Neoadjuvant Intra-tumoral RP2 and FLOT in Gastroesophageal Adenocarcinoma

Not Applicable

Not yet recruiting

• Conditions: Gastric Adenocarcinoma; Esophageal Adenocarcinoma; Gastroesophageal Junction Adenocarcinoma
• Interventions: Biological: RP2; Combination Product: 5-Fluorouracil; Combination Product: Leucovorin; Combination Product: Oxaliplatin; Combination Product: Docetaxel; Drug: Pegfilgrastim; Drug: Filgrastim; Procedure: Surgical Resection of Primary Tumor

• Registration Number: NCT07059611
• Lead Sponsor: Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine

Brief Summary

The research study is being conducted to study whether performing injections of a new treatment, called RP2, directly into stomach and esophagus tumors along with standard chemotherapy (called FLOT) is safe and whether it does a better job of killing cancer before surgery compared to chemotherapy alone.

Detailed Description

This is a single-arm, phase II study using a Simon two-stage optimal design with a 6 patient safety run-in evaluating the addition of intra-tumoral injections of RP2 to standard of care perioperative FLOT for patients with stage II or higher, non-metastatic esophageal, gastroesophageal junction (GEJ), or gastric adenocarcinoma. We hypothesize that the addition of RP2 to perioperative FLOT will be safe and will significantly improve pathologic complete response (pCR) rate compared to the historical weighted average of 12% observed with perioperative FLOT in the ESOPEC trial, MATTERHORN trial, and FLOT4 trial.

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2025-07
• Study First Submitted: 2025-07-08
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-07-08
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-07-08
• Study First Posted: 2025-07-11
• Last Update Posted: 2025-07-11
• Study Start: 2025-09-08
• Primary Completion: 2027-09-01
• Study Completion: 2029-09-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 34

Inclusion Criteria

• Patients must have histologically confirmed and clinically staged T2 or higher or node positive, non-metastatic esophageal, gastroesophageal junction, or gastric adenocarcinoma.

• Patients must have an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 - 1.

• Patents must be deemed a surgical candidate by a thoracic surgeon, surgical oncologist, or surgeon who is qualified to perform the appropriate surgical procedure based on patient's primary tumor site.

• Patients must have normal organ and bone marrow function, as defined below, less than or equal to 14 days prior to the initiation of study therapy:

  • Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≥ 1,500/microliter
  • Platelets ≥100,000/microliter
  • Total bilirubin ≤ the institutional upper limit of normal (ULN).
  • AST and ALT ≤ 2.5 times the institutional ULN
  • Serum creatinine ≤ 1.5 times the institutional ULN
  • Hemoglobin ≥ 9 g/dL

Exclusion Criteria

• Has received prior chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or immunotherapy (anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1), anti-programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1), or anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) for the current malignancy.

• Per the investigator, has contraindications to receiving chemotherapy with FLOT.

• Per the sub-investigator (gastroenterologist) responsible for intra-tumoral injections or the investigator, patient has contraindications to repeated upper endoscopy for intra-tumoral injections. These could include medical conditions that would, per the judgment of the sub-investigator or investigator, inappropriately increase the risk of upper endoscopy.

• Conditions in which anticoagulant therapies cannot be safely stopped in the periprocedural period or patients on warfarin with a target international normalized ratio (INR) ≥ 2.5 that cannot be temporarily reversed to INR ≤ 1.7.

• Active significant herpetic infections or prior complications of Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) infection (e.g., herpetic keratitis or encephalitis) or requires intermittent or chronic use of systemic (oral or intravenous [IV]) antivirals with known antiherpetic activity (e.g., acyclovir). Note: Patients with sporadic cold sores may be enrolled as long as no active cold sores are present at the time of first dose of study treatment.

• Has received a live vaccine within 30 days prior to the first dose of study drug. Examples of live vaccines include, but are not limited to: measles, mumps, rubella, varicella/zoster (chicken pox), yellow fever, rabies, Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), and typhoid vaccine. Note: Seasonal influenza vaccines for injection are generally killed virus vaccines and are allowed, however, intranasal influenza vaccines (e.g., FluMist®) are live attenuated vaccines and are not allowed. Available COVID-19 vaccines do not contain live virus and are allowed.

• Has a condition requiring systemic treatment with corticosteroids (>10mg/day prednisone equivalents) or other immunosuppressive medications within 14 days of first study treatment administration.

  • Inhaled or topical steroids and adrenal replacement doses ≤ 10mg/day of prednisone equivalents are permitted.

• Prior organ transplantation including allogeneic stem-cell transplantation.

• Has a previous or concurrent malignancy. Exceptions include:

  • Non-melanoma skin cancer, in situ cervical cancer, superficial bladder cancer, or breast cancer in situ OR
  • Prior malignancy has been completely excised or removed and patient has been continuously disease free for > 5-years

• Has a positive test result for hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) or hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid (HCV RNA) indicating acute or chronic infection with hepatitis B or hepatitis C. Testing will be performed as part of screening on the study.

  • Patients with a known history of hepatitis B or hepatitis C that have been effectively treated (with negative HBsAg and HCV RNA) will be eligible for enrollment on this criterion.

• Has a known history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) with detectable viral load. HIV testing will not be performed as part of screening for the study.

  • Patients with known HIV infection with an undetectable viral load and who are on a stable highly active antiviral regimen per the investigator's assessment will eligible to enroll.

• Has a psychiatric illness, substance use, or other social conditions that, in the judgment of the investigator, would limit compliance with study requirements.

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
RP2 and FLOT	RP2	-
RP2 and FLOT	5-Fluorouracil	-
RP2 and FLOT	Leucovorin	-
RP2 and FLOT	Oxaliplatin	-
RP2 and FLOT	Docetaxel	-
RP2 and FLOT	Pegfilgrastim	-
RP2 and FLOT	Filgrastim	-
RP2 and FLOT	Surgical Resection of Primary Tumor	-

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Pathologic complete response	Assessed after completion of neoadjuvant FLOT and intra-tumoral injections of RP2 and surgical resection. This will typically be in the range of 4-5 months from the time of enrollment.	Pathologic complete response defined as the absence of residual invasive cancer on histologic examination of the resected esophageal, GEJ, or gastric adenocarcinoma specimen and all sampled regional lymph nodes. This will be assessed in the efficacy population who received at least three intra-tumoral injections of RP2 and underwent subsequent surgical resection.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Adverse event profile	The adverse event reporting period first RP2 intratumoral injection until 30 days post-surgical resection or 56 days after the last administration of RP2 (if no resection or or consent withdrawal).	Frequency of adverse events as categorized and graded per Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v5.0 in patients who received at least one dose of study treatment (Safety population).
R0 resection rate	Assessed after completion of neoadjuvant FLOT and intra-tumoral injections of RP2 and surgical resection. This will typically be in the range of 4-5 months from the time of enrollment.	R0 resection defined as a complete resection with histologically negative margins with no macroscopic or microscopic residual tumor left behind after resection (Efficacy population).
Disease-free Survival (DFS)	Follow up for this end point may occur for up to 5 years following surgical resection, or data cutoff, whichever comes first.	DFS defined as time from surgical resection of esophageal, GEJ or gastric cancer to death or documented disease recurrence with censoring at the time of last patient contact if lost to follow up, or at the time of data cutoff (Efficacy population).
Overall Survival (OS)	Follow up for this end point may occur for up to 5 years following surgical resection, or data cutoff, whichever comes first.	OS defined as the time from first study treatment to death with censoring at the time of last patient contact if lost to follow up, or at the time of data cutoff (Safety population).

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania; 🇺🇸 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States