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RecruitingNCT02174549Updated Apr 20, 2026

Dose-defining Study of Tirapazamine Combined With Embolization in Liver Cancer

A Phase 1/2 interventional study of Tirapazamine and Conventional Transarterial Embolization (TAE) in Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Gastrointestinal Cancer Metastatic and Neuroendocrine Tumors, sponsored by Teclison Ltd.. Recruiting at 2 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 20 Years to 99 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-04-20.

Sponsored by Teclison Ltd. · Phase 1/2, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 1/2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
25
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
20 Years to 99 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This phase 1 study is to determine the optimal dose and tolerability of a hypoxia-activating agent, tirapazamine, when it is combined with embolization in liver cancer. Liver cancer patients who are Child-Pugh score A, suitable for embolization with tumor no more than 4 nodules are eligible. Tirapazamine will be given by intra-arterial injection before embolization. Treatment effect is evaluated by MRI based on mRECIST criteria. Repeat treatment is necessary only if disease progression. Dose escalation cohort has been completed. Expansion cohort is open for metastatic liver dominant neuroendocrine tumor.

Read the detailed description

The study is a 3+3 design for dose escalation. Each cohort will have 3-6 patients based on tolerability. Patients will receive escalated doses of tirapazamine until maximally tolerated dose. Embolization is performed per standard practice using Lipiodol and Gelfoam under X-ray guidance. Once a suitable dose is determined, an expansion cohort of 15 patients will be treated with the recommended phase 2 dose to determine preliminary efficacy. Expansion cohorts include (1) hepatocellular carcinoma, (2) metastatic solid tumors with liver metastasis, and (3) neuroendocrine tumor. Adverse events are evaluated by CTCAE vs. 5.0 and efficacy is evaluated by MRI using modified RECIST criteria and RECIST criteria.

The dose escalation part has been completed. Only the third cohort or neuroendocrine tumor remains active for future patient enrollment.

02

Conditions studied

  • Hepatocellular Carcinoma
  • Gastrointestinal Cancer Metastatic
  • Neuroendocrine Tumors

Keywords

  • Hypoxia
  • Embolization
  • Tirapazamine
03

In context

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular

3,648 studies on the registry are indexed under Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; 1,061 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 25 is below the median of 54 across 2,618 interventional studies indexed under Carcinoma, Hepatocellular.

Browse Carcinoma, Hepatocellular studies →

Lead sponsor

Teclison Ltd. is the lead sponsor of 4 studies on the registry; 3 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
20 Years to 99 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients with well-differentiated NET and liver-dominant disease with intrahepatic disease progression, regardless of primary tumor origin or tumor functional status. Patients may have extrahepatic lesions as long as the majority of the disease burden is intrahepatic.
  2. No limitation in hepatic lesion tumor size or number but the total volume of liver tumors cannot exceed 50% of the liver volume.
  3. Patients are allowed to have prior US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved treatments, including systemic therapies, surgery, ablation, or transarterial therapies for the metastatic NET.
  4. Age 20 or higher, functional status 0-1, and with no known major cardiac, pulmonary, or renal dysfunction.
  5. Are candidates for TAE or TACE and without portal vein occlusion per treating interventional radiologists.
  6. ANC no less than 1000 /μL. ≥ 9 gm/dL. no less than 50,000 /μL. Creatinine no more than 2.0 mg/dL. , ALT no more than 5X . no more than 2.5 mg/dl. PT prolongation ≤ 4 sec above upper limit of normal.
  7. Woman of (WOCBP) should use highly effective during trial participation and for 6 months after the last dose of tirapazamine and men who are partners with WOCBP should use highly effective contraception, including barrier contraception, during trial participation and for 3 months after the last dose of tirapazamine.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(9)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1 / Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
25 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Tirapazamine

    Intra-arterial administration with tirapazamine before embolization to evaluate the response in metastatic liver lesions of NET

    Drug: Tirapazamine · Procedure: Conventional Transarterial Embolization (TAE)

Interventions

  • Intra-arterial injection into the tumor feeding artery

  • ProcedureConventional Transarterial Embolization (TAE)

    Lipiodol and Gelfoam used to embolize tumor vessels and induce tumor hypoxia

    Also known as: TAE conducted with Lipiodol and Surgifoam as the embolizing agents.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Overall Response rate (ORR) by RECIST

    Overall Response Rate by RECIST criteria

    Time frame: 2 years

Secondary outcomes

  1. Overall Response Rate

    Overall Response Rate by mRECIST criteria

    Time frame: 2 years

  2. Duration of Response

    Duration of Response by RECIST and mRECIST

    Time frame: 2 years

Other outcomes

  1. Response Rate in TATE-treated target lesions

    by mRECIST and RECIST

    Time frame: 2 years

  2. Progressive Free Survival

    by RECIST and mRECIST

    Time frame: 2 years

07

Study locations

2 of 2 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Abi-Jaoudeh N, Dayyani F, Chen PJ, Fernando D, Fidelman N, Javan H, Liang PC, Hwang JI, Imagawa DK. Phase I Trial on Arterial Embolization with Hypoxia Activated Tirapazamine for Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma. J Hepatocell Carcinoma. 2021 May 17;8:421-434. doi: 10.2147/JHC.S304275. eCollection 2021. PubMed 34041204 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
Not marked actual or estimatedDates not marked actual or estimated

The record gives a start of Sep 2014, a primary completion of Mar 2028 and a completion of Sep 2028. It does not say whether these dates are actual or estimated.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jun 10, 2014
First posted
Jun 25, 2014
Start
Sep 2014
Primary completionEst.
Mar 31, 2028
CompletionEst.
Sep 30, 2028
Last update
Apr 20, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 20, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02174549
Lead sponsor
Teclison Ltd.
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jun 25, 2014
Start date
Sep 2014
Primary completion
Mar 31, 2028 (estimated)
Completion
Sep 30, 2028 (estimated)
Last update
Apr 20, 2026

Study contacts

Ray Lee
Contact
info@teclison.com
Michael Soulen, MD
principal investigator · Univ. of Pennsylvania

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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