Efficacy and Safety of AP 12009 in Patients With Recurrent or Refractory Anaplastic Astrocytoma or Secondary Glioblastoma

The purpose of this study is to compare the safety and efficacy of the 10 µM concentration of AP 12009 and standard chemotherapy (temozolomide, BCNU, CCNU) in adult patients with recurrent or refractory anaplastic astrocytoma (AA, WHO grade III) or secondary glioblastoma (GBM, WHO grade IV). AP 12009 (trabedersen) is a phosphorothioate antisense oligodeoxynucleotide specific for the mRNA of human Transforming Growth Factor beta 2 (TGF-beta-2), which is applied intratumorally. The growth factor TGF-beta plays a key role in malignant progression of various tumors by inducing proliferation, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, and escape from immunosurveillance. In patients with high-grade glioma, the TGF-beta-2 overexpression is associated with disease stage, clinical prognosis, and the immunodeficient state of the patients. Main objective of the study is to determine survival (rate) and tumor response. Important note: Due to early trial termination, resulting in limited data availability, all analyses remain descriptive by nature, only. No conclusive endpoint analysis can be performed.