A Phase 2 interventional study of Allogeneic Natural Killer Cells and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor in Small Cell Lung Cancer, sponsored by Tianjin First Central Hospital. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-12.
Sponsored by Tianjin First Central Hospital · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
This research study is designed for patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) who have already received four cycles of standard chemotherapy, with at least two cycles combined with immunotherapy, and have achieved disease control (stable disease, partial response, or complete response) at their last efficacy evaluation.
In this study, participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups:
Group A will receive standard immunotherapy plus 1 to 3 courses of allogeneic natural killer (NK) cell therapy. Each course consists of six NK cell infusions given over 28 days.
Group B will receive standard immunotherapy alone. All participants will continue treatment until their disease progresses or they experience unacceptable side effects. The immunotherapy agents used in this study are those recommended by major international and national clinical guidelines for extensive-stage SCLC, including but not limited to durvalumab, atezolizumab, serplulimab, and adebrelimab.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether adding NK cell therapy to standard immunotherapy can provide additional benefits for patients with extensive-stage SCLC who have responded well to initial treatment.
This is a prospective study enrolling 42 patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) who have completed four cycles of platinum-based doublet chemotherapy, with at least two cycles of immunotherapy combined with platinum-based doublet chemotherapy, and whose final efficacy assessment after the last cycle shows disease control (SD, PR, or CR). Patients will be adaptively randomized into two groups based on the results of prior efficacy analysis. Subjects will be randomly assigned to Group A or Group B. Patients in Group A will receive an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) plus 1-3 courses of allogeneic natural killer (NK) cell therapy. One course of NK cell therapy is designed to consist of two cycles, with a total of six NK cell infusions within 28 days, specifically on Days 12, 13, and 14 of the first cycle and Days 26, 27, and 28 of the second cycle. In addition, on Day 1 of each 21-day cycle, patients will receive standard-of-care treatment with intravenous infusion of an immune checkpoint inhibitor. Patients in Group B will receive standard-of-care treatment with intravenous infusion of an immune checkpoint inhibitor on Day 1 of each 21-day cycle, and treatment will continue until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity occurs. After signing the written informed consent form, patients will receive study treatment per protocol until disease progression or intolerable adverse events develop. The immune checkpoint inhibitors used in this study are those recommended for extensive-stage SCLC in the NCCN, ESMO, and CSCO guidelines, including but not limited to durvalumab, atezolizumab, serplulimab, and adebrelimab.
1,301 studies on the registry are indexed under Small Cell Lung Carcinoma; 367 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 42 is below the median of 56 across 1,077 interventional studies indexed under Small Cell Lung Carcinoma.
Browse Small Cell Lung Carcinoma studies →Tianjin First Central Hospital is the lead sponsor of 18 studies on the registry; 10 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
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.
1: Male or female, aged 18 years or above
2: score 0-2
3: or extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) confirmed by histology or cytology, followed by 4 cycles of platinum-based doublet-chemotherapy with at least 2 cycles of plus chemotherapy. And stable disease (SD), partial response (PR), or complete response (CR) as assessed by imaging (RECIST1.1 criteria) after the last treatment. (The checkpoint inhibitors used were those recommended by the NCCN, ESMO, and CSCO guidelines for extensivestage SCLC, including but not limited to: Duvalumab, atezolizumab, slulizumab, adbelimumab, toripalimab, etc.)
4: After standard concurrent chemoradiotherapy, LS-SCLC could be enrolled in this study if sensitive relapse (relapse more than 6 months after the end of treatment) progressed to extensive-stage (Ed) and met the inclusion criteria No.3;
5: At least 4 weeks after major surgery or trauma, and the wound must be completely healed; At least 1 week after minor surgical procedures or trauma (e.g., tissue or fine-needle aspiration);
6: Objective according to 1.1 criteria;
7: predicted survival time ≥1 year;
8: bone marrow function: ≥1.5×109/L, HB≥70 g/L (blood transfusion allowed), ≥80×109/L;
9: Liver function: ≤3×, AST≤3×ULN, ≤2×ULN (patients with liver metastasis ALT≤5×ULN, AST≤5×ULN, TBIL≤2×ULN) score ≤7; Renal function: uric acid \<500 μmol/L, serum creatinine \<1.7 mg/dL, proteinuria ≤2+ or ≤2g/24h, (GFR) ≥60 ml/min/1.73m2;
10: no history of diseases or current autoimmune diseases;
11: The subjects voluntarily participated in the study, signed the form, communicated well with the investigators, and completed the study in accordance with the protocol.
Exclusion Criteria:
1:Participate in other clinical trials or use other research drugs or equipment within 4 weeks of the first treatment.
2: During the screening period and previous imaging evaluation, active or untreated was found by CT scanning or MRI. Patients with asymptomatic CNS metastasis who had been treated in the past can participate in this study as long as they meet all the following criteria: are not needed to treat CNS diseases, and imaging examination has not found any progress from the end of CNS directional treatment to the screening period。 If new asymptomatic CNS metastases are found in patients during the screening period, they must undergo radiotherapy and/or CNS metastasis surgery
3: The effusion in the third space with clinical symptoms needs repeated drainage (for example, less than once every four weeks), such as pericardial effusion, pleural effusion and peritoneal effusion that are still uncontrollable after pumping or other treatments
4: was inoculated within 30 days before the first administration of the study drug. Live vaccines include but are not limited to measles, mumps, minute needle, chickenpox/herpes zoster, rabies, BCG, typhoid vaccine, etc. Seasonal influenza vaccine for injection is generally inactivated virus vaccine, which is allowed to be used.
5: The patient is known to have other malignant tumors, which are progressing or need active treatment in the past 3 years (except for in situ cancer or localized prostate cancer supplemented by PSA test)
6: Received major surgery, open surgical or severe traumatic injury 28 days before joining the group.
7: Clinically related or preexisting interstitial lung disease
8: Severe unhealed wound, ulcer or fracture
9: Suffering from diseases requiring systemic treatment in the past 2 years
10: Unstable systemic concomitant diseases (active infection, moderate and severe , poorly controlled hypertension, unstable angina pectoris, congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accident, pulmonary embolism or untreated history of Grade 3 deep vein thrombosis (DVT) within 6 months, serious mental disorder requiring drug control, liver, kidney or other metabolic diseases, neuropsychiatric diseases such as Alzheimer's disease).
11: According to the judgment of the researcher, there are patients with accompanying diseases that seriously endanger the safety of patients or affect the completion of the study.
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.
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.
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 that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
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.
A line of therapy is one course of treatment, which may combine several drugs. First-line is the first course given; second-line follows when that stops working or is not tolerated.
“Two prior lines” means two courses that count separately under the study’s rules — not simply two drugs. Ask the study team if you are unsure how yours are counted.
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.
The amount of disease can be tracked with a defined measurement, so the study can see whether it shrinks or grows. It might be a tumour measured on a scan or, in some blood cancers such as myeloma, a marker measured in blood or urine.
The criteria or the study team say which measurement counts — having no tumour visible on a scan does not by itself rule you out.
The standard rules for measuring tumours on CT or MRI scans, to tell whether a cancer is shrinking, stable or growing during treatment.
“Measurable disease per RECIST 1.1” usually means at least one tumour 10 mm or more at its longest on a CT scan, or a lymph node 15 mm or more across its short axis.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.
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.
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.
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.
Cancer deposits in the brain from a cancer that started elsewhere in the body (CNS metastases include the spinal cord).
Studies differ: some leave out any brain metastases, some accept ones treated and stable for some weeks. Check what this study allows.
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.
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.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Metastases
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Line of therapy
A line of therapy is one course of treatment, which may combine several drugs. First-line is the first course given; second-line follows when that stops working or is not tolerated.
“Two prior lines” means two courses that count separately under the study’s rules — not simply two drugs. Ask the study team if you are unsure how yours are counted.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Measurable disease
The amount of disease can be tracked with a defined measurement, so the study can see whether it shrinks or grows. It might be a tumour measured on a scan or, in some blood cancers such as myeloma, a marker measured in blood or urine.
The criteria or the study team say which measurement counts — having no tumour visible on a scan does not by itself rule you out.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
RECIST
The standard rules for measuring tumours on CT or MRI scans, to tell whether a cancer is shrinking, stable or growing during treatment.
“Measurable disease per RECIST 1.1” usually means at least one tumour 10 mm or more at its longest on a CT scan, or a lymph node 15 mm or more across its short axis.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Child-Pugh class
A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Brain metastases
Cancer deposits in the brain from a cancer that started elsewhere in the body (CNS metastases include the spinal cord).
Studies differ: some leave out any brain metastases, some accept ones treated and stable for some weeks. Check what this study allows.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
COPD
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Biological: Allogeneic Natural Killer Cells · Drug: Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor
Drug: Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor
Allogeneic NK cells derived from healthy donors, expanded and activated ex vivo. One course consists of two cycles with 6 IV infusions over 28 days: Days 12, 13, 14 (Cycle 1) and Days 26, 27, 28 (Cycle 2). Patients receive 1-3 courses.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors recommended for extensive-stage SCLC by NCCN, ESMO, and CSCO guidelines, including but not limited to durvalumab, atezolizumab, serplulimab, adebrelimab, and toripalimab. Administered as IV infusion on Day 1 of each 21-day cycle.
This study also gives Durvalumab, Atezolizumab. No intervention listed here names it: that was found by reading the record.
Progression free survival
Time frame: Every 6 weeks from randomization until disease progression or death, up to approximately 24 months
Duration of Overall Response
Time frame: From first documented response to disease progression, assessed every 6 weeks up to 24 months
Incidence and Severity of Treatment-Emergent Adverse Events (TEAEs)
Time frame: From first dose through 30 days after last dose, up to approximately 24 months
overall survival
Time frame: From randomization to death from any cause, assessed up to 24 months
Change from baseline in peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets (CD3+CD4+, CD3+CD8+, total CD3+, CD3-CD19+, and CD3-CD16+CD56+ cells) at Day 90
Time frame: Baseline and Day 90
Change from baseline in serum cytokine levels (IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-β, and IFN-γ) at Day 90
Time frame: Baseline and Day 90
Change from baseline in serum tumor markers (SCC) at Day 90
Time frame: Baseline and Day 90
Change from baseline in peripheral blood NK cell activity at Day 90
Time frame: Baseline and Day 90
Plan to share: Yes — According to the research process, the research team chooses specific ways to disclose the original data.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
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Tianjin First Central Hospital