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RecruitingNCT04903236MR-BIOUpdated May 12, 2026

MR-BIO: A Study to Evaluate Changes in MR Imaging and Biological Parameters

An observational study in Cancer, sponsored by University of Manchester. Recruiting at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-12.

Sponsored by University of Manchester · Observational

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Oct 2020; still recruiting 6 years later.
Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
250
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The MR BIO study aims to understand the changes in the tumour and normal tissues during a course of radiotherapy. This is accomplished by studying the MR images taken during each treatment session on the MR Linear accelerator (MR Linac). The overarching hypothesis is that changes in MR imaging and biological parameters from blood, tissue, or urine biomarkers can be measured during radiotherapy and associated with clinical outcome.

The MR Linac is a new radiotherapy machine with an on board MR scanner. This enables us to take images with high resolution and target the tumours more precisely and also reduce the dose to normal tissues. All patients undergoing treatment in the MR Linac at the Christie hospital will be considered for enrolment regardless of tumour site being treated.

The study participants will receive the standard of care treatment for their disease condition. In addition, they will be requested to give weekly blood and urine samples during the course of radiotherapy and at first follow up. On completion of radiotherapy treatment, the participants will continue to be on standard of care follow up protocol with the treating oncologist.

A small cohort of ten healthy volunteers will also be recruited to the study to develop and select some of the MR sequences only; they will not provide blood or urine samples. The healthy volunteers will be scanned for no more than one hour per session for a maximum of two sessions in total. These optimised sequences can then be used in the patient cohort.

02

Conditions studied

  • Cancer

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03

In context

Neoplasms

10,818 studies on the registry are indexed under Neoplasms; 2,324 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 250 is above the median of 200 across 2,638 observational studies indexed under Neoplasms.

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Lead sponsor

University of Manchester is the lead sponsor of 201 studies on the registry; 44 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
Yes
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

The Christie.

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

Be willing and able to provide written consent. Over 18 years of age. Undergo and satisfy MRI Safety Screening Patient volunteers must be under the care of a clinical oncologist at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and be planned to receive radiotherapy to the target site to be imaged.

Patient volunteers must be able to give blood and/or urine sample as required through the treatment period.

Non-patient (healthy) volunteers must have no known or suspected significant medical condition.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

The following apply to both patients and healthy volunteers:

Any conditions that would be a to MRI including:

  • Failure to satisfy MRI Safety Screening Form
  • Implanted pacemakers and/or pacing wires
  • Cochlear implants
  • Programmable hydrocephalus shunts
  • Ferromagnetic implants
  • Unable to tolerate MR scans
  • Known or active HepB or C
  • Pregnancy Healthy volunteers must not be a member of the study team.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(2)

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.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

05

Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
250 participants (estimated)
Patient registry
No
Biospecimen retention
Samples with dna

Groups and cohorts

  • Non-patient healthy volunteer

    Undertake MR Imaging to enable development of sequences.

  • Patient

    Provide weekly blood and urine samples during period of radiotherapy as well as additional MR images.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Correlation of biomarkers

    Analysis of MR images will be performed using in-house protocols based on established mathematical modelling techniques. Pearson correlation analysis will be used to assess relationships between MRI parameters and tissue markers. For oxygen enhanced imaging, two-sample unpaired t-tests will be used to identify changes in tissue oxygen in MR images. Descriptive statistics will be presented using median and 95% confidence intervals (CI) or standard deviation (SD). In addition, Bland-Altman analysis will be performed to calculate bias and 95% limits of agreement between the two measurement techniques.

    Time frame: Up to five years

Secondary outcomes

  1. Correlation with patient reported toxicity

    Association of detected imaging changes with variations in patient-reported toxicity and radiotherapy response at first follow up after radiotherapy.

    Time frame: Up to five years

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
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References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 12, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04903236
Responsible party
Ananya Choudhury (Chair and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Oncology, University of Manchester) — Principal investigator
First posted
May 26, 2021
Start date
Oct 20, 2020
Primary completion
Dec 1, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
May 12, 2026

Study contacts

Rachel Reed, MSc
Contact
rachel.reed18@nhs.net
01619187029
Kimberley Reeves, PhD
Contact
kimberley.reeves@manchester.ac.uk
Ananya Choudhury, PhD, FRCR, MRCP, MA, MB BChir,
principal investigator · The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

Oversight

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

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