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Bright Light Therapy in Patients With Melanoma or Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Who Are Receiving First-Line Immune Checkpoint Blockade

Sponsor: Weill Medical College of Cornell University • ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT07661966

Registry updated: 2026-09-23

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Description

This study is being done to test whether bright light therapy can be used to synchronize patients' circadian rhythms and allow ICB (immune-checkpoint blockade) therapy to be administered at a time in the circadian rhythm that optimizes clinical outcomes. This trial will test the feasibility of delivering bright light therapy (BLT) to patients undergoing ICB therapy. This trial asks participants to spend 60 minutes every morning receiving daily bright light therapy for at least 7 days prior to starting Immune Checkpoint blockade-containing regimens (e.g. anti-PD-1 and/or anti-CTLA-4 alone or in combination with chemotherapy). The bright light therapy will be delivered via the Circadian OS iPad application. There is evidence that a person's circadian rhythm can affect the response to immunotherapy. The circadian rhythm is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle. Many patients with cancer have disrupted circadian rhythms and it's possible that disrupted circadian rhythms decrease the likelihood of responding to immunotherapy. The idea is to use bright light therapy, delivered via the Circadian OS iPad application, for an hour in the morning to synchronize your circadian rhythm for a week before your planned immunotherapy. The investigators hope that this will increase the likelihood of a response to immunotherapy, however in this study, the investigators are mainly concerned with whether the bright light therapy is tolerable to patients.

Interventions

Bright Light Therapy (Device)
Bright light therapy (BLT) will be delivered via the Circadian OS iPad application in patients with melanoma and NSCLC receiving first-line ICB-containing regimens (e.g. anti-PD-1 and/or anti-CTLA-4 alone or in combination with chemotherapy). CS is a unit designed to model melatonin suppression in order to measure how effective a light source is at stimulating the body's circadian system, based on light intensity, duration, and angle of delivery. CS will be delivered through the Circadian OS application. 60 minutes of BLT for \>7 days was chosen as an appropriate duration based on prior studies. With this stimulus, the goal is to entrain patients' circadian rhythm phase and amplitude to deliver ICB at peak immune function.

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria: 1. Age ≥18 years. 2. Histologically confirmed diagnosis of advanced, unresectable melanoma or NSCLC. 3. Presence of measurable tumor burden. 4. Scheduled to receive first-line cancer-directed therapy with an immune checkpoint blockade-containing regimen, as monotherapy or combination (e.g. pembrolizumab, ipilimumab + nivolumab, ICB + chemotherapy). 5. ECOG performance status 0-2. 6. Able to provide informed consent. 7. Access to reliable internet connection via WiFi or personal hotspot Exclusion Criteria: 1. Previous exposure to immune checkpoint blockade. 2. Pregnant or breastfeeding. 3. Use of melatonin or pharmacologic sleep aids (e.g., zolpidem, trazodone, benzodiazepines) within 14 days prior to enrollment. 4. Diagnosis of bipolar disorder or history of mania or hypomania. 5. Active psychosis, suicidal ideation, or recent psychiatric hospitalization (\<3 months). 6. Poorly controlled seizures. 7. Chronotype classified as extremely early or extremely late, based on the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MSFsc \< 2:00 or \> 5:00). 8. Night shift work within the past 30 days or expected during the intervention. 9. Travel across ≥2 time zones within the past 14 days. 10. Diagnosed or suspected untreated moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea. 11. Migraine with photophobia. 12. Presence of ocular or photosensitivity conditions affecting vision (i.e. advanced bilateral cataracts not yet operated, advanced glaucoma with substantial visual field loss, optic nerve disease, ocular surgery within the past 3 months with unresolved visual symptoms, color blindness).

Conditions

Melanoma (Skin Cancer) NSCLC (Non-small Cell Lung Cancer)

Locations

Weill Cornell Medicine — New York, New York, United States

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Official Source

Data sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

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