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RecruitingNCT05920863Updated Feb 11, 2025

Lenvatinib Combined with Tislelizumab and TACE Applied As Neoadjuvant Regimen for the Patients of CNLC Stage IB and IIA Hepatocellular Carcinoma with High-risk Recurrence Factors

A Phase 2 interventional study of TACE and Tislelizumab, Lenvatinib in Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Lenvatinib and Tislelizumab, sponsored by Zhejiang Cancer Hospital. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-02-11.

Sponsored by Zhejiang Cancer Hospital · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Dec 2025, 9 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Started Jul 2023; still recruiting 3 years 3 months later.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
35
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years to 75 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a monocenter, single-arm, open-label study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Lenvatinib combined with Tislelizumab and TACE applied as neoadjuvant regimen for the patients of CNLC stage IB and IIA hepatocellular carcinoma with high risk of recurrence Primary outcome: Major pathological response (MPR) Secondary outcomes: pathological complete response (pCR), R0 resection rate, objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), treatment-related adverse events (TRAE)

Read the detailed description

Surgical treatment is dominant in the treatment of liver cancer, however, its postoperative recurrence rate is high, and the recurrence and metastasis rate in 5 years is as high as 70%. In particular, surgical resection for some large hepatocellular carcinoma adjacent to large vessels or located in middle areas always induces narrow and even no surgical margin, which may increase the risk of postoperative recurrence and decrease the overall survival rate. Preoperative neoadjuvant therapy for resectable hepatocellular carcinoma with high risk of recurrence is still controversial nationally and internationally, none consensus have been reached about neoadjuvant therapy.

As a classical treatment for liver cancer, TACE can induce tumor ischemia and necrosis through the infusion of chemotherapy drugs and embolic materials into target areas. However, TACE as neoadjuvant therapy alone has no improvement in tumor recurrence-free survival time and overall survival rate. Lenvatinib is a multi-target tyrosine kinase inhibitor and inhibits neovascularization and lymphangiogenesis by targeting VEGF1-3 and FGFR. moreover, lenvatinib also has immunomodulatory effects. A number of studies have shown that a variety of combination therapies have been carried out on the basis of Lenvatinib, and exciting outcome has been achieved by combined therapy regimens, including local therapy combined with systemic therapy and multi-drugs systemic therapy.

Neoadjuvant therapy will performe on CNLC stage IB and Stage IIA HCC patients with high risk of recurrence (patients with narrow or no surgical margin and preoperative tumor marker AFP+PIVKA≥1600). MPR, pCR,1-year recurrence-free survival (RFS), and treatment-related adverse reactions (TRAE) were evaluated.

02

Conditions studied

  • Hepatocellular Carcinoma
  • Lenvatinib
  • Tislelizumab
  • TACE
  • Pharmorubicin
  • Oxaliplatin
03

In context

Carcinoma

6,741 studies on the registry are indexed under Carcinoma; 1,161 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 35 is below the median of 45 across 5,170 interventional studies indexed under Carcinoma.

Browse Carcinoma studies →

Lead sponsor

Zhejiang Cancer Hospital is the lead sponsor of 271 studies on the registry; 116 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. Aged 18-75 years old (inclusive);
  2. HCC is confirmed by preoperative pathological examination or meet the criterion of diagnosis and treatment norms of primary HCC issued by health commission, PRC. No prior systemic chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, or other anti-tumor treatments for HCC;
  3. Patients with CNLC IB or IIA stage tumors before surgery and meeting the following conditions: radiological evaluation shows narrow or none surgical margins, and preoperative tumor markers AFP+PIVKA is greater than 1600.
  4. ECOG score of 0 before the first administration of the study drug;
  5. Child-Pugh scores is 5-6 points and liver function is grade A;
  6. Expected survival time of at least 16 weeks;
  7. Pre-administration organ function levels meet the requirements and are tolerant of surgery. The functional indicators of important organs meet the following requirements: hemoglobin ≥90g/L, neutrophil count ≥1.5×10⁹/L, platelet count ≥100×10⁹/L; aspartate aminotransferase or alanine aminotransferase ≤5 times the upper limit of normal (ULN), alkaline phosphatase ≤2.5 ULN, serum albumin ≥30g/L; serum creatinine \<1.5 ULN; international normalized ratio (INR) ≤2 or prothrombin time (PT) within the upper limit of normal range ≤6 seconds; serum creatinine ≤1.5 ULN, creatinine clearance rate ≥60 mL/min.
  8. Male and female participants of childbearing potential must agree to use effective contraception throughout the study period;
  9. Sign an informed consent form and agree to provide previously stored tumor tissue specimens or fresh biopsy specimens of the tumor lesion.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Pathologically diagnosed as non-hepatocellular carcinoma;
  2. Previously received anti-tumor treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, radiofrequency ablation, intervention, targeted therapy, immunotherapy or surgical treatment for liver cancer (excluding previous non-tumor-related surgery or diagnostic biopsy);
  3. CNLC stage is IA, IIB or worse.
  4. Viral load limited to hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA>2000 copies/ml, hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA>1000;
  5. Long-term steroid users who require long-term systemic steroid therapy (equivalent to >10 mg of prednisone per day) or any other form of immunosuppressive treatment;
  6. Significant clinical bleeding or bleeding tendency within 3 months before enrollment or currently undergoing thrombolysis or anticoagulation treatment;
  7. Complete intestinal obstruction and incomplete intestinal obstruction requiring treatment, but patients who have had obstruction relieved by fistula or stent placement can be enrolled;
  8. Active severe clinical infection (> grade 2, NCI-CTCAE version 5.0), including active tuberculosis; history of active tuberculosis infection for more than 1 year before enrollment, not treated with regular anti-tuberculosis treatment or tuberculosis still in the active period; active known or suspected autoimmune disease;
  9. Uncontrolled diabetes (fasting blood glucose ≥10 mmol/L), severe lung disease (such as acute pulmonary disease, pulmonary fibrosis that affects lung function, interstitial lung disease. Excluding recovered radiation pneumonitis);
  10. Clinically significant cardiovascular disease; hypertension which cannot be well controlled by anti-hypertensive drugs (systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg);
  11. Patients undergoing renal replacement therapy;
  12. History of other malignant tumors within the past 5 years. Excluding cured basal cell carcinoma or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia;
  13. Other patients who are expected to be unable to tolerate surgical treatment;
  14. Patients who have had allergic reactions to any component of the study drug;
  15. Presence of alcohol dependence, mental illness, pregnancy (or lactation) or other conditions that are not suitable for clinical trials.
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
35 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Experimental

    1. TACE: pharmorubicin 30mg, oxaliplatin 50mg, cycle 4-5 week. 2. Tislelizumab: 200mg, cycle 3 week. 3. Lenvatinib: weight \<60kg, 8mg/day; weight ≥60kg, 12mg/day.

    Procedure: TACE · Drug: Tislelizumab, Lenvatinib

Interventions

  • ProcedureTACE

    TACE: pharmorubicin 30mg, oxaliplatin 50mg, cycle 4-5 week.

  • DrugTislelizumab, Lenvatinib

    Tislelizumab: 200mg, cycle 3 week. Lenvatinib: weight \<60kg, 8mg/day; weight ≥60kg, 12mg/day.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Major pathological response

    Proportion of residual tumor ingredient lesser than 30% in the postoperative pathological result.

    Time frame: Up to 16 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. Pathological complete response

    None residual tumor ingredient detected in the postoperative pathological result.

    Time frame: Up to 16 weeks

  2. R0 resection rate

    The proportion of patients achieved a complete resection with negative margin.

    Time frame: Up to 16 weeks

  3. Objective response rate (ORR)

    he proportion of participants with a documented, confirmed complete response or partial response per RECIST v1.1

    Time frame: Up to 4 cycle treatment (each cycle is 4 weeks), an average of 16 weeks.

  4. disease control rate (DCR)

    The percentage of patients who have achieved either a complete response (CR), a partial response (PR), or stable disease (SD) after undergoing treatment for their cancer.

    Time frame: Up to 4 cycle treatment (each cycle is 4 weeks), an average of 16 weeks.

  5. treatment-related adverse events (TRAE)

    Adverse event that occurs during or after treatment

    Time frame: Up to 4 cycle treatment (each cycle is 4 weeks), an average of 16 weeks.

  6. Recurrence-free survival (RFS)

    The length of time after cancer treatment during which a patient remains free from any signs or symptoms of cancer recurrence.

    Time frame: Up to 4 cycle treatment (each cycle is 4 weeks), an average of 16 weeks.

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • 1# Banshan East Rd. Zhejiang cancer hospital
    Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, China
    Recruiting
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 Feb 11, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05920863
Lead sponsor
Zhejiang Cancer Hospital
Responsible party
Yuhua Zhang, MD (Vice director of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery (Chair), Zhejiang Cancer Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jun 27, 2023
Start date
Jul 1, 2023
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2025 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2025 (estimated)
Last update
Feb 11, 2025

Study contacts

Yuhua Zhang, MD
Contact
drzhangyuhua@126.com
+86-0571-88128058

Oversight

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

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