DART (SWOG 1609): nivolumab plus ipilimumab in rare tumours, non-pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms cohort
In a basket trial of rare cancers, dual immunotherapy shrank tumours in about a quarter of patients with non-pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms, almost all of them high-grade carcinomas, giving an immunotherapy option for a disease with few treatments.
Overview
Neuroendocrine cohort of the phase 2 DART basket trial: 32 patients with non-pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms treated with nivolumab plus ipilimumab.
Objective response was 25 percent overall and 44 percent in high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma, with no responses in low- or intermediate-grade tumours; median progression-free survival was 4 months and overall survival 11 months.
- Objective response 25 percent overall; 44 percent in high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma.
- No responses in grade 1 to 2 neuroendocrine tumours.
Nivolumab plus ipilimumab is a guideline-listed option for extrapulmonary neuroendocrine carcinoma after platinum chemotherapy, whereas well-differentiated tumours do not respond.
- Very small cohort; responses were not always durable.
- A subsequent expansion cohort reported lower response rates.