Immune combo shows promise in aggressive brain tumor trial
NCT ID NCT04606316
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This early-phase trial is testing whether giving two immune-boosting drugs (nivolumab and ipilimumab) before surgery can help fight recurrent glioblastoma, a fast-growing brain cancer. About 63 adults whose tumor has returned after standard treatment will receive the drugs or a placebo before their scheduled surgery. The main goals are to check safety and measure immune cell activity in the tumor tissue removed during surgery.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Phase 1
The first testing in people. Mainly checks safety and dose, usually in a small group.
- Participants
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63 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
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Feb 2021
- Expected to finish
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Dec 2026
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Have histologically confirmed World Health Organization Grade IV IDH wildtype glioblastoma or variants including gliosarcoma or IDH wildtype glioma with molecularly features of glioblastoma. * Previous first line therapy with at least radiotherapy. * Patients must be undergoing surgery that is clinically indicated as determined by their care providers. * Be at first or second relapse. Note: Relapse is defined as progression following initial therapy (i.e., radiation ± chemotherapy). * Participants must have shown unequivocal evidence for tumor progression by MRI per RANO criteria. * Participants must have confirmation of availability of sufficient tissue from prior surgery revealing glioblastoma or variants for submission following registration. The following amount of tissue is required: * 1 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor tissue block (preferred) OR * 10 FFPE unstained slides (5 μm thick) * An interval of at least 12 weeks from the completion of radiation therapy to registration unless there is unequivocal histologic confirmation of tumor progression. * Participants must have recovered to grade 0 or 1 or pre-treatment baseline from clinically significant toxic effects of prior therapy (including but not limited to exceptions of alopecia, laboratory values listed per inclusion criteria, and lymphopenia (which is common after therapy with temozolomide). * An interval of at least 4 weeks (to registration) between prior surgical resection or one week for stereotactic biopsy. * From registration, the following time periods must have elapsed: 5 half-lives from any investigational agent, 4 weeks from cytotoxic therapy (except 23 days for temozolomide and 6 weeks from nitrosoureas), 4 weeks from antibodies, or 4 weeks (or 5 half-lives, whichever is shorter) from other anti-tumor therapies (including vaccines). No washout period required from tumor treating fields (TTF). * Be willing and able to provide written informed consent/assent for the trial. * Be ≥ 18 years of age on day of signing informed consent. * Have a Karnofsky performance status (KPS) ≥ 70. * MRI within 14 days prior of registration. * All screening labs should be performed within 14 days of registration and demonstrate adequate organ function as defined below: * Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≥1,500 /mcL * Platelets ≥100,000 / mcL * Hemoglobin ≥9 g/dL or ≥5.6 mmol/L without transfusion or EPO dependency (within 7 days of assessment) * Serum creatinine OR measured or calculated a creatinine clearance (GFR can be used in place of creatinine or CrCl) ≤1.5 X institutional upper limit of normal (ULN) OR ≥60 mL/min for subject with creatinine levels \> 1.5 X institutional ULN (Creatinine clearance should be calculated per institutional standard.) * Serum total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 X institutional ULN OR direct bilirubin ≤ institutional ULN for subjects with total bilirubin levels \> 1.5 institutional ULN * AST (SGOT) and ALT (SGPT) ≤ 2.5 X institutional ULN OR ≤ 5 X institutional ULN for subjects with Gilberts syndrome * Albumin ≥ 2.5 mg/dL * International Normalized Ratio (INR) or Prothrombin Time (PT) ≤1.5 X institutional ULN unless subject is receiving anticoagulant therapy as long as PT or PTT is within therapeutic range of intended use of anticoagulants * Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (aPTT) ≤1.5 X institutional ULN unless subject is receiving anticoagulant therapy as long as PT or PTT is within therapeutic range of intended use of anticoagulants * Female subject of childbearing potential should have a negative urine or serum pregnancy within 72 hours prior to registration. If the urine test is positive or cannot be confirmed as negative, a serum pregnancy test will be required. Women are considered post-menopausal and not of child bearing potential if they have had 12 months of natural (spontaneous) amenorrhea with an appropriate clinical profile (e.g., age appropriate, history of vasomotor symptoms) or six months of spontaneous amenorrhea with serum FSH levels \> 40 mIU/mL and estradiol \< 20 pg/mL or have had surgical bilateral oophorectomy (with or without hysterectomy) at least six weeks ago. In the case of oophorectomy alone, only when the reproductive status of the woman has been confirmed by follow up hormone level assessment if she considered not of child bearing potential. * Women of child-bearing potential (WOCBP), defined as all women physiologically capable of becoming pregnant, must use highly effective contraception during study treatment and for 5 months after study discontinuation. Highly effective contraception is defined as either: * True Abstinence: When this is in line with the preferred and usual lifestyle of the subject. Periodic abstinence (e.g., calendar, ovulation, symptothermal, postovulation methods) and withdrawal are not acceptable methods of contraception. * Sterilization: Surgical bilateral oophorectomy (with or without hysterectomy) or tubal ligation at least six weeks ago. In case of oophorectomy alone, only when the reproductive status of the woman has been confirmed by follow up hormone level assessment (as described above). * Male Partner Sterilization (with the appropriate post-vasectomy documentation of the absence of sperm in the ejaculate). For female subjects on the study, the vasectomised male partner should be the sole partner for that participant. * Use of a combination of any two of the following: * Placement of an intrauterine device (IUD) or intrauterine system (IUS) * Barrier methods of contraception: Condom or Occlusive cap (diaphragm or cervical/vault caps) with spermicidal foam/gel/film/cream/vaginal suppository * Appropriate hormonal contraceptives (including any registered and marketed contraceptive agent that contains an estrogen and/or a progestational agent - including oral, subcutaneous, intrauterine, or intramuscular agents). * Male subjects should agree to use adequate method of contraception starting with the first dose of study therapy through 7 months after the last dose of therapy. Exclusion Criteria: * IDH mutation by immunohistochemistry. * Current or planned participation in a study of an investigational agent or using an investigational device. * Has a diagnosis of immunodeficiency. * Has tumor primarily localized to the brainstem or spinal cord. * Has presence of diffuse leptomeningeal disease or extracranial disease. * Has received systemic immunosuppressive treatments, aside from systemic corticosteroids (such as methotrexate, chloroquine, azathioprine, etc.) within six months of registration. * Has received bevacizumab or aflibercept. VEGFR inhibitors are allowed. * Requires treatment with high dose systemic corticosteroids defined as dexamethasone \> 2 mg/day or bioequivalent at the time of registration. * Has received prior interstitial brachytherapy, implanted chemotherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery or therapeutics delivered by local injection or convection enhanced delivery. * Has history of known coagulopathy that increases risk of bleeding or a history of clinically significant hemorrhage within 12 months of registration. * Has a known history of active TB (Bacillus Tuberculosis). * Has gastrointestinal bleeding or any other hemorrhage/bleeding event CTCAE Grade \> 3 within 6 months of registration. * Has a known additional malignancy that is progressing or requires active treatment. Those patients whose natural history or treatment does not have the potential to interfere with the safety or efficacy assessment of the investigational regimen will be eligible including, but not limited to, basal cell carcinoma of the skin, squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, localized prostate cancer not requiring treatment, or in situ cervical cancer that has undergone potentially curative therapy. * Has active autoimmune disease that has required systemic treatment in the past 2 years (i.e. with use of disease modifying agents, corticosteroids or immunosuppressive drugs). Replacement therapy (e.g., thyroxine, insulin, or physiologic corticosteroid replacement therapy for adrenal or pituitary insufficiency, etc.) is not considered a form of systemic treatment. * Has known history of, or any evidence of active non-infectious pneumonitis. * Has an active infection requiring systemic therapy. * Has a history or current evidence of any condition, therapy, or laboratory abnormality that might confound the results of the trial, interfere with the subject's participation for the full duration of the trial, or is not in the best interest of the subject to participate, in the opinion of the treating investigator. Examples include but are not limited to symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements. * Has known psychiatric or substance abuse disorders that would interfere with cooperation with the requirements of the trial. * Is pregnant, breastfeeding, or expecting to conceive within the projected duration of the trial, starting with the screening visit through 5 months after the last dose of trial treatment. It is unknown whether nivolumab and/or ipilimumab is excreted in human milk or may have adverse effects on a fetus in utero. Since many drugs are excreted in human milk, and because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in the nursing infant or fetus, these subjects are not eligible for enrollment. * Has received prior therapy with an anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1, anti-PD-L2, anti-CD137, or anti-Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-Associated Antigen-4 (CTLA-4) antibody (including ipilimumab or any other antibody or drug specifically targeting T-cell co-stimulation or checkpoint pathways). * Has a known history of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) (HIV 1/2 antibodies). * Has known active Hepatitis B (e.g., HBsAg reactive) or Hepatitis C (e.g., HCV RNA \[qualitative\] is detected). * Has received a live vaccine within 30 days prior to registration. * Has a known hypersensitivity to any of the study therapy products.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, United States
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Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York, 10065, United States
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Stanford University
Stanford, California, 94305, United States
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University of California Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California, 90095, United States
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