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Not yet recruitingNCT07546669STARGATEUpdated Apr 23, 2026

Efficacy of Zoster Vaccination in Glioblastoma Patients

A Phase 4 interventional study of Additional vaccination against shingles (herpes zoster) and Standard of care treatment without additional vaccination in Glioblastoma (GBM), sponsored by University Hospital, Essen. Not yet recruiting. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-04-23.

Sponsored by University Hospital, Essen · Phase 4, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
230
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

In modern practice a trimodality treatment has emerged as standard of care for histologically confirmed glioblastoma.

We hypothesize that the additional vaccination against herpes zoster, after surgical resection followed by irradiation therapy and chemotherapy of patients with glioblastoma will lead to a superior local control, overall and progression free survival. In an additional experimental setting based on patient preference the immunological effectiveness of the adoptive transfer of autologous polyclonal cytomegalovirus (CMV) specific T cells will be examined.

Read the detailed description

This multicenter study investigates novel immunomodulatory strategies in patients with histologically confirmed glioblastoma undergoing microsurgical resection at initial diagnosis.

In the randomized intervention arm, patients receive an EMA-approved, inactivated herpes zoster vaccine postoperatively, followed by standard radiotherapy or radiochemotherapy according to ESTRO/EANO guidelines. In a patient-preference experimental arm, the same regimen is combined with autologous CMV-specific T-cell adoptive transfer.

The control group undergoes neurosurgical resection and standard-of-care radiotherapy, with or without temozolomide, without additional herpes zoster vaccination or CMV-specific T-cell therapy.

Primary endpoint is overall survival (OS), while secondary endpoints include progression-free survival (PFS) and local tumor control, immunological response, safety, and tolerability. Exploratory endpoints incorporate patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), assessing quality of life, cognitive function, and treatment-related symptoms. Interventions are delivered from surgical resection through completion of radiochemotherapy. We hypothesize that herpes zoster vaccination will improve survival and local tumor control, while adoptive CMV-specific T-cell therapy will provide additional immunotherapeutic benefit in this refractory glioblastoma population.

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Conditions studied

  • Glioblastoma (GBM)

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In context

Glioblastoma

1,920 studies on the registry are indexed under Glioblastoma; 450 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 230 is above the median of 36 across 1,618 interventional studies indexed under Glioblastoma.

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Lead sponsor

University Hospital, Essen is the lead sponsor of 111 studies on the registry; 35 are open to participants now.

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

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

Subjects must meet all of the following inclusion criteria to be eligible for enrolment into the trial:

  • At least 18 years of age
  • Written informed consent of the subject
  • Life expectancy at least 3 months
  • Participants of child-bearing age must use effective contraception
  • Indication for definitive radiotherapy of glioblastoma or adjuvant radiation therapy of glioblastoma resection cavity according to interdisciplinary tumor board consensus and after radiation oncologists evaluation
  • Histopathologically proven glioblastoma
  • Incorporation of pre-neurochirurgical /-treatment PET/CT or/ and PET/MRI findings into the radiation therapy plan if patient undergoes PET/CT or/ and PET/MRI

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

Subjects will not be included in the study if any of the following criteria apply. General Exclusion Criteria:

  • Subjects not able to give consent
  • Subject without legal capacity who is unable to understand the nature, scope, significance, and con- sequences of this clinical trial
  • Simultaneously participation in another clinical trial or participation in any clinical trial involving ad- ministration of an investigational medicinal product within 30 days prior to clinical trial beginning
  • Subjects with a physical or psychiatric condition which at the investigator's discretion may put the subject at risk may confound the trial results or may interfere with the subject's participation in this clinical trial
  • Known or persistent abuse of medication, drugs or alcohol
  • Contraindications for radiotherapy (including active inflammatory disease)
  • Known hypersensitivity against vaccine contra herpes zoster, or its constituents
  • Gliomatosis cerebri at time of enrollment on any imaging or proved by histopathology
  • Synchronous secondary malignancy

Exclusion criteria regarding special restrictions for females as the treatment procedures require the highest degree of safety for the child:

  • Current or planned pregnancy or nursing women
  • Females of child-bearing potential, who are not using and not willing to use medically reliable methods of contraception for the entire study duration (such as oral, injectable, or implantable contracep- tives, or intrauterine contraceptive devices) unless they are surgically sterilized / hysterectomized or there are any other criteria considered sufficiently reliable by the investigator in individual cases

Indication-specific exclusion criteria in order to guarantee the highest degree of safety of all treatment procedures from a medical point of view:

  • Primary infra-tentorial located glioblastoma (justification: specific subgroup of patients with different prognosis)
  • Significant comorbidities at baseline, which would prevent possible chemotherapy, including:

    i. Platelet count \< 100/nl ii. Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) \< 1.5/nl iii. AST or ALT > 3 times the upper limit of normal iv. Total bilirubin above the normal range v. Serum creatinine > 1.7 mg/dl

  • Patients with clinically significant liver-, renal- or blood disorder
  • Patients with known additional significant neurological disease (e.g. primary seizure disorder*, de-mentia, progressive degenerative neurological disease, meningitis or encephalitis, hydrocephalus with increased intracranial pressure)
  • Patients with brain tumor-related epilepsy, seizure-free under antiepileptic therapy are eligible
  • Active implanted medical device (e.g. deep brain stimulators, spinal cord stimulators, vagus nerve stimulators, pacemakers, defibrillators and programmable shunts) or documented clinically signifi- cant arrhythmias
  • History of HIV infection
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Study design

Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Participant)
Enrollment
230 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Arm A Control Group, standard of care trimodality treatment (neurosurgical resection + R(C)Tx)

    Standard of care trimodality treatment (neurosurgical resection + R(C)Tx) without additional vaccination

    Other: Standard of care treatment without additional vaccination

  • Experimental
    Arm B, interventional arm, trimodality treatment and vaccination against herpes zoster

    Trimodality treatment and vaccination against herpes zoster

    Biological: Additional vaccination against shingles (herpes zoster)

Interventions

  • BiologicalAdditional vaccination against shingles (herpes zoster)

    Based on patient-preference patients receive autologous CMV-specific T-cells additionally to vaccination contra herpes zoster after completion of radio(chemo-)therapy. Patients included in the experimental arm shall be HLA typed. Up to 6 intravenous infusions of in vitro-expanded T cells at a dose of 2 × 107 cells/m2 body surface area every 2 to 4 weeks shall be administered after clinical assessment. Patients shall continue standard-of-care treatment with temozolomide if indicated. Where possible, administration of autologous T-cells shall be scheduled to fall between chemotherapy treatment weeks to avoid concurrent infusions

  • OtherStandard of care treatment without additional vaccination

    Standard of care treatment without additional vaccination

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Overall Survival

    Time frame: Overall survival defined as time from neurosurgical resection to death of any cause. Study time per subject from enrollment through the end of treatment after a maximum of 12 months (provided that additional CTx consolidation therapy is administered)

  2. Overall survival

    Time frame: From enrollment through the end of treatment after a maximum of 12 months (provided that additional CTx consolidation therapy is administered)

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Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

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References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 23, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07546669
Lead sponsor
University Hospital, Essen
Collaborators
Karolinska Institutet, Leiden University Medical Center, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf
Responsible party
Nika Guberina (Prof. Dr.med., University Hospital, Essen) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 23, 2026
Start date
Jan 2, 2027 (estimated)
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2029 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2030 (estimated)
Last update
Apr 23, 2026

Study contacts

Prof. Dr.med. Guberina
Contact
strahlentherapie@uk-essen.de
+492017232054

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 Apr 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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