Title

Phase 2 Study of Atorvastatin Safety and Antitumor Effects in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
A Phase II Study of Atorvastatin in Patients With Low Grade or Refractory Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
  • Phase

    Phase 2
  • Study Type

    Interventional
  • Study Participants

    25
This is an approach which can inflict significant toxicity. An alternative is to block expression of oncogenes which are over-expressed only in cancer cells, a therapeutic approach which could reduce toxicity to the host while maximizing destruction of the oncogene-dependent malignant cells.
Atorvastatin has been shown to decrease levels of active oncogenes in preclinical studies with murine and human lymphoma cell lines, and administration of statins leads to shrinkage of lymphoma in murine models. Therefore, it may be possible for atorvastatin to decrease levels of active oncogenes in human lymphomas. Further, upon decrease in levels of active oncogenes, human lymphomas may regress. Atorvastatin is a commonly prescribed drug for hypercholesterolemia: targeting the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase enzyme may also be a way to decrease activation of oncogenes in human lymphoma, with minimal toxicity. For human low grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma, no curative treatment is available; therefore new, non-toxic and targeted therapies are sought for this disease.
Study Started
Apr 30
2005
Primary Completion
Nov 30
2012
Study Completion
Nov 30
2012
Results Posted
Dec 02
2017
Last Update
Dec 02
2017

Drug Atorvastatin

80 mg orally once daily

  • Other names: Lipitor

80 mg Atorvastatin Experimental

Atorvastatin, 80 mg tablet, will be taken orally by the patient daily, beginning on study day 1.

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

> 18 years old

Disease criteria: Confirmed by Stanford Pathology to be one of the following Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) subtypes:

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia /small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL)
Extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma
Nodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma
Splenic marginal zone B-cell lymphoma

Treatment criteria

Untreated: watchful waiting currently appropriate (includes CLL stage 0) o OR
Prior treatment: watchful waiting currently appropriate o OR
Refractory disease

Staging within 4 weeks prior to enrollment (SLL, marginal zone lymphoma)

CT chest (date)
CT abdomen (date)
CT pelvis (date) OR

Staging within 4 weeks prior to enrollment (CLL: CT not required)

Total white blood cell count (WBC) (Value) (date)
Absolute lymphoma cell count (ALC) (Value) (date)
Measurable disease (Site) (Size) OR
CLL (only): elevated absolute lymphoma cell count

Disease amenable to biopsy (must check at least one):

Circulating tumor cells
Positive bone marrow
Palpable involved site (such as lymph node) measuring > 1.5 cm
Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status <2 (Karnofsky >60)
Life expectancy of greater than 3 months

Patients must have adequate organ and marrow function

Absolute neutrophil count > 1,000/uL
Platelets > 30,000/uL
Total bilirubin within normal institutional limits
Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) / alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ratio < 2.5 x institutional upper limit of normal
Creatinine within normal institutional limits OR creatinine clearance > 60 mL/min/1.73 m² for patients with creatinine levels above institutional normal.
Women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation. Women of child-bearing potential must have negative BetaHCG at enrollment

Exclusion Criteria:

Chemotherapy or radiotherapy within 4 weeks (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin C) prior to entering the study
Not recovered from adverse events due to agents administered more than four weeks earlier
Has stable low grade lymphoma has had rituximab within 3 months Patient with relapsed or refractory disease has had rituximab within 1 month
Not recovered from adverse events due to surgery performed 4 weeks earlier
Receiving any other investigational agent. Known brain metastases
Taken any statin within the past 6 months prior to enrollment in the trial
Currently abuses alcohol
Currently takes cyclosporin or gemfibrozil Patient has a prior history of rhabdomyolysis
Has 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.
Pregnant: Patients are not excluded if they are breastfeeding at the time of enrollment, but breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with atorvastatin.
HIV-positive patients receiving combination anti-retroviral therapy

Summary

Atorvastatin

All Events

Event Type Organ System Event Term Atorvastatin

Tumor Apoptosis

Expressed as the number of participants whose tumor cells showed an increase in apoptosis during atorvastatin treatment

Atorvastatin

Correlation of Tumor Apoptosis to Clinical Response

The validity of tumor apoptosis as a biologic endpoint was assessed by correlation to clinical response. A correlation substantially less than 1 is interpreted as a poor correlation, while a correlation near +1 or -1 is interpreted as a strong correlation.

80 mg

-0.26
Pearson Correlation Coefficient

Atorvastatin Toxicity

Assessed as the number of study participants with atorvastatin-related serious adverse events (SAEs).

80 mg Atorvastatin

Age, Categorical

Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)

Histology

Race (NIH/OMB)

Sex: Female, Male

Overall Study

Atorvastatin

Drop/Withdrawal Reasons

Atorvastatin