolina 27710
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron

    Akron, Ohio 44308
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • Cleveland Clinic Foundation

    Cleveland, Ohio 44195
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital

    Memphis, Tennessee 38105
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas

    Austin, Texas 78723
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • UT Southwestern/Simmons Cancer Center-Dallas

    Dallas, Texas 75390
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • Baylor College of Medicine/Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center

    Houston, Texas 77030
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • M D Anderson Cancer Center

    Houston, Texas 77030
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • Primary Children's Hospital

    Salt Lake City, Utah 84113
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

  • Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

    Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

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