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Not yet recruitingNCT05484024Updated Aug 2, 2022

Short-course Radiotherapy Followed by Chemotherapy and PD-1 Inhibitor for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer

A Phase 2/3 interventional study of Sintilimab and Short-course radiotherapy in Rectal Neoplasms Malignant and Radiotherapy, sponsored by Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Not yet recruiting at 2 sites in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-08-02.

Sponsored by Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences · Phase 2/3, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 2/3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
588
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 75 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This phase II/III trial studies how well neoadjuvant short-course radiotherapy and chemotherapy with or without PD-1 inhibitors works in treating patients with locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma. Neoadjuvant short-course radiation therapy followed by two-drug regimen chemotherapy, such as CAPOX, were shown to be non-inferior to standard long-course chemoradiotherapy in our previous STELLAR study. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) using monoclonal antibodies, such as PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor, show promising efficiency and reliable security in some limited sample prospective or retrospective studies. When treating patients with locally advanced rectal cancer, giving sequential neoadjuvant short-course radiotherapy and chemotherapy with PD-1 inhibitor may work better.

02

Conditions studied

  • Rectal Neoplasms Malignant
  • Radiotherapy

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Keywords

  • rectal cancer
  • short-course radiotherapy
  • total neoadjuvant therapy
  • PD-1 inhibitor
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 planned enrollment of 588 is above the median of 65 across 1,751 interventional studies indexed under Rectal Neoplasms.

Browse Rectal Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences is the lead sponsor of 237 studies on the registry; 19 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

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

  • proven rectal adenocarcinoma;
  • Distance between tumour and anal verge≤ 10cm;
  • Locally advanced tumour;(8th edition AJCC/UICC staging :cT3-T4N0/cT2-4N+,M0) Cancer Staging must be based on pelvic MRI or Endoscopic ultrasound;
  • (ECOG) performance score ≤ 1;
  • Mentally and physically fit for chemotherapy; Adequate blood counts: White blood cell count ≥3.5 x 109/L levels ≥100g/L count ≥100 x 109/L Creatinine levels ≤1.0× upper normal limit(UNL) Urea nitrogen levels ≤1.0× upper normal limit(UNL) (ALT) ≤1.5× upper normal limit(UNL) Aspartate aminotransferase(AST) ≤1.5× upper normal limit(UNL) Alkaline phosphatase(ALP) ≤1.5× upper normal limit(UNL) Total (TBIL)

    ≤1.5× upper normal limit(UNL)

  • No excision of tumor, chemotherapy or other anti-tumor treatment after the diagnosis.
  • No previous pelvic radiation history;
  • Written ;

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Previous treatment with /L1 and anti-CTLA-4 or other immune experimental drugs.
  • Severe disease: active inflammatory bowel disease (including Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis), rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, systemic lupus erythematosus, autoimmune vasculitis (e.g. Wegener's granulomatosis)
  • Symptomatic interstitial lung disease or active infectious/non-infectious pneumonia.
  • At risk for bowel perforation: active diverticulitis, intra-abdominal abscess, gastrointestinal (GI) obstruction, abdominal cancer or other known risk factors for bowel perforation.
  • history of other , excluding curable non-melanotic skin cancer and cervix carcinoma in situ;
  • Active infection, heart failure, heart attack within 6 months, unstable angina or unstable arrhythmia.
  • Any condition investigator considered may interfere with the results or place the patient at increased risk of treatment complications, or other uncontrollable disease.
  • Pregnancy or breast feeding
  • Immunodeficiency disorders including (HIV), or history of organ transplantation, stem cell transplantation
  • Active virus (HBV) hepatitis (HBV-DNA ≥ 2000 U/mL), virus (HCV) hepatitis, active tuberculosis infection.
  • Oncology vaccination history or any vaccination within 4 weeks prior to the start of treatment.(Note: influenza vaccines are mostly inactivated and therefore allowed, intranasal preparations are usually and therefore not allowed)
  • Concomitant other immune agents, chemotherapeutic agents, other drugs in clinical studies, and long term cortisol application
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(15)

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.

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.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

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.

PD-1, PD-L1 and checkpoint inhibitors

PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 are proteins that act as brakes on the immune system. Checkpoint inhibitors, such as pembrolizumab or nivolumab, block them so the immune system can attack a cancer.

PD-L1 can also be measured in a tumour sample. Some scores count stained tumour cells only (TPS); others also count certain immune cells (CPS). The study names the score and the minimum it uses.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

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.

Allogeneic and autologous transplant

Stem cell (bone marrow) transplants. Allogeneic uses cells from a donor; autologous uses your own cells, collected earlier and given back.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

Live vaccines

Vaccines made with a weakened form of the germ, such as measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), chickenpox and yellow fever. They can be risky when the immune system is weakened. Flu injections are not live; the nasal flu spray is.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2 / Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
588 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    iTNT group

    The intervention of iTNT group is Short-course radiotherapy followed by neoadjuvant chemotherapy and PD-1 inhibitor, which consists of a short-course radiotherapy(SCRT, 5 Gy x 5 alone), then after 14 days of radiotherapy completed, four cycles of PD-1 inhibitor and four cycles of CAPOX or six cycles of mFOLFOX will be performed. The regimen of PD-1 inhibitor and CAPOX treatment includes Sintilimab 200 mg IV, day 1,Oxaliplatin 130 mg/m2 IV day 1,Capecitabine 1000 mg/m2 twice daily PO for 14 days(3 weeks per cycle). The regimen of PD-1 inhibitor and mFOLFOX treatment includes Sintilimab 200 mg IV day 1(3 weeks per cycle), Oxaliplatin 85 mg/m2 IV day 1, Leucovorin 400 mg/m2 IV day 1, 5-FU 400 mg/m2 IV bolus on day 1, then 1200 mg/m2/day x 2 days (total 2400 mg/m2 over 46-48 hours) IV continuous infusion(2 weeks per cycle), then followed by a total mesorectal excision(TME) or Watch \& Wait strategy for clinical complete remission voluntary patients.

    Drug: Sintilimab · Radiation: Short-course radiotherapy · Combination Product: CAPOX/mFOLFOX

  • Active comparator
    TNT group

    The intervention of TNT group is Short-course radiotherapy followed by neoadjuvant chemotherapy, which consists of a short-course radiotherapy(SCRT, 5 Gy x 5 alone), then after 14 days of radiotherapy completed, four cycles of CAPOX or six cycles of mFOLFOX will be performed. The regimen of CAPOX treatment includes Oxaliplatin 130 mg/m2 IV day 1,Capecitabine 1000 mg/m2 twice daily PO for 14 days(3 weeks per cycle). The regimen of mFOLFOX treatment includes, Oxaliplatin 85 mg/m2 IV day 1, Leucovorin 400 mg/m2 IV day 1, 5-FU 400 mg/m2 IV bolus on day 1, then 1200 mg/m2/day x 2 days (total 2400 mg/m2 over 46-48 hours) IV continuous infusion(2 weeks per cycle), then followed by a total mesorectal excision(TME) or Watch \& Wait strategy for clinical complete remission voluntary patients.

    Radiation: Short-course radiotherapy · Combination Product: CAPOX/mFOLFOX

Interventions

  • PD-1 inhibitor

    Also known as: Immune checkpoint inhibitor

  • RadiationShort-course radiotherapy

    Pelvic radiation

    Also known as: hypofraction

  • Combination productCAPOX/mFOLFOX

    chemotherapy regimen

    Also known as: neoadjuvant chemotherapy

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. complete remission

    The rate of pathological complete remission plus clinical complete remission

    Time frame: one year

  2. Disease-free survival rate

    Time frame: three year

Secondary outcomes

  1. Incidence of acute toxicities during radiation, chemotherapy ± immunotherapy

    Time frame: three months

  2. Incidence of surgical complications

    Time frame: 30 days

  3. Overall survival rate

    Time frame: three year

  4. Locoregional recurrence rate

    Time frame: three year

  5. Distance metastasis rate

    Time frame: three year

  6. Radical resection (R0)

    Time frame: one year

  7. Quality of life (QoL)

    Quality of life will be evaluated using EORTC QLQ-C30 (range 0-100). It evaluates the quality of life from 30 aspects, including appetite, mental status, sleep quality, fatigue, etc. The higher scores mean a better quality of life.

    Time frame: From date of randomization until the date of death from any cause, assessed up to 10 years

  8. Quality of life (QoL)

    Quality of life will be evaluated using EORTC QLQ-Cr29 (range 0-100). It evaluates the quality of life from 29 aspects, including defecation function, urine function,pain, sex function, etc. The higher scores mean a better quality of life.

    Time frame: From date of randomization until the date of death from any cause, assessed up to 10 years

  9. Quality of life (QoL)

    Quality of life will be evaluated using Wexner score(range 0-20). It evaluates the defecation function. The lower scores mean a better quality of life.

    Time frame: From date of randomization until the date of death from any cause, assessed up to 10 years

07

Study locations

2 sites
  • Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College
    Beijing, Beijing, China
  • National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital & Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College
    Shenzhen, China
08

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 Aug 2, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05484024
Responsible party
Jing Jin, M.D. (Principal Investigator, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 2, 2022
Start date
Aug 6, 2022 (estimated)
Primary completion
Jul 31, 2028 (estimated)
Completion
Jul 31, 2030 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 2, 2022

Study contacts

Yuan Tang
Contact
tangyuan82@126.com
+86-15011304945
Wenjue Zhang
Contact
wenjuezhang@163.com
+86-13620986880

Oversight

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

Not currently enrolling

This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Jul 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Studies of the drug tested here: Sintilimab

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