ClinicalTrials.gg
TerminatedNCT03699410LiBReCaUpdated Oct 13, 2021

Observational Study on Rectal Cancer to Verify if Response After Chemo-radiotherapy Can be Predicted With a Particular Blood Test.

An observational study in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer, sponsored by Dimitri Christoforidis. Terminated at 2 sites in Switzerland. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-10-13.

Sponsored by Dimitri Christoforidis · Observational

Why this study was terminated
failure to identify complete responders since ctDNA disappears after radiotherapy in most patients.
Study type
Observational
Model
Case-only
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
25
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Research project for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer in which biological material and health-related personal data are collected.

The aim is to investigate if an additional method (liquid biopsies) can predict the response after chemo-radiotherapy and before surgery.

Read the detailed description

The standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer (T3 -T4 and / or N+) is neoadjuvant (pre-operative) chemo-radiotherapy (nCRT) followed by radical surgery. In patients after complete response following nCRT, surgery may not add any survival benefit but it is still performed.

Since clinical complete response has only partial concordance with pathological complete response, an additional method that helps identify those patients with a true complete response is needed to avoid unnecessary surgery and its associated potential complications..

The hypothesis underlying this study is that the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) of liquid biopsy, based on the amount of ctDNA or on the detection of specific gene alterations respectively, may be directly correlated to the clinical, histopathological and radiological response of the tumor to nCRT.

This study will not interfere with the patient's routine treatment pathway and there will be no deviation from the standard of care. The only additional study intervention will be the collection of blood samples at 6 different time points which can be combined with the regular blood examination performed during the treatment.

At the time of diagnosis, tumor staging and histopathology on tumor biopsy will be performed. Patients will receive standardized neoadjuvant therapy and will be operated after an observational period of 10 weeks. Peripheral blood sample will be collected at 6 time points: pre-nCRT, at the end of the nCRT, at 4th and 7th week post-CRT, on the day of the surgery (before surgical resection), on the post-operative day 5 (in hospital). Mesenteric blood sample will be collected intra-operatively on the day of the surgery. Tumor sampling will be performed during tumor staging, as standard of care, and on the resection specimen. A combined qualitative and quantitative approach for the molecular characterization of tissue and liquid biopsy using next-generation sequencing will be carried out.

02

Conditions studied

  • Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer

Browse trials for

03

In context

Rectal Neoplasms

2,400 studies on the registry are indexed under Rectal Neoplasms; 587 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 25 is below the median of 161 across 498 observational studies indexed under Rectal Neoplasms.

Browse Rectal Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Dimitri Christoforidis is the lead sponsor of 2 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

Patients with locally advanced rectal cancer afferent to participating sites

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Age ≥ 18 years old
  • Locally advanced rectal cancer (T3 or T4, and/or N+) requiring long course nCRT (as decided by the regional tumor board)
  • Patient fit for surgery and treated with curative intent
  • Willingness to complete all clinical and radiological examinations foreseen by the study
  • Availability of tissue specimen for molecular characterization at baseline
  • Written

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Presence of
  • Insufficient material on the tissue to be left in archives of the Cantonal Institute of Pathology for further evaluations/analyses
  • Insufficient amount of tumor cells in the tissue biopsy for the molecular characterization
  • Inability to consent and follow the procedures of the study
  • Women who are pregnant or breast feeding
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(3)

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.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Metastases

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

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

05

Study design

Observational model
Case-only
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
25 participants (actual)
Patient registry
No
Biospecimen retention
Samples with dna

Interventions

  • RadiationNeoadjuvant radiotherapy

    Radiotherapy with total dose of at least 50 Gy on the tumor (cT) and the involved nodes (cN+) and with standard fractionation (1.8 Gy/fraction), 5 days/week.

  • DrugNeoadjuvant chemotherapy

    Oral Capecitabine, at the standard dose of 825 mg/m2 twice daily, concomitant to radiotherapy.

  • ProcedureRadical surgery

    The time point of surgery is usually dependent on surgeon's and institutional habits and lies within 6 to 12 weeks after the end of nCRT. Surgeons participating in this study will be asked to operate patients on the 10th week after the end of nCRT.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Negative Prognostic Value (NPV)

    NPV of the liquid biopsy of ctDNA drawn from the mesenteric and peripheral blood

    Time frame: day of surgery

07

Study locations

2 sites
  • Regional Hospital of Lugano
    Lugano, 6900, Switzerland
  • Clinica Luganese Moncucco
    Lugano, 6903, Switzerland
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Ran from Aug 2018 to primary completion in Oct 2020, 25 months.

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

Registered
Oct 5, 2018
First posted
Oct 9, 2018
StartActual
Aug 28, 2018
Primary completionActual
Oct 20, 2020
CompletionActual
Oct 20, 2020
Last update
Oct 13, 2021
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 Oct 13, 2021, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03699410
Lead sponsor
Dimitri Christoforidis
Collaborators
Clinical Trial Unit Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale
Responsible party
Dimitri Christoforidis (Deputy Chief of the Surgery and Visceral Surgery Departments, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Bellinzona) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Oct 9, 2018
Start date
Aug 28, 2018
Primary completion
Oct 20, 2020
Completion
Oct 20, 2020
Last update
Oct 13, 2021

Study contacts

Dimitri Christoforidis
principal investigator · Surgery and Visceral Surgery Departments Regional Hospital of Lugano

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is terminated, as verified in Oct 2021. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion