An interventional study of Detection of circulating tumor cells expressing Axl: CTC-AXL(+) in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer and Circulating Tumor Cell, sponsored by University Hospital, Montpellier. Recruiting at 1 site in France. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-22.
Sponsored by University Hospital, Montpellier · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other
In solid cancers, some more aggressive tumor cells actively detach from the primary lesion and then travel through the circulating compartment to reach distant organs and form micro-metastases. These circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that have become disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) flourish in their new environments and may remain dormant for many years after the complete resection of the primary tumor. Detecting CTCs in the blood is also relevant for assessing tumor progression, prognosis and therapeutic follow-up. The non-invasive, highly sensitive for CTCs analysis is called "liquid biopsy". Pancreatic adenocarcinoma and breast cancer remain among cancers of very poor prognosis and thus represent a major therapeutic challenge. In recent years, the Axl membrane tyrosine kinase receptor has been the target of growing interest. Activation of the Gas6/Axl signaling pathway is associated with, among other things, tumor cell growth and survival, epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) or drug resistances. In addition, Axl overexpression is frequently identified in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma and is associated with a poor prognosis. For example, the Laboratoire des Cellules Circulantes Rares Humaines (LCCRH) at the CHU and the University of Montpellier has developed two new "CTC-AXL" tests to detect CTCs expressing Axl: one using the CellSearch® (gold standard and FDA-approved) system and the other using the EPIDROP technique. The purpose of this research project is to assess the concordance of the "CTC-AXL" measurement by the innovative EPIDROP technique and the CellSearch® technique in patients with metastatic pancreatic or breast cancer.
In solid cancers, after the formation and growth of the primary tumor, some more aggressive tumor cells actively detach from it and then travel through the circulating compartment to reach distant organs (bone marrow - liver - lung - brain…) and constitute new foci or micro-metastases. These circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that have become disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) flourish in their new environments and may remain dormant for many years after the complete resection of the primary tumor. Due to events not fully elucidated, DTCs can develop on site giving rise to macroscopic metastases but also join again the circulating compartment in the form of CTCs, swarm, colonize other organs and cause secondary metastases.
Detecting CTCs in the blood is very relevant for assessing tumor progression but also promising in terms of cancer disease prognosis and therapeutic follow-up. This new approach, published for the first time in 2010 under the term liquid biopsy, is therefore defined as a non-invasive blood test, extremely sensitive, achievable in real time and that allows the analysis of CTCs.
Currently, the choice of targeted therapies for a given patient is made after analyzing the primary tumor for expression and/or genomic status of specific molecular targets.
Many studies show that metastatic cells have phenotypic and genotypic characteristics distinct from those of most of the primary tumor. This can be explained either because metastatic cells acquire new genomic skills over time, or because a subset of metastatic sub-clone pre-exists within the primary tumor but has escaped detection by standard tissue biopsy techniques.
A direct analysis of CTCs could provide important additional information to prevent patients from inappropriate, costly treatments and harmful side effects.
For several years, the AXL protein, a tyrosine kinase receptor, has emerged as a new strategic target in oncology. Over-expression of AXL has been frequently identified in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. AXL is a member of the Tyro3-Axl-Mer family, like its ligand protein Gas-6 (growth arrest-specific). An activation of the Gas6/AXL signaling pathway results in the activation of several effector pathways such as RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK or PI3K/AKT and is associated with, among other things, tumor cell growth and survival, metastatic formation and dissemination, Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) or drug resistances. It has been shown clinically that the AXL protein is a factor of poor prognosis and resistance to reference treatments (radiotherapy, chemotherapy or targeted therapy). Thus, many therapeutic strategies have been proposed and developed to inhibit the AXL pathway, ranging from chemical molecules, blocking its kinase activity and therefore the underlying signaling pathways, to nucleotide aptamers, AXL fusion proteins, and monoclonal antibodies.
Pancreatic adenocarcinoma, the 4th leading of cancer related deaths, remains among cancers of very poor prognosis and thus represents a major therapeutic challenge. The median overall survival is 11.1 months after optimal treatment (FOLFIRINOX). The clinical relevance and oncogenic potential of AXL in the progression of different types of tumors have been largely evidenced. Indeed, 50% to 75% of pancreatic adenocarcinoma samples have overexpression of AXL and the level of expression of AXL is correlated with clinical parameters indicating tumor aggressiveness and poor prognosis such as frequency of distant metastases or the survival.
In this context, the LCCRH lab, which has specialized in the detection and analysis of CTCs for 20 years, has developed a CTC-AXL detection test using the CellSearch® system. The CellSearch® system is the only method approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the detection of CTC in colorectal, breast and metastatic prostate cancers. In addition, the LCCRH holds a patent for another technology for the detection and characterization of live and functional CTCs, called EPIDROP. The implementation of the AXL research is already done for AXL labelling on CTCs in EPIDROP as well as the visualization of the AXL cleavage by live CTC.
Thanks to this unique functional test of CTCs, it is easy to imagine offering an oncology 'oncogram' by testing in real time the effectiveness of drugs on CTCs and personalized medicine to patients.
This real-time liquid biopsy proposal on functional CTCs is quite innovative in Oncology.
To date, there are no studies on the study of functional CTCs related to AXL.
Primary objective:
- Evaluate the concordance of the CTC-AXL measurement (inclusive) by the innovative EPIDROP technique and the CellSearch technique®
Secondary objectives:
Creation of a single liquid biopsy bio-bank for pancreatic cancer involving only plasma storage
3,896 studies on the registry are indexed under Pancreatic Neoplasms; 1,007 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 63 is above the median of 47 across 2,932 interventional studies indexed under Pancreatic Neoplasms.
Browse Pancreatic Neoplasms studies →University Hospital, Montpellier is the lead sponsor of 1,261 studies on the registry; 224 are open to participants now.
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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.
Exclusion Criteria:
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.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
A line of therapy is one course of treatment, which may combine several drugs. First-line is the first course given; second-line follows when that stops working or is not tolerated.
“Two prior lines” means two courses that count separately under the study’s rules — not simply two drugs. Ask the study team if you are unsure how yours are counted.
Metastases
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Line of therapy
A line of therapy is one course of treatment, which may combine several drugs. First-line is the first course given; second-line follows when that stops working or is not tolerated.
“Two prior lines” means two courses that count separately under the study’s rules — not simply two drugs. Ask the study team if you are unsure how yours are counted.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Newly diagnosed major patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, naïve of any treatment for metastatic disease
Other: Detection of circulating tumor cells expressing Axl: CTC-AXL(+)
Detection of CTC-AXL(+) using 2 techniques: * CellSearch®, FDA-USA approved technology * EPIDROP System CellSearch® (Menarini Company) The current gold-standard CellSearch® technique requires the use of CellSave tubes. This technique allows the isolation of fixed CTCs. This technique uses a positive (CellSearch® Epithelial Cell Kit) enrichment method from total blood using magnetic beads coupled to an EpCAM capture antibody. CTCs are then detected (anti-panCK antibodies, DAPI, anti-CD45 and characterized (anti-AXL antibody) by immunofluorescence (IF). EPIDROP It requires the use of EDTA tubes. This technique is based on a method of negative enrichment of CTCs from total blood using a cocktail of tetrameric antibodies to eliminate unwanted blood cells and to preserve only purified tumor cells (RosetteSep - StemCell Technology).Then, cells are loaded in a microfluidic chip. The detection and characterization is done by IF to the single cell in micro-droplets.
CTC-AXL measurement concordance rate
CTC-AXL measurement concordance rate by EPIDROP (AXL(-): 0 vs AXL(+): 1) and CellSearch® (AXL(-): 0 vs AXL(+): 1)
Time frame: 30 days
Sensitivity (Se) defined as the proportion of AXL(+) positive patients (assessed by reference technique: CellSearch®) with a positive EPIDROP result
Time frame: 30 days
Specificity (Sp) defined as the proportion of AXL(-) negative patients (assessed by reference technique: CellSearch®) with a negative result by EPIDROP
Time frame: 30 days
Positive predictive value (PPV) defined as the proportion of patients with a positive EPIDROP result that is actually positive (as assessed by the reference technique: CellSearch®).
Time frame: 30 days
Negative Predictive Value (VPN) defined as the proportion of patients, whose EPIDROP result is negative, that is effectively negative (assessed by reference technique: CellSearch®)
Time frame: 30 days
Number of CTC-AXL at inclusion (0 vs 1 vs 2-3 vs 4 vs 5) measured by EPIDROP
Time frame: 30 days
Number of CTC-AXL at inclusion (0 vs 1 vs 2-3 vs 4 vs 5) measured by the CellSearch technique®
Time frame: 30 days
Overall Survival
Overall survival defined by the time between the date of diagnosis of the metastatic disease and the date of death regardless of the cause
Time frame: 36 months
Progression-Free Survival
Progression-free survival defined by the time between the date of diagnosis of the metastatic disease and the date of the 1st progression or the date of death regardless of the cause
Time frame: 36 months
Number of CTC at inclusion (0 vs 1 vs 2-3 vs 4 vs 5) measured by EPIDROP®
Time frame: 30 days
Number of CTC at inclusion (0 vs 1 vs 2-3 vs 4 vs 5) measured by the CellSearch technique®
Time frame: 30 days
CTC-PD-L1 measurement at inclusion (PD-L1(-): 0 vs PD-L1 (+): 1) measured by EPIDROP®
Time frame: 30 days
CTC-PD-L1 measurement at inclusion (PD-L1(-): 0 vs PD-L1 (+): 1) measured by the CellSearch technique®
Time frame: 30 days
Number of CTC-PD-L1 at inclusion (0 vs 1 vs 2-3 vs 4 vs 5) measured by EPIDROP®
Number of CTC labelled by anti-PD-L1 antibody detected by EPIDROP®
Time frame: 30 days
Number of CTC-PD-L1 at inclusion (0 vs 1 vs 2-3 vs 4 vs 5) measured by the CellSearch technique®
Number of CTC labelled by anti-PD-L1 antibody detected by CellSearch
Time frame: 30 days
Evaluation of circulating immune system: T cells
Time frame: 30 days
Evaluation of circulating immune system: NK cells
Time frame: 30 days
Evaluation of circulating immune system: B cells
Time frame: 30 days
Evaluation of circulating immune system: macrophages
Time frame: 30 days
Evaluation of circulating immune system: immune checkpoints
Time frame: 30 days
Evaluation of circulating immune system: platelets
Time frame: 30 days
Plan to share: No
Ran from Jun 2022 to primary completion in Sep 2025, 39 months.
Of 403 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Pancreatic Neoplasms, half reached primary completion within 45 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 26 and three quarters within 75. This study's 39 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 430 studies reached it within 44 months; a quarter within 26 and three quarters within 75.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
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