ClinicalTrials.gg
Not yet recruitingNCT06566638NUC-SAP1Updated Mar 20, 2025

Safety, Tolerability and Performance of the NucleoCapture Extracorporeal Therapeutic Apheresis Device in the Reduction of Circulating cfDNA/NETs in Subjects With Pancreatitis

An interventional study of NucleoCapture device in Acute Pancreatitis and Organ Failure, Multiple, sponsored by Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-03-20.

Sponsored by Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
20
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a single-centre, randomised-controlled, open-label, feasibility study to assess the safety, tolerability and performance of the NucleoCapture extracorporeal apheresis device in the reduction of circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA)/Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) in patients with severe acute pancreatitis.

Read the detailed description

This study investigates the safety, tolerability and performance of the NucleoCapture extracorporeal apheresis device in patients with acute pancreatitis. Acute pancreatitis is one of the leading gastrointestinal disorders that require urgent clinical care and is increasing in incidence.

cfDNA/NET therapeutic apheresis with NucleoCapture is indicated for the treatment of diseases in which excessive levels of cfDNA/NETs are found, such as acute pancreatitis. Participants will be randomised to receive either standard of care (SOC) alone or SOC plus NucleoCapture treatment. SOC will be according to the current guidelines described by the European Society of Intensive Medicine (ESICM). Participants in the SOC plus NucleoCapture arm will receive one treatment session with NucleoCapture per day, for the first three days. Each treatment session with NucleoCapture will last for up 6 hours, aiming to treat 4.5 plasma volumes. Treatment sessions with NucleoCapture treating less than 3.5 plasma volumes will be counted as incomplete and the treatment session will be repeated on the following day, up to day 5 maximum.

Assessments will take place for all participants whilst in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on days 1 to 5, 7, 14, 21 and 28, and at 90 days post discharge to ward-based care. Participants transferred to ward-based care before day 28 will receive no further study assessment visits from the point of transfer to ward-based care, apart from day 28 in which participants will receive a final study assessment visit and a patient reported outcome assessment (PROM) 90 days post discharge to ward-based care.

02

Conditions studied

  • Acute Pancreatitis
  • Organ Failure, Multiple

Keywords

  • Acute pancreatitis
  • NucleoCapture
  • Extracorporeal
  • Apheresis
  • Neutrophil extracellular traps
03

In context

Pancreatitis

557 studies on the registry are indexed under Pancreatitis; 164 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 20 is below the median of 100 across 349 interventional studies indexed under Pancreatitis.

Browse Pancreatitis studies →

Lead sponsor

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the lead sponsor of 61 studies on the registry; 13 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
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

  1. Adult patients aged 18 or over
  2. Acute pancreatitis (following revised Atlanta definition of 2 out of typical pain, serum amylase >3x normal range and/or CT/MRI imaging consistent with pancreatitis)
  3. Any aetiology
  4. Acute respiratory (PaO2/FiO2 \<300), cardiovascular (systolic BP \<90 or any inotropic therapy) or renal failure (serum creatinine >170 µmol/l, or deterioration of >50% if pre-existing renal disease or urine output \<0.5ml/kg/hr for 3 consecutive hours) presenting at any point during the index admission and persistent after 12 h of fluid resuscitation, but for not more than 72 hours
  5. Have provided written or consent is given by the patient's legally designated representative or an independent physician (if possible, according to local law).

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. The use of other non-routine extracorporeal treatments such as very high flux renal replacement therapy (>60ml/kg/h total exchange), use of high cut off filters or other non-routine extracorporeal treatment columns such as Cytosorb, Toramyxcin, etc).
  2. Presence of severe multiple organ failure at the point of enrolment as evidenced by:

    • Severe vasoplegic failure

      • Norepinephrine dose > 0.60 μg/kg/min
      • Use of epinephrine
    • Concomitant cardiogenic shock, clinically suspected or cardiac index \<2.2 L/min/m2 if measured

      • Use of dobutamine, epinephrine, phosphodiesterase inhibitors or levosimendan
    • Coagulopathy as defined by count \<50x10\^9/L
  3. Calculated Plasma Volume greater than 5000ml as determined by the following formula:

    Vplasma = Vblood x (1 - haematocrit)

    Where:

    Vplasma = PV Vblood = an estimation of total blood volume (TBV; according to Nadler's formula, incorporating height, weight and sex).

    A TBV calculator is available at https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/blood-volume

  4. Known liver cirrhosis ( proven or clinically suspected)
  5. Active bleeding
  6. Known citrate intolerance if citrate is required for therapeutic apheresis
  7. Known heparin allergy if heparin is required for therapeutic apheresis
  8. Known disease with of \<12 months and score of at least 2
  9. Known haematological if not in remission
  10. Known solid organ transplant and concomitant use of
  11. Known long term oxygen therapy or Home oxygen use
  12. Dialysis dependent Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD Stage 5-D)
  13. Planned or impending dialysis
  14. Prior use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in current admission
  15. Requirement for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)
  16. Patient expected to die within 48 hours of admission to ICU
  17. Known allergy to components of NucleoCapture (Sepharose beads and linker histone H1.3)
  18. Pre-existing disease of the exocrine pancreas including chronic pancreatitis, recurrent acute pancreatitis, pancreatic malignancy and/or history of pancreatic surgery
  19. Chronic neuromuscular disease affected breathing
  20. Current Participation in another interventional clinical study
  21. Pregnancy (as established by the presence of beta human chorionic gonadotropin in urine or blood)
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(10)

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.

GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)

GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².

Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.

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.

Relapsed and refractory

Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.

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.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

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.

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.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
20 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    SOC plus NucleoCapture

    Participants in the treatment arm will receive SOC plus three apheresis treatment sessions with the NucleoCapture device. The device consists of 100ml NucleoCapture selective adsorber.

    Device: NucleoCapture device

  • No intervention
    SOC

    Participants in the SOC arm will receive SOC alone, in accordance with ESICM guidelines.

Interventions

  • DeviceNucleoCapture device

    100ml NucleoCapture selective DNA adsorber.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. The amount of cfDNA/NETs in the plasma of patients with severe acute pancreatitis after each NucleoCapture treatment.

    The change in the levels of cfDNA/NETs across the NucleoCapture column at the end of each NucleoCapture treatment session.

    Time frame: Within 6 hours from the baseline once 4.5 plasma volumes has been treated.

Secondary outcomes

  1. The amount of cfDNA/NETs in the circulating blood in patients after treatment with NucleoCapture compared to standard of care.

    The change in the levels of circulating cfDNA/NETS at the end of each NucleoCapture treatment session.

    Time frame: Within 6 hours from the baseline once 4.5 plasma volumes has been treated.

  2. Change in organ in support

    Change in organ support will be assessed by the combined change in Inotrope e.g. norepinephrine dose, lactate, urine output, Horowitz index and oxygenation index compared to standard of care

    Time frame: From date of randomisation to Day 5

  3. 28-day survival

    Survival up to 28 days

    Time frame: 28 days

  4. ICU length of stay

    The length of stay in the ICU

    Time frame: Up to 28 days.

  5. Hospital length of stay

    The length of stay in up to hospital discharge

    Time frame: Up to 28 days

Other outcomes

  1. Exploratory evaluation of the correlation between NucleoCapture treatment and levels of routine biomarkers.

    Routine organ function, haematology, coagulation and inflammation biomarkers will be measured.

    Time frame: At baseline, days 1 to 5, 7, 14 and 21.

  2. Exploratory evaluation of the correlation between NucleoCapture treatment and levels of non-routine biomarkers.

    Non-routine biomarkers of inflammation and coagulation will be measured.

    Time frame: At baseline, days 1 to 5, day 7 and day 14.

  3. Device handling and usability.

    Usability and handling of the device will be assessed in the intervention arm using a questionnaire.

    Time frame: Day 1 to day 5.

  4. Patient reported outcome (PROMs) - PAN PROMISE acute pancreatitis symptom scale

    Quantify the symptoms of acute pancreatitis via PROM.

    Time frame: Baseline, at discharge from the ICU up to day 28, and at 90 days post discharge from the ICU.

07

Study locations

1 site
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Start is estimated for Dec 2025; primary completion for Dec 2026, 12 months later.

Of 91 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Pancreatitis, half reached primary completion within 32 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 23 and three quarters within 59. This study's planned 12 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 94 studies reached it within 32 months; a quarter within 23 and three quarters within 59.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Aug 7, 2024
First posted
Aug 22, 2024
StartEst.
Dec 1, 2025
Primary completionEst.
Dec 5, 2026
CompletionEst.
Apr 1, 2027
Last update
Mar 20, 2025
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 20, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06566638
Lead sponsor
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Collaborators
Santersus AG
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Aug 22, 2024
Start date
Dec 1, 2025 (estimated)
Primary completion
Dec 5, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Apr 1, 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Mar 20, 2025

Study contacts

Heather Rogers
Contact
Heather.Rogers@liverpoolft.nhs.uk
+44 151 706 3702
Peter Szatmary
principal investigator · Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
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 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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