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Leptomeningeal CarcinomatosisPhase 2NCT02939300

Ipilimumab and Nivolumab in Leptomeningeal Metastases

A Phase 2 study testing Nivolumab and Ipilimumab in people with Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis, run by Massachusetts General Hospital at 2 sites in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

This research study is studying a combination of two drugs as a possible treatment for Leptomeningeal Metastases. The names of the study interventions involved in this study are: Ipilimumab Nivolumab Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and older
Conditions the study is for
Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis
What is being tested?
Nivolumab and Ipilimumab
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
18 participants
Where
2 sitesUnited States
Study dates
15 Feb 2018to 22 Jul 2021
Phase
Phase 2
Are there results?
Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Participants must have histologically or cytologically confirmed disease from any solid tumor
  • Age ≥18 years.
  • Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status ≤2 (Karnofsky ≥60%)
  • Life expectancy of greater than 3 weeks
  • Participants must have normal organ and marrow function as defined below, all screening labs should be performed within 10 days of treatment initiation.
  • Adequate Organ Function Laboratory Values:
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  • Unit key: mcL = microliter, ULN = upper limit normal
  • Hematological
  • Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≥1500 /mcL
  • Platelets ≥100,000 / mcL
  • Hemoglobin ≥9 g/dL or ≥5.6 mmol/L without transfusion or Erythropoietin (EPO) dependency (within 7 days of assessment)
  • Renal
  • Serum creatinine OR Measured or calculated creatinine clearance (GFR can also be used in place of creatinine or CrCl) ≤ Serum creatinine ≤ 1.5 x ULN or creatinine clearance (CrCl) ≥ 40 mL/min (if using the Cockcroft-Gault formula below):
  • Female CrCl = (140 - age in years) x weight in kg x 0.85 72 x serum creatinine in mg/dL
  • Male CrCl = (140 - age in years) x weight in kg x 1.00 72 x serum creatinine in mg/dL
  • Hepatic
  • Serum total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 X ULN OR Direct bilirubin ≤ ULN for subjects with total bilirubin levels > 1.5 ULN
  • Aspartate transaminase (AST) and Alanine transaminase (ALT) ≤ 3 ULN OR ≤ 5 X ULN for subjects with liver metastases
  • Albumin ≥ 2.5 mg/dL
  • Coagulation
  • International Normalized Ratio (INR) or Prothrombin Time (PT) ≤1.5 X 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 ULN unless subject is receiving anticoagulant therapy as long as PT or PTT is within therapeutic range of intended use of anticoagulants
  • Creatinine clearance should be calculated per institutional standard.
  • Women of childbearing potential (WOCBP) must use appropriate method(s) of contraception. WOCBP should use an adequate method to avoid pregnancy for 23 weeks (30 days plus the time required for Nivolumab to undergo five half-lives) after the last dose of investigational drug.
  • Women of childbearing potential must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test (minimum sensitivity 25 IU/L or equivalent units of HCG) within 24 hours prior to the start of Nivolumab
  • Women must not be breastfeeding
  • Men who are sexually active with WOCBP must use any contraceptive method with a failure rate of less than 1% per year. Men receiving nivolumab and who are sexually active with WOCBP will be instructed to adhere to contraception for a period of 31 weeks after the last dose of investigational product. Women who are not of childbearing potential, ie, who are postmenopausal or surgically sterile as well as azoospermic men do not require contraception
  • Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document.
  • Stable dose of dexamethasone 2 mg or less for 7 days prior to initiation of treatment
  • Carcinomatous meningitis, as defined by positive cytology

Who cannot join

  • Participants who have had chemotherapy, targeted small molecule therapy or study therapy within 14 days of protocol treatment, or those who have not recovered (i.e., ≤ Grade 1 or at baseline) from adverse events due to agents administered more than 2 weeks earlier. Subjects with ≤ Grade 2 neuropathy are an exception to this criterion and may qualify for the study. If subject received major surgery, they must have recovered adequately from the toxicity and/or complications from the intervention prior to starting therapy.
  • Participants who are receiving any other investigational agents.
  • Patients should be excluded if they have an active, known or suspected autoimmune disease. Subjects are permitted to enroll if they have vitiligo, type I diabetes mellitus, residual hypothyroidism due to autoimmune condition only requiring hormone replacement, psoriasis not requiring systemic treatment, or conditions not expected to recur in the absence of an external trigger
  • Patients should be excluded if they have a condition requiring systemic treatment with either corticosteroids (> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents) or other immunosuppressive medications within 14 days of study drug administration. Inhaled or topical steroids and adrenal replacement doses > 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents are permitted in the absence of active autoimmune disease. Subjects are permitted to use topical, ocular, intra-articular, intranasal, and inhalational corticosteroids (with minimal systemic absorption). Physiologic replacement doses of systemic corticosteroids are permitted, even if > 10 mg/day prednisone equivalents. A brief course of corticosteroids for prophylaxis (eg, contrast dye allergy) or for treatment of non-autoimmune conditions (eg, delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction caused by contact allergen) is permitted.
  • As there is potential for hepatic toxicity with nivolumab or nivolumab/ipilimumab combinations, drugs with a predisposition to hepatoxicity should be used with caution in patients treated with nivolumab-containing regimen.
  • Patients should be excluded if they have had prior systemic treatment with an anti-CTLA4 antibody
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  • Has a known history of active TB (Bacillus Tuberculosis)
  • Patients should be excluded if they are positive test for hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBV sAg) or hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid (HCV antibody) indicating acute or chronic infection
  • Patients should be excluded if they have known history of testing positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or known acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). These participants are at increased risk of lethal infections when treated with marrow-suppressive therapy. Appropriate studies will be undertaken in participants receiving combination antiretroviral therapy when indicated.
  • Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, 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 or breastfeeding, or expecting to conceive or father children within the projected duration of the trial, starting with the pre-screening or screening visit through 120 days after the last dose of trial treatment.
  • Has a known additional malignancy that is progressing or requires active treatment. Exceptions include basal cell carcinoma of the skin or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin that has undergone potentially curative therapy or in situ cervical cancer.
  • Has known history of, or any evidence of active, non-infectious pneumonitis.
  • Has an active infection requiring systemic therapy.
  • Has received a live vaccine within 30 days of planned start of study therapy. Note: Seasonal influenza vaccines for injection are generally inactivated flu vaccines and are allowed; however intranasal influenza vaccines (e.g., Flu-Mist®) are live attenuated vaccines, and are not allowed.
  • History of allergy to study drug components
  • History of severe hypersensitivity reaction to any monoclonal antibody

Trial locations and contacts

2 sites in 1 country.

United States2 sites

  • Massachusetts general Hospital

    Boston, Massachusetts, 02114

  • Dana Farber Cancer Institute

    Boston, Massachusetts, 02115

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: Phase II Trial of Ipilimumab and Nivolumab in Leptomeningeal Metastases

This research study is studying a combination of two drugs as a possible treatment for Leptomeningeal Metastases.

The names of the study interventions involved in this study are:

  • Ipilimumab
  • Nivolumab
Read the detailed description

This research study is a Phase II clinical trial.

Researchers hope to study the effects of the combination of Nivolumab and Ipilimumab. Many cancers use specific pathways, such as programmed death-1 (PD-1), programmed death-ligand-1 (PD-L1), and cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4), to evade the body's immune system. Nivolumab and ipilimumab work by blocking the PD-1/PD-L1 and CTLA-4 pathways and thus releasing the brakes on the immune system so it can stop or slow cancer.

The FDA (the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) has approved Nivolumab and Ipilimumab as a treatment option for melanoma, but has not approved them for use when cancer cells spread to the cerebrospinal fluid

Being tested
Nivolumab, Ipilimumab
Keywords
Leptomeningeal Metastases
Medical subject headings
Meningeal Carcinomatosis

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • NivolumabDrug

    Also called Opdivo

    • Melanoma:
    • Combination therapy with Nivolumab 1 mg/kg for 4 doses followed by monotherapy Nivolumab 480 mg per cycle.
    • Non-small Cell Lung Cancer / Head and Neck Cancer:
    • Combination therapy with Nivolumab 3 mg/kg
    • Small Cell Lung Cancer / Breast Cancer / Bladder Cancer:
    • Combination therapy with Nivolumab 1 mg/kg for 4 doses followed by monotherapy Nivolumab 240 mg per cycle.
    • Renal Cell Carcinoma / Other Solid Tumors (not listed above):
    • Combination therapy with Nivolumab 3 mg/kg for 4 doses followed by monotherapy Nivolumab 480 mg per cycle.

  • IpilimumabDrug

    Also called Yervoy

    • Non-small Cell Lung Cancer / Head and Neck Cancer:
    • Combination therapy with Ipilimumab 1 mg/kg
    • Small Cell Lung Cancer / Breast Cancer / Bladder Cancer:
    • Combination therapy with Ipilimumab 3 mg/kg for 4 doses
    • Renal Cell Carcinoma / Other Solid Tumors (not listed above):
    • Combination therapy with Ipilimumab 3 mg/kg for 4 doses
Study groups in NCT02939300
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Combination Of Nivolumab with IpilimumabExperimentalAll patients will be treated based on their primary tumor diagnosis with a combination regimen of Nivolumab and Ipilimumab. Each treatment cycle is 6 weeks; exceptions below. * Melanoma: * Nivolumab 1 mg/kg and Ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, every 3 weeks for 4 doses. * Followed by Nivolumab 480 mg every 4 weeks until disease progression. Each cycle of monotherapy is defined as 8 weeks. * Non-small Cell Lung Cancer / Head and Neck Cancer: - Nivolumab 3 mg/kg every 2 weeks, and Ipilimumab 1 mg/kg every 6 weeks. * Small Cell Lung Cancer / Breast Cancer / Bladder Cancer: * Nivolumab 1 mg/kg and Ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, every 3 weeks for 4 doses. * Followed by Nivolumab 240 mg every 2 weeks until disease progression. * Renal Cell Carcinoma / Other Solid Tumors (not listed above): * Nivolumab 3 mg/kg and Ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, every 3 weeks for 4 doses. * Followed by Nivolumab 480 mg every 4 weeks until disease progression. Each cycle of monotherapy is defined as 8 weeks.
Receives: Drug: Nivolumab; Drug: Ipilimumab

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Percentage of Participants With Overall Survival

    Overall Survival (OS) is defined as the time from registration to death due to any cause, or censored at date last known alive.

    Measured: 3 months

Secondary outcomes (6)

  1. Percentage of Participants With Treatment-related Adverse Events

    Grade 3 or 4 treatment-related adverse events occurring in at least 15% of participants, based on CTCAE v4.0 criteria.

    Measured: 2 years

  2. Cumulative Incidence of Progressive Disease at 3 Months for Intracranial Sites

    Cumulative incidence describes the average probability of developing progressive disease (PD) by immunotherapy response assessment for neuro-oncology (iRANO) criteria. PD is defined as any of the following: (1) >/= 25% increase in 2-dimensional contrast lesions; (2) significant worsened changes on T2-weighted MRI scans; (3) new lesion; or (4) significant clinical decline. Confirmation of progressive disease is based on follow-up imaging for participants without significant clinical decline.

    Measured: 3 months post-treatment

  3. Cumulative Incidence of Progressive Disease at 3 Months for Extracranial Sites

    Cumulative incidence describes the average probability of developing progressive disease (PD) by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version 1.1 criteria. PD is defined as any of the following: (1) >/= 25% increase in 2-dimensional contrast lesions; (2) significant worsened changes on T2-weighted MRI scans; (3) new lesion; or (4) significant clinical decline. Confirmation of progressive disease is based on follow-up imaging for participants without significant clinical decline.

    Measured: 3 months post-treatment

  4. Number of Participants With Leptomeningeal Disease (LMD) Response Post-Treatment

    Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collection and cytology is done 6-9 weeks after treatment initiation to assess for LMD response, especially complete response or partial response.

    Complete Response is defined as:

    • Reversion to negative CSF cytology (or NA)
    • Disappearance of all disease related symptoms present prior to therapy (or NA)
    • Complete disappearance of all detectable radiographic evidence of disease (or NA).

    Partial Response is defined as:

    • > 50% decrease in malignant CSF cytology
    • Improvement in neurologic symptoms or no worsening of symptoms
    • Improvement in radiographic evidence of disease. No new sites of measurable or assessable central nervous system (CNS) disease.

    Measured: 6-9 weeks after treatment initiation

  5. Extracranial Progression-Free Survival

    Extracranial Progression-Free Survival (EPFS) is defined as the time from first dose of study drug to documented extracranial disease progression or death, whichever occurs first. Extracranial disease progression is assessed with CT scans of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis, by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) v1.1 criteria and immune-related response criteria (irRC) criteria. Progression is defined using RECIST v1.0 as a 20% increase in the sum of the longest diameter of target lesions, or a measurable increase in a non-target lesion, or the appearance of new lesions. The follow-up of participants who have neither died nor progressed at the time of analysis will be censored at the date of last adequate disease assessment.

    Measured: 2 years

  6. Intracranial Progression-Free Survival

    Intracranial Progression-Free Survival (IPFS) is defined as the time from first dose of study drug to documented intracranial disease progression or death, whichever occurs first. Intracranial disease progression is assessed with CT or MRI scans of the brain, using the Response assessment in neuro-oncology (RANO) criteria, which defines progression as:

    • ≥ 25% increase in in the sum of products of all measurable lesions over smallest sum observed (over baseline if no decrease) using the same techniques as baseline; or
    • Presence of new lesions; or
    • Worsening of clinical/neurologic status (unless clearly unrelated to the cancer); or
    • Worsening of non-measurable disease.

    The follow-up of participants who have neither died nor progressed at the time of analysis will be censored at the date of last adequate disease assessment.

    Measured: 2 years

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted20 Oct 2016 (estimated)
  2. Study start15 Feb 2018
  3. Primary completion22 Jul 2021
  4. Study completion22 Jul 2021

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
18 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT02939300
Sponsor's protocol ID
16-136
Status last verified
Oct 2025
First submitted
29 Aug 2016
Last updated
14 Nov 2025
Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No

Publications

  • Brastianos PK, Strickland MR, Lee EQ, Wang N, Cohen JV, Chukwueke U, Forst DA, Eichler A, Overmoyer B, Lin NU, Chen WY, Bardia A, Juric D, Dagogo-Jack I, White MD, Dietrich J, Nayyar N, Kim AE, Alvarez-Breckenridge C, Mahar M, Mora JL, Nahed BV, Jones PS, Shih HA, Gerstner ER, Giobbie-Hurder A, Carter SL, Oh K, Cahill DP, Sullivan RJ. Phase II study of ipilimumab and nivolumab in leptomeningeal carcinomatosis. Nat Commun. 2021 Oct 12;12(1):5954. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25859-y.

    PubMed 34642329

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A Phase 2 study testing Nivolumab and Ipilimumab in people with Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis, run by Massachusetts General Hospital at 2 sites in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 30 inclusion and 18 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 14 Nov 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 2 sites in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

What does this phase mean?

Phase 2 studies give the treatment to a larger group to see whether it has the intended effect and to keep checking safety.

Not every study follows the same path, and some studies (observational studies, device studies) have no phase.

Are results available for this study?

Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 14 Nov 2022). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Percentage of Participants With Overall Survival (time frame: 3 months). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT02939300, which also lists 1 linked publication.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 14 Nov 2025.

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