ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT07435454Updated Feb 27, 2026

Exploratory Clinical Trial of Oral Paclitaxel Plus Radiotherapy in Patients With Locally Advanced Unresectable Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

A Phase 2 interventional study of oral paclitaxel+radiotherapy in Locally Advanced Unresectable Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma, sponsored by Jiangsu Cancer Institute & Hospital. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 70 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-02-27.

Sponsored by Jiangsu Cancer Institute & Hospital · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Dec 2025; still recruiting 11 months later.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
22
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
70 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study aims to investigate the safety and efficacy of oral paclitaxel combined with radiotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced unresectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Read the detailed description

There remains a considerable unmet medical need for first-line treatment in patients with locally advanced, unresectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who are intolerant to concurrent intravenous chemotherapy and present with severe obstruction. Therefore, this prospective, single-arm, single-center exploratory study aims to evaluate the safety and efficacy of oral paclitaxel combined with radiotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced, unresectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and to investigate the survival benefit provided for this patient population.

02

Conditions studied

  • Locally Advanced Unresectable Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Keywords

  • esophageal carcinoma
  • oral paclitaxel
  • radiotherapy
03

In context

Esophageal Neoplasms

1,873 studies on the registry are indexed under Esophageal Neoplasms; 501 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 22 is below the median of 58 across 1,347 interventional studies indexed under Esophageal Neoplasms.

Browse Esophageal Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Jiangsu Cancer Institute & Hospital is the lead sponsor of 40 studies on the registry; 21 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
70 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. confirmed locally advanced unresectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (cTXN+M0 or cT2-T4aNXM0).
  2. Considered eligible for definitive chemoradiotherapy.
  3. Age ≥ 70 years and/or intolerant to intravenous chemotherapy due to comorbidities, with severe dysphagia/feeding obstruction.
  4. Disease evaluable by qualitative radiologic assessment per the local investigator.
  5. Not eligible for curative surgery.
  6. Adequate hematologic function, defined as: ≥ 1500/μL, count ≥ 100,000/μL, and ≥ 9.0 g/dL or ≥ 5.6 mmol/L.
  7. Adequate renal function, defined as: creatinine ≤ 1.5 × ; or for patients with creatinine > 1.5 × ULN, measured or calculated ≥ 60 mL/min.
  8. Adequate hepatic function, defined as: total ≤ 1.5 × ULN; or for patients with total bilirubin > 1.5 × ULN, direct bilirubin ≤ ULN provided /AST ≤ 2.5 × ULN and albumin ≥ 3.0 g/dL.
  9. Adequate coagulation function, defined as: ≤ 1.5 × ULN, unless the patient is on anticoagulant therapy with PT or aPTT within the therapeutic range.
  10. Negative urine or serum pregnancy test within 24 hours prior to the first dose of study intervention.
  11. Voluntary participation in the study, signed written , good compliance, and willingness to comply with follow-up procedures.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Direct tumor invasion into adjacent organs, such as the aorta or trachea (i.e., T4b disease).
  2. Prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy for esophageal cancer.
  3. Any prior systemic anticancer therapy for esophageal cancer.
  4. Major surgery other than feeding tube insertion, open , or significant trauma within 28 days before randomization, or anticipated major surgery during study treatment.
  5. History of other within the past 5 years, except carcinoma in situ of the cervix or basal cell carcinoma.
  6. Gastric fistula or esophageal fistula.
  7. Active infection requiring systemic therapy.
  8. Known history of , , or infection.
  9. Participation in a study of an drug or device within 4 weeks prior to the first study treatment.
  10. History of non-infectious pneumonitis requiring therapy, or current pneumonitis.
  11. Known to any study drug.
  12. Inability or unwillingness to comply with protocol requirements as assessed by the investigator.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(18)

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.

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.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

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.

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).

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

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.

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.

INR, PT and aPTT (clotting tests)

Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.

Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

05

Study design

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

Study arms

  • Experimental
    oral paclitaxel combined with radiotherapy

    Other: oral paclitaxel+radiotherapy

Interventions

  • Otheroral paclitaxel+radiotherapy

    Oral paclitaxel dosage:Administered twice daily (once each morning and evening), 200 mg/m² per administration. One cycle is 28 days, with dosing on Days 1, 8, and 15, for a total of 2 cycles. Radiotherapy:A total radiation dose of 50 Gy over 5 weeks (5 fractions per week). The decision to administer maintenance therapy will be based on tumor response, patient performance status, and the mutual agreement between the investigator and the patient. Treatment will continue until the earliest occurrence of: disease progression (PD), intolerable toxicity, withdrawal of informed consent, treatment termination deemed necessary by the investigator, loss to follow-up, or death.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Adverse Event

    Adverse Event (AE) is defined as any untoward medical occurrence in a subject participating in a clinical trial, which does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the study treatment, including any new sign, symptom, disease, or laboratory abnormality.

    Time frame: from study enrollment up to 90 days after the completion of treatment

Secondary outcomes

  1. Progression- Free Survival

    progression-free survival (PFS) defined as from study enrollment to tumor progression (in any aspect) or death from any cause

    Time frame: From date of enrollment until the date of tumor progression (in any aspect) or death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 36 months

  2. Objective Response Rate

    Objective Response Rate (ORR) is defined as the proportion of subjects who achieve Complete Response (CR) or Partial Response (PR) per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version 1.1.

    Time frame: 3 months after the completion of treatment

  3. Overall Survival

    Defined as from date of enrollment until the date of death from any cause or the date of last follow-up, whichever came first.

    Time frame: From date of enrollment until the date of death from any cause or the date of last follow-up, whichever came first, assessed up to 36 months

  4. Disease Control Rate

    Disease Control Rate (DCR) is defined as the proportion of subjects who achieve Complete Response (CR), Partial Response (PR), or Stable Disease (SD) per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version 1.1.

    Time frame: 3 months after the completion of treatment

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

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

Started Dec 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Dec 2026, 12 months after the start.

Of 174 non-industry phase 2 interventional studies under Esophageal Neoplasms, half reached primary completion within 55 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 33 and three quarters within 85. This study's planned 12 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 198 studies reached it within 52 months; a quarter within 33 and three quarters within 78.

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

Registered
Feb 9, 2026
First posted
Feb 27, 2026
StartActual
Dec 1, 2025
Primary completionEst.
Dec 1, 2026
CompletionEst.
Dec 1, 2027
Last update
Feb 27, 2026
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 Feb 27, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07435454
Lead sponsor
Jiangsu Cancer Institute & Hospital
Responsible party
Ning Jiang, M.D./Ph.D. (Jiangsu Cancer Institute & Hospital, Jiangsu Cancer Institute & Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 27, 2026
Start date
Dec 1, 2025
Primary completion
Dec 1, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 1, 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Feb 27, 2026

Study contacts

Xiangzhi Zhu
Contact
13182948068@163.com
+86 25 83283535
Ning Jiang
Contact
njiang117@njmu.edu.cn
+86 25 83283535
Xiangzhi Zhu
study director · Jiangsu Cancer Institute & Hospital

Oversight

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

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