Michael Schenker, Mauricio Burotto, Martin Richardet, Tudor Ciuleanu, Anthony Goncalves, Neeltje Steeghs, Patrick Schöffski, Paolo A. Ascierto, Michele Maio, Iwona Lugowska, Lorena Lupinacci, Alexandra Leary, Jean-Pierre Delord, Julieta Grasselli, David S. Tan, Jennifer E. Friedmann, Jacqueline Vuky, Marina Tschaika, Ruta Slepetis, Georgia D. Kollia, Misena Pacius, Ning Huang, Parul Doshi, Jonathan Baden, and Massimo Di Nicola
High tumor mutational burden assessed in tissue biopsies (tTMB-H) or blood (bTMB-H) is associated with clinical efficacy in patients treated with immunotherapies. CheckMate 848 (NCT03668119) is a prospective phase 2 study of nivolumab (NIVO) with or without ipilimumab (IPI) in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors that are tTMB-H or bTMB-H (≥ 10 mutations/megabase) who were immunotherapy-naive and refractory to standard local therapies. The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR) in patients with tTMB-H or bTMB-H, assessed by FoundationOne® CDx-based and Clinical Trial Assays (Foundation Medicine), respectively. The study was not powered to compare NIVO + IPI vs NIVO. We present the interim and final analyses for the tTMB-H and bTMB-H cohorts, respectively (≥ 12 months follow-up, database lock June 2021). Of 1954 screened patients, 212 were randomized 2:1 to NIVO 240 mg Q2W + IPI 1 mg/kg Q6W or NIVO 480 mg Q4W for ≤ 24 months, and 201 (135 tTMB-H; 147 bTMB-H) were refractory to standard therapies. Of > 40 tumor types, colorectal (10.8%), small-cell lung (7.5%), breast (7.1%), and uterine (7.1%) were the most common. ORR and survival outcomes with NIVO + IPI were improved in patients with tTMB-H. The responses were independent of bTMB-H status in the tTMB-H cohort but improved with tTMB-H status in the bTMB-H cohort (Table). The safety profile of NIVO + IPI was manageable, and clinical outcomes with NIVO were comparable with previous studies. The impact of TMB cutoff, PD-L1 expression, and microsatellite instability were explored. In conclusion, NIVO + IPI demonstrated clinical efficacy with a manageable safety profile in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors that are tTMB-H or bTMB-H and refractory to standard therapies, with increased efficacy observed in patients with tTMB-H. NIVO + IPI tTMB-H cohort bTMB-H cohorta Patients, n (%)b,c 68 (32.1) 80 (37.7) Number of prior treatments, median (range) 2 (0–7) 2 (1–9) ORR, n (%)c, 95% CI 24 (35.3), 24.1–47.8 18 (22.5), 13.9–33.2 ORR in patients with bTMB-H by tTMBc: < 10 mut/Mb (n = 31), n (%), 95% CI NA 3 (9.7), 2.0–25.8 ≥ 10 mut/Mb (n = 39), n (%), 95% CI NA 13 (33.3), 19.1–50.2 ≥ 10 to < 16 mut/Mb (n = 18), n (%), 95% CI NA 3 (16.7), 3.6–41.4 ≥ 16 mut/Mb (n = 21), n (%), 95% CI NA 10 (47.6), 25.7–70.2 ORR in patients with tTMB-H by bTMBc: < 10 mut/Mb (n = 20), n (%), 95% CI 7 (35.0), 15.4–59.2 NA ≥ 10 mut/Mb (n = 43), n (%), 95% CI 16 (37.2), 23.0–53.3 NA ≥ 10 to < 16 mut/Mb (n = 12), n (%), 95% CI 3 (25.0), 5.5–57.2 NA ≥ 16 mut/Mb (n = 31), n (%), 95% CI 13 (41.9), 24.5–60.9 NA Percentage of responders (≥ 9 months) (95% CI) 91 (68–98) 88 (61–97) Median PFS, months (95% CI)c 4.1 (2.8–11.3) 2.8 (2.3–3.0) Median OS, months (95% CI)c 14.5 (7.7–NE) 8.5 (5.8–10.5) aThe bTMB cohort was randomized prior to December 20, 2019. bOut of 212 randomized patients; data presented in this table are from patients who were refractory to standard therapies. cMinimum follow-up 12 months. bTMB, blood tumor mutational burden; NA, not applicable; NE, not evaluable; PFS, progression-free survival; OS, overall survival; tTMB, tissue tumor mutational burden. Citation Format: Michael Schenker, Mauricio Burotto, Martin Richardet, Tudor Ciuleanu, Anthony Goncalves, Neeltje Steeghs, Patrick Schöffski, Paolo A. Ascierto, Michele Maio, Iwona Lugowska, Lorena Lupinacci, Alexandra Leary, Jean-Pierre Delord, Julieta Grasselli, David S. Tan, Jennifer E. Friedmann, Jacqueline Vuky, Marina Tschaika, Ruta Slepetis, Georgia D. Kollia, Misena Pacius, Ning Huang, Parul Doshi, Jonathan Baden, Massimo Di Nicola. CheckMate 848: A randomized, open-label, phase 2 study of nivolumab in combination with ipilimumab or nivolumab monotherapy in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors of high tumor mutational burden [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr CT022.