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RecruitingNCT05240950Updated Mar 11, 2022

Anti-CEA CAR-T Cells to Treat Colorectal Liver Metastases

A Phase 1 interventional study of Anti-CEA CAR-T Cells in Colorectal Cancer and Metastatic Liver Cancer, sponsored by Changhai Hospital. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-03-11.

Sponsored by Changhai Hospital · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Dec 2023, 2 years 9 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
18
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years to 75 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Recurrence of liver metastasis in colorectal cancer after R0 resection is mainly due to the invisible minimal residual disease, which are the main factors leading to metastasis and recurrence. Positive circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is the direct evidence of the minimal residual disease (MRD). In recent years, Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Immunotherapy (CAR-T) has made great breakthroughs, and has achieved good therapeutic effects in hematological tumors, but the research on solid tumors is limited. CEA expression is generally elevated in gastrointestinal tumors and is associated with high aggressiveness of tumors. At present, solid tumor cell therapy targeting CEA has been carried out at home and abroad, and has achieved certain efficacy. Anti-CEA CAR-T cells targeting CEA have been constructed in the pre-clinical study of this project, and the pre-clinical study results suggest good safety and effectiveness. Formation of minimal residual disease is associated with circulating blood in the residual tumor cells. Using this feature, this project intends to conduct a phase I clinical study on patients with minimal residual disease /positive ctDNA after R0 resection of colorectal cancer liver metastasis, so as to conduct preliminary exploration of anti-CEA CAR-T cell therapy, evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the therapy, determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), and provide guidance for subsequent drug dosage and clinical trials.

02

Conditions studied

  • Colorectal Cancer
  • Metastatic Liver Cancer

Keywords

  • colorectal cancer
  • liver metastasis
  • CAR-T cell
  • minimal residue disease
03

In context

Colorectal Neoplasms

5,599 studies on the registry are indexed under Colorectal Neoplasms; 1,459 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 18 is below the median of 77 across 4,123 interventional studies indexed under Colorectal Neoplasms.

Browse Colorectal Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Changhai Hospital is the lead sponsor of 342 studies on the registry; 133 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 75 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  1. ≥18 years old, ≤75 years old, male or female;
  2. Patients diagnosed with liver metastasis of colorectal cancer underwent radical surgery for the primary lesion of colorectal cancer, and R0 resection was performed for the liver metastasis (R0 resection was required for other organ metastasis). There was no measurable disease or tumor remnants (except invisible or unmeasurable disease) were found by imaging examination after surgery;
  3. Patients with CEA expression detected by immunohistochemistry in primary tumor and liver metastasis tumor tissues (CEA expression detected by pathology was more than 50%);
  4. Life expectancy ≥6 months;
  5. Performance status (PS) score 0-2, Karnofsky performance status (KPS) score above 60;
  6. Patients with ctDNA MRD still positive or positive again after adjuvant chemotherapy (including preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy);
  7. Important organ functions are sufficient, such as New York Heart Association (NYHA) heart function grade III or above, hemoglobin ≥90g/L, hypoxia; Liver function: total bilirubin ≤1.5×ULN (total bilirubin ≤3×ULN in liver metastasis), ALT≤2.5×ULN, AST≤2.5×ULN (ALT or/and AST≤5×ULN in liver metastasis); Renal function: serum creatinine ≤1.5×ULN and creatinine clearance rate ≥50 mL/min. The creatinine clearance rate was only calculated when serum creatinine ≤1.5×ULN. Minimum reserve of lung function (dyspnea no higher than grade 1 and oxygen saturation > 91% without oxygen);
  8. Sufficient mononuclear cells (PBMC) can be obtained from peripheral veins without contraindications;
  9. Patients of childbearing age had no birth plan within 1 year after cell infusion and took effective contraceptive measures.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Have a history of severe central nervous system diseases;
  2. Residual disease or tumor remnants can be seen in imaging, or tumor lesions cannot be resected in other tissues or organs;
  3. The presence of serious non-malignant diseases, including autoimmune diseases, primary immunodeficiency diseases or obstructive or restrictive respiratory diseases;
  4. Prior treatment with CAR-T or other gene-modified T cells;
  5. Participated in other clinical studies within 30 days prior to screening or plan to participate in other clinical studies during the study period;
  6. Patients with active Hepatitis B (HBV-DNA copy number >105copies/ml), active Hepatitis C (HCV-RNA copy number >ULN), HIV infection, treponema pallidum infection at screening time;
  7. The existence of uncontrollable systemic infectious diseases;
  8. Other multiple malignant tumors in addition to colorectal cancer and its metastasis;
  9. Chinese herbal medicine, systemic glucocorticoids or other immunosuppressants may be required within 2 weeks prior to enrollment or during the trial period, which may negatively affect lymphocyte activity or number;
  10. Pregnancy and lactation;
  11. The existence of severe gastroduodenal ulcer, severe ulcerative colitis and other serious intestinal inflammation;
  12. The existence of serious respiratory diseases;
  13. Those who cannot provide enough white tablets for tumor pathology for next-generation sequencing (NGS) detection (at least 3 white tablets are expected);
  14. The investigator judged that there were other conditions that were not suitable for the clinical study.
05

Study design

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

Study arms

  • Experimental
    MRD or positive ctDNA patients to inject anti-CEA CAR-T cells

    Patients with liver metastasis of colorectal cancer after R0 surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy could not clear MRD (including patients with MRD still positive after the intermediate and final evaluation of adjuvant chemotherapy, and patients with MRD positive again after the end of adjuvant chemotherapy), and no measurable lesions or tumor remnants were found on imaging after surgery.

    Drug: Anti-CEA CAR-T Cells

Interventions

  • DrugAnti-CEA CAR-T Cells

    The study will evaluate the safety of intravenous infusion of anti-CEA CAR-T (+) cells in humans at doses of 1×10\^6/kg, 3×10\^6/kg, and 6×10\^6/kg using a standard "3+3" design and preliminarily observe the efficacy.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Security (Incidence and severity of adverse events)

    To evaluate the possible reatment related adverse events(TEAEs) occurred within the first 28 days after anti-CEA CAR-T infusion, including replicative lentiviruses(RCL), anti-drug antibody(ADA), and the incidence and severity of symptoms such as cytokine release syndrome(CRS) and CAR-T related encephalopathy syndrome(CRES).

    Time frame: Observation 28 days after CAR-T cells infusion

  2. Effectiveness (minimal residual disease)

    Recurrence by ctDNA MRD detection or imaging diagnosis

    Time frame: 24 months after R0 resection

  3. Efficacy (recurrence-free survival)

    2-year recurrence-free survival rate based on imageological examination.

    Time frame: 2 years after CAR-T cells infusion

Secondary outcomes

  1. Pharmacokinetics (PK) indicator (Cmax)

    The peak concentration of anti-CEA CAR-T cells amplified in the peripheral blood (Cmax, detected by flow cytometry and qPCR).

    Time frame: 2 years after CAR-T cells infusion

  2. Pharmacokinetics (PK) indicator (AUC)

    The exposed quantity of anti-CEA CAR-T cells amplified in the peripheral blood(aera under the curve, AUC, detected by flow cytometry and qPCR).

    Time frame: 2 years after CAR-T cells infusion

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Department of Colorectal Surgery in Changhai Hospital
    Shanghai, Shanghai 200433, China
    Recruiting
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 11, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05240950
Lead sponsor
Changhai Hospital
Responsible party
Wei Zhang (Director of Colorectal Surgery Department, Changhai Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 15, 2022
Start date
Aug 25, 2022 (estimated)
Primary completion
Dec 25, 2023 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 25, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Mar 11, 2022

Oversight

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

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