A Phase 2 interventional study of Biopsy and Biospecimen Collection in Anal Basaloid Carcinoma, Anal Canal Cloacogenic Carcinoma and Anal Canal Squamous Cell Carcinoma, sponsored by ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group. Active, not recruiting at 659 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-14.
Sponsored by ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
This phase II trial studies how well lower-dose chemotherapy plus radiation (chemoradiation) therapy works in comparison to standard-dose chemoradiation in treating patients with early-stage anal cancer. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as mitomycin, fluorouracil, and capecitabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Giving chemotherapy with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells. This study may help doctors find out if lower-dose chemoradiation is as effective and has fewer side effects than standard-dose chemoradiation, which is the usual approach for treatment of this cancer type.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:
I. To determine whether de-intensified chemoradiation for early stage squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal (SCCA) is able to maintain excellent 2-year disease control of 85% or higher while improving anorectal health-related quality of life (HRQL), compared to standard-dose chemoradiation therapy (CRT), as measured by the change in the Fecal Incontinence Quality of Life scale (FIQoL) instrument coping/behavior domain from baseline to 1 year.
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
I. To compare changes in patient-reported HRQL (as per Fecal Incontinence Severity Index [FISI], Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System [PROMIS], International Index of Erectile Function [IIEF], Sexual Function-Vaginal Changes Questionnaire [SVQ], and Vaginal Assessment Scale [VAS]/Vulvar Assessment Scale [VuAS] instruments) between the experimental and control arm.
II. To compare patterns of failure (local and regional relapse versus distant; in-field versus out-of-field of radiation), disease control, and overall survival between experimental and control arm.
III. To correlate vaginal dilator use during radiation delivery with sexual function.
IV. To measure changes in serum total testosterone from baseline to up to 12 months after radiation.
V. To validate the utility of imaging features of inguinal and pelvic lymph nodes obtained prior to treatment as a prognostic indicator that can identify patients with early-stage anal squamous cell carcinoma for whom treatment with de-intensified chemoradiation is appropriate.
VI. To determine the incidence of and predictors for cardiovascular toxicity in patients receiving fluorouracil (5-FU) or capecitabine.
OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms.
ARM A (STANDARD-DOSE CHEMORADIATION): Patients undergo 28 fractions of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Within 24 hours, patients also receive mitomycin intravenously (IV) over 30 minutes or less on day 1 and either fluorouracil IV over 24 hours on days 1-4 and 29-32 or capecitabine orally (PO) twice daily (BID) 5 days per week (Monday - Friday) until completion of IMRT in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
ARM B (DE-INTENSIFIED CHEMORADIATION): Patients undergo 20 or 23 fractions of IMRT. Within 24 hours, patients also receive mitomycin IV over 30 minutes or less on day 1 and either fluorouracil IV over 24 hours on days 1-4 or capecitabine PO BID 5 days per week (Monday - Friday) until completion of IMRT in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
All patients receive fludeoxyglucose F-18 (FDG) and undergo positron emission tomography (PET)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or receive FDG and undergo PET/computed tomography (CT) during baseline. Patients undergo CT or MRI on the trial. Patients also undergo tissue biopsy during screening and at the discretion of the treating physician. Additionally, patients undergo blood sample collection throughout the trial.
After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at 6 weeks, every 3 months for years 1-2, every 6 months for year 3, then annually for years 4-5.
266 studies on the registry are indexed under Anus Neoplasms; 71 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 252 is above the median of 70 across 182 interventional studies indexed under Anus Neoplasms.
Browse Anus Neoplasms studies →ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group is the lead sponsor of 118 studies on the registry; 13 are open to participants now.
Of its 13 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 13 (100%) have results posted.
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Inclusion Criteria:
Patient's human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status must be known and documented at baseline
Patients who are HIV-negative will be registered to Arm R. They must not have lymph nodes that are radiographically-concerning for cancer involvement using computed tomography (CT) and fludeoxyglucose F-18 (FDG) - positron emission tomography (PET)/CT-based criteria
Patients will be considered to be lymph node (LN) positive and thereby not eligible in this study if the lymph nodes meet any of the following criteria:
Mesorectal, presacral, internal iliac or obturator LN with:
Internal Iliac and obturator LN with:
External Iliac and common Iliac:
Inguinal LN (superficial and deep) meeting any of the following criteria will be ineligible unless an fine needle aspiration (FNA) is performed and resulting cytology is negative.
Patients who are HIV-positive will be registered to Arm S. They must meet the eligibility criteria below:
Patient must not have a history of a different malignancy unless they have been disease-free for at least 2 years and are deemed by the investigator to be at low risk of recurrence
Patients who are on anti-coagulation with warfarin within 2 weeks prior to Step 1 randomization and are considering the use of capecitabine, must use an alternative anti-coagulant
Patients undergo 28 fractions of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Within 24 hours, patients also receive mitomycin IV over 30 minutes or less on day 1 and either fluorouracil IV over 24 hours on days 1-4 and 29-32 or capecitabine PO BID 5 days per week (Monday - Friday) until completion of IMRT in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients receive FDG and undergo PET/MRI or receive FDG and undergo PET/CT during baseline. Patients undergo CT or MRI on the trial. Patients also undergo tissue biopsy during screening and at the discretion of the treating physician. Additionally, patients undergo blood sample collection throughout the trial.
Procedure: Biopsy · Procedure: Biospecimen Collection · Drug: Capecitabine · Procedure: Computed Tomography · Other: Fludeoxyglucose F-18 · Drug: Fluorouracil · Radiation: Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy · Procedure: Magnetic Resonance Imaging · Drug: Mitomycin · Procedure: Positron Emission Tomography · Other: Quality-of-Life Assessment · Other: Questionnaire Administration
Patients undergo 20 or 23 fractions of IMRT. Within 24 hours, patients also receive mitomycin IV over 30 minutes or less on day 1 and either fluorouracil IV over 24 hours on days 1-4 or capecitabine PO BID 5 days per week (Monday - Friday) until completion of IMRT in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients receive FDG and undergo PET/MRI or receive FDG and undergo PET/CT during baseline. Patients undergo CT or MRI on the trial. Patients also undergo tissue biopsy during screening and at the discretion of the treating physician. Additionally, patients undergo blood sample collection throughout the trial.
Procedure: Biopsy · Procedure: Biospecimen Collection · Drug: Capecitabine · Procedure: Computed Tomography · Other: Fludeoxyglucose F-18 · Drug: Fluorouracil · Radiation: Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy · Procedure: Magnetic Resonance Imaging · Drug: Mitomycin · Procedure: Positron Emission Tomography · Other: Quality-of-Life Assessment · Other: Questionnaire Administration
Undergo tissue biopsy
Also known as: BIOPSY_TYPE, Bx
Undergo blood sample collection
Also known as: Biological Sample Collection, Biospecimen Collected, Specimen Collection
Given PO
Also known as: Ro 09-1978/000, Xeloda
Undergo PET/CT
Also known as: CAT, CAT Scan, Computed Axial Tomography, Computerized Axial Tomography, Computerized axial tomography (procedure), Computerized Tomography, Computerized Tomography (CT) scan, CT, CT Scan, tomography
Receive FDG
Also known as: 18FDG, FDG, Fludeoxyglucose (18F), fludeoxyglucose F 18, Fludeoxyglucose F18, Fluorine-18 2-Fluoro-2-deoxy-D-Glucose, Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
Given IV
Also known as: 5 Fluorouracil, 5 Fluorouracilum, 5 FU, 5-Fluoro-2,4(1H, 3H)-pyrimidinedione, 5-Fluorouracil, 5-Fluracil, 5-Fu, 5FU, AccuSite, Carac, Fluoro Uracil, Fluouracil, Flurablastin, Fluracedyl, Fluracil, Fluril, Fluroblastin, Ribofluor, Ro 2-9757, Ro-2-9757
Undergo IMRT
Also known as: IMRT, Intensity modulated radiation therapy (procedure), Intensity Modulated RT, Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy, Radiation, Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy
Undergo PET/MRI
Also known as: Magnetic Resonance, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Magnetic resonance imaging (procedure), Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scan, Medical Imaging, Magnetic Resonance / Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, MR, MR Imaging, MRI, MRI Scan, MRIs, NMR Imaging, NMRI, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging, sMRI, Structural MRI
Given IV
Also known as: Ametycine, Jelmyto, MITO, Mito-C, Mito-Medac, Mitocin, Mitocin-C, Mitolem, Mitomycin C, Mitomycin pyelocalyceal, Mitomycin-C, Mitomycin-X, Mitomycine C, Mitosol, Mitozytrex, Mutamycin, Mutamycine, NCI-C04706
Undergo PET/CT
Also known as: Medical Imaging, Positron Emission Tomography, PET, PET Scan, Positron emission tomography (procedure), Positron Emission Tomography Scan, Positron-Emission Tomography, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging, PT
Ancillary studies
Also known as: Quality of Life Assessment
Ancillary studies
Disease control in the de-intensified chemoradiation therapy (CRT) arm
An event is local-regional failure, distant metastasis and chemoradiation-related death. Will determine if de-intensified chemoradiation achieves 2-year disease control of 85% or higher while improving anorectal health-related quality of life (HRQL), compared to standard-dose CRT, as measured by the change in the Fecal Incontinence Quality of Life scale (FIQoL) instrument coping/behavior domain from baseline to 1 year. The co-primary endpoints of disease control and FIQoL will be formally assessed in a hierarchical manner with disease control being assessed first. Will be estimated for all treatment arms using the Kaplan-Meier method (1958).
Time frame: Up to 2 years
Change in FIQoL in the de-intensified CRT arm
Quality of life analyses, will be compared between arms using a two-sample independent t-tests at a significance level of 0.05 and appropriate longitudinal models will be evaluated to assess the trajectory of HRQL endpoints over time and to evaluate those trajectories between treatment arms. Overall score and change from baseline will be summarized using mean and standard deviation at each time point for each arm.
Time frame: Baseline up to 1 year
Changes in patient-reported outcomes
Will compare changes as per Fecal Incontinence Severity Index \[FISI\], Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System \[PROMIS\], International Index of Erectile Function \[IIEF\], Sexual Function-Vaginal Changes Questionnaire \[SVQ\], and Vaginal Assessment Scale \[VAS\]/Vulvar Assessment Scale \[VuAS\] instruments between the experimental and control arm. Quality of life analyses, will be compared between arms using a two-sample independent t-tests at a significance level of 0.05 and appropriate longitudinal models will be evaluated to assess the trajectory of HRQL endpoints over time and to evaluate those trajectories between treatment arms. Overall score and change from baseline will be summarized using mean and standard deviation at each time point for each arm.
Time frame: Baseline up to 5 years
Patterns of failure (local and regional relapse versus distant; in-field versus out-of-field of radiation)
Will be compared between experimental and control arm. The cumulative incidence method will be used to estimate local-regional and distant failure rates and the failure rates for the experimental treatment will be compared against the control using a failure specific log rank test.
Time frame: Up to 5 years
Disease control
Will be compared between experimental and control arm. Will be estimated for all treatment arms using the Kaplan-Meier method (1958).
Time frame: Up to 5 years
Effect of vaginal dilator use during radiation delivery on sexual function
Vaginal dilator use during radiation delivery will be correlated with sexual function.
Time frame: Up to 5 years
Change in serum total testosterone
Time frame: Baseline up to 12 months after radiation
Utility of image features of inguinal and pelvic lymph nodes obtained prior to treatment
Will be validated as a prognostic indicator that can identify patients with early-stage anal squamous cell carcinoma for whom treatment with de-intensified CRT is appropriate.
Time frame: Baseline
Incidence of and predictors for cardiovascular toxicity in patients receiving fluorouracil or capecitabine
Rates of grade 3+ adverse events (Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events \[CTCAE\], version \[v.\] 5) will be estimated using a binomial distribution along with their associated 95% confidence intervals and compared using Fisher's exact test between arms.
Time frame: Up to 5 years
Overall survival
Will be compared between experimental and control arm. Will be estimated for all treatment arms using the Kaplan-Meier method (1958).
Time frame: Up to 5 years
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Anal Canal Carcinoma
ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group