ClinicalTrials.gg
Not yet recruitingNCT07815873CERBEROUpdated Nov 4, 2026

Gut Microbiome in Patients With Lung and Melanoma Cancer and Intestinal Microbiota in Gynecologic Cancers

An interventional study of sample collection in Non Small Cell Lung Cancer, Melanoma (Skin Cancer) and Endometrial Cancer, sponsored by European Institute of Oncology. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in Italy. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-04.

Sponsored by European Institute of Oncology · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Updated Nov 4, 2026Start date movedGo to Updates ↓
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
360
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study aims to investigate the role of the gut microbiota and its derived factors, including bacterial-associated antigens that mimic tumor-associated antigens, in predicting response to immune checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapies in patients with various types of cancer. The aim is to explore whether gut microbiota-mediated immunological modulation is specific to the tumor being treated and whether it can be used to enhance antitumor response.

02

Conditions studied

  • Non Small Cell Lung Cancer
  • Melanoma (Skin Cancer)
  • Endometrial Cancer
  • Cervical Cancer
03

In context

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung

7,620 studies on the registry are indexed under Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung; 1,838 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 360 is above the median of 62 across 6,019 interventional studies indexed under Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung.

Browse Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung studies →

Lead sponsor

European Institute of Oncology is the lead sponsor of 185 studies on the registry; 118 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

  • or cytologically confirmed disease (see 3.1)
  • (i) patients with local advanced or NSCLC candidate to ICB monotherapy or chemo-ICB combination OR (ii) patients with cutaneous melanoma candidate to first-line or adjuvant ICB (iii) patients with primary advanced or first recurrence endometrial or cervical cancer candidate to chemo-ICB combination
  • Signed Written
  • Males and Females, ages ≥18 years of age
  • (ECOG) performance status of 0-2
  • Have evaluable disease based on i- 1.1
  • Patients must be willing and able to comply with scheduled visits, treatment schedule, laboratory tests and all protocol procedures.
  • Be willing to provide tissue from a newly obtained core or excisional of a tumor lesion, whenever possible.
  • Known mutation/molecular status as determined by local institutional standard (NSCLC: available comprehensive molecular analysis, melanoma: TPS score, BRAF V600, EC: p53, POLE, MMR status, CC: PD-L1 CPS score. Both wild type and mutation positive are eligible. Regarding gynecologic cancers, EC patients will be eligible for the study regardless of the MMR status (MMRd or MMRp), while only CC patients with a PD-L1 combined positive score (CPS) ≥1 will be eligible.
  • Patients who have been previously treated in the setting for melanoma will be eligible for treatment after a 28-day .
  • Patients must be medically fit enough to undergo surgery as determined by the treating medical and surgical oncology team.
  • Demonstrate adequate organ function as defined below: Hematologic (ANC) >/= 1.5 X 10\^9/L; >/= 9.5 g/dL >/= 100 X 10\^9/L and PTT \</= 1.5 X . Hepatic Total \</= 1.5 X ULN (isolated bilirubin >1.5 X ULN is acceptable if bilirubin is fractionated and direct bilirubin \<35%) and ALT Albumin \</= 2.5 X ULN 1 >/=2.5 g/dL Renal Creatinine OR Calculated OR 24-hour urine creatinine clearance \</=1.5 X ULN 2 >/= 50 mL/min >/= 50 mL/min.
  • The individual methods of and duration should be determined in consultation with the investigator.
  • Women must not be breastfeeding.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Previous chemotherapy (\< 28 days washout), radiation therapy, immunotherapy, or biologic therapy
  • Any major surgery within the last 3 weeks
  • Pregnant or lactating female
  • Unwillingness or inability to follow the procedures
  • Grade 3 and 4 adverse event conditioning ICB interruption
  • Known oncogene-addicted NSCLC, with the exception of KRAS G12C and BRAF V600E mutant NSCLC Any serious or uncontrolled medical disorder
  • Prior active within the previous 2 years except for locally curable cancers that have been apparently cured, such as basal or squamous cell skin cancer, superficial bladder cancer, or carcinoma in situ of the prostate, cervix, or breast with local control measures (surgery, radiation).
  • Patients with active, known or suspected disease such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Lupus, etc. or other conditions requiring systemic or other systemic medications.
  • Patients with a condition requiring systemic treatment with either corticosteroids (> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents) or other immunosuppressive medications within 14 days of study drug administration.
  • Prior treatment with an , anti-PD-L1 or anti-CTLA-4 antibody.
  • Antibiotic or antimycotic medications within 45 days from the beginning of ICB
  • Positive test result for or C virus
  • or known acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
  • Concomitant Medications/Vaccinations: medications or vaccinations specifically prohibited in the exclusion criteria are not allowed during the ongoing study. If there is a clinical indication for one of these or other medications or vaccinations specifically prohibited during the study that the investigator considers necessary for a subject's welfare, it will be administered at the discretion of the investigator in keeping with the community standards of medical care. All concomitant medication (within 28 days before the first dose) will be recorded on the case report form (CRF).
  • Patients are prohibited from receiving the following therapies during the Screening and Treatment Phase (including retreatment for post-complete response relapse) of this study:
  • Immunotherapy not specified in this protocol
  • Chemotherapy not specified in this protocol
  • other agents
  • Radiation therapy
  • within 30 days prior to the first dose of trial treatment and while participating in the trial. Examples of live vaccines include, but are not limited to, the following: measles, mumps, rubella, varicella/zoster, yellow fever, rabies, BCG, and typhoid vaccine.
  • Systemic glucocorticoids for any purpose other than to modulate symptoms from an event of clinical interest of suspected immunologic aetiology. The use of physiologic doses of corticosteroids may be approved after consultation with the Sponsor.
  • Patients who, in the assessment by the investigator, require the use of any of the aforementioned treatments for clinical management should be removed from the study. Patients may receive other medications that the investigator deems to be medically necessary. The Exclusion Criteria describes other medications which are prohibited in this study.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(27)

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.

Metastases

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Adjuvant and neoadjuvant

Neoadjuvant treatment is given before the main treatment (usually surgery), often to shrink a tumour. Adjuvant treatment is given after it, to lower the chance of the cancer coming back.

Washout period

A planned gap after a treatment, so that its effects can lessen before the study treatment or a study assessment. Ask the study team and the doctor who prescribed it before changing any medicine.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

05

Study design

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

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Biological Sample collection

    Biological Sample

    Biological: sample collection

Interventions

  • Biologicalsample collection

    Clinical and radiological assessment will be performed at the enrollment and every 3 +/- 1 months. Clinical information and biological samples will be collected also at 2 years from surgery or start of therapy. We plan collection of a maximum of 13 faecal and blood samples per patient (1 baseline + a maximum of 11 during treatment ± 1 disease progression, ± 10%). In addition, we expect to collect fresh stools and tissue biopsies from at least 3-5 patients per group every year, which will be dedicated to our translational studies.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Primary Endopoint

    Correlation between Bacterial Antigens Mimicking-Tumor associated antigens (BAM-Ts) and clinical response to Immune Checkpoint Blockade (ICB).

    Time frame: 1 year

Secondary outcomes

  1. Secondary Endpoints

    A. Correlation between circulating immunological factors during ICB and clinical response: Relapse-Free Survival (RFS) or Progression Free Survival (PFS), Overall Response Rate (ORR), Overall Survival (OS);

    Time frame: 2 year

Other outcomes

  1. Exploratory Endpoints

    Correlation between, HLA allotypes and microbiota in correlation with clinical response RFS or PFS and OS;

    Time frame: 5 year

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Istituto europeo di oncologia
    Milan, MI 20141, Italy
    • Luigi Nezi, PhD · Contactluigi.nezi@ieo.it · +39 02 94375171
    • Giuli Sedda, PhD · Contactgiulia.sedda@ieo.it · +390294372178
    • Monica Casiraghi, MD PhD · Principal investigator
    • Giuseppe Caruso, MD PhD · Principal investigator
    • Carolina Cimminiello, MD · Principal investigator
    • Gianluca Spitaleri, MD · Principal investigator
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — We will insert all information into the paper.

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

1 registry update since Sep 25, 2026
Start date
Oct 1, 2026→Nov 11, 2026
Nov 4, 2026
Show all 1 update
  1. Nov 4, 2026
    Start date Oct 1, 2026→Nov 11, 2026

From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07815873
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Sep 11, 2026
Start date
Nov 11, 2026 (estimated)
Primary completion
Oct 1, 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Apr 1, 2031 (estimated)
Last update
Nov 4, 2026

Study contacts

Luigi Nezi, PhD
Contact
luigi.nezi@ieo.it
+39 02 94375171
Giulia Sedda, PhD
Contact
giulia.sedda@ieo.it
Luigi Nezi, PhD
principal investigator · Istituto Europeo di Oncologia
Monica Casiraghi, MD PhD
principal investigator · Istituto Europeo di Oncologia

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
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 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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