NIVORAD: A randomised phase 2 trial of nivolumab and stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer, progressing after first or second line chemotherapy

Background: Recent data has demonstrated improvements in overall survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with nivolumab. Radiation may augment the immune response through abscopal effects - evidence of tumour control at sites other than those irradiated. We hypothesize that the addition of stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) to immunotherapy with nivolumab will improve progression free survival (PFS) compared with nivolumab alone. Methods: DESIGN: Open label, randomised phase II trial with 25 sites across Australia and New Zealand. ELIGIBILITY: Metastatic NSCLC progressing after 1 or 2 lines of chemotherapy with an extrapulmonary metastasis suitable for SABR. STRATIFICATION: Age, lines of chemotherapy, histology and treating institution. TREATMENT: A single dose of SABR (18-20Gy) plus nivolumab or nivolumab alone (240mg 2-weekly) given until disease progression or prohibitive adverse events. ENDPOINTS: PFS at 6 months (PFS6; primary), objective tumour response rate, adverse events, overall survival, PFS at 1 and 2 years. Tertiary correlative objectives include associations between possible prognostic/ predictive biomarkers and outcomes (including PD-L1 expression). STATISTICS:Total sample size of 120 participants allocated in a ratio of 2:1, 80 to nivolumab + SABR and 40 nivolumab alone to provide 80% power, one-sided type I error rate of 5% for PFS6 of 50% (worthy of pursuit) vs 35% (not worthy of pursuit). BIOSPECIMENS: Tumour tissue and serial bloods (4 time points) will be collected for translational research. CURRENT ENROLLMENT (as of Feb 2017): 2 out of 20 sites are open. NIVORAD is an investigator-initiated, cooperative-group trial led by the ALTG in collaboration with the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney and the Trans Tasman Radiation Oncology Group (TROG). Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12616000352404.