A Phase 2 interventional study of Circulating Tumor DNA Methylation Testing and Conventional Postoperative Treatment Strategy in Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases (CRLM) and ctDNA, sponsored by Fudan University. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-04.
Sponsored by Fudan University · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
This is a prospective, randomized, controlled, multicenter phase II trial evaluating whether circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) methylation-guided adjuvant therapy improves outcomes after R0 resection of colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRLM). Patients are randomized 1:1 to a ctDNA-guided arm or a conventional-treatment arm, stratified by RAS/BRAF status and primary tumor sidedness.
In the ctDNA-guided arm, postoperative plasma ctDNA methylation testing (mqMSP, 10 tumor-specific methylation markers, 3-day turnaround) is performed at week 1 after surgery. ctDNA-negative patients enter surveillance with ctDNA and imaging every 3 months, with chemotherapy ± targeted therapy triggered upon ctDNA positivity; ctDNA-positive patients start chemotherapy ± targeted therapy, with treatment paused upon ctDNA clearance and restarted upon recurrence, for a maximum cumulative treatment duration of 6 months and no more than 2 restarts. In the conventional arm, investigators choose adjuvant therapy per NCCN/CSCO guidelines, and blood samples are collected but ctDNA results are blinded and not used for treatment decisions.
The primary endpoint is recurrence-free survival (RFS). Secondary endpoints include overall survival, ctDNA positivity rate and its correlation with clinicopathological features, concordance between ctDNA and imaging, lead time of ctDNA in detecting recurrence, secondary NED conversion rate, feasibility and safety of ctDNA-guided dynamic treatment adjustment, ctDNA clearance rate, report turnaround time, patient-reported outcomes (EORTC QLQ-C30/QLQ-CR29), and health economic evaluation (ICER).
6,541 studies on the registry are indexed under Colorectal Neoplasms; 1,667 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 220 is above the median of 76 across 4,800 interventional studies indexed under Colorectal Neoplasms.
Browse Colorectal Neoplasms studies →Fudan University is the lead sponsor of 1,315 studies on the registry; 643 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.
Exclusion Criteria:
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.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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 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.
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.
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
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.
Able to have children. For women this usually means from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery; for men, unless permanently sterile. Read who the line is about — participants, women, men, or their partners.
Criteria about it usually ask for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
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.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
NYHA class (heart failure)
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Reproductive potential
Able to have children. For women this usually means from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery; for men, unless permanently sterile. Read who the line is about — participants, women, men, or their partners.
Criteria about it usually ask for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Combination Product: Circulating Tumor DNA Methylation Testing
Other: Conventional Postoperative Treatment Strategy
Participants undergo postoperative plasma ctDNA methylation testing after R0 resection. ctDNA-negative participants enter surveillance without adjuvant chemotherapy, with ctDNA testing and imaging every 3 months; chemotherapy ± targeted therapy is triggered upon ctDNA positivity. ctDNA-positive participants start chemotherapy ± targeted therapy (FOLFOX or FOLFIRI plus cetuximab for RAS/BRAF wild-type; plus bevacizumab for RAS/BRAF mutant), with ctDNA testing and imaging every 2 months during treatment. Treatment is paused upon ctDNA clearance and restarted upon ctDNA re-positivity, with a maximum cumulative treatment duration of 6 months and no more than 2 restarts. Imaging-confirmed disease progression leads to discontinuation of protocol-directed treatment.
Participants receive adjuvant therapy as determined by the investigator according to NCCN/CSCO guidelines and clinical practice, based on clinicopathological risk factors such as CRS score, primary tumor lymph node status, CEA level, surgical margin, and performance status. Blood samples are collected at baseline (approximately one week after surgery or before adjuvant therapy) and after completion of adjuvant therapy (within 4 weeks of the last chemotherapy dose, or at week 12 postoperatively for those not receiving chemotherapy), and are centrally tested for ctDNA methylation with results blinded and not used to guide treatment.
Recurrence-Free Survival (RFS)
Time from randomization to the first imaging-confirmed local recurrence or distant metastasis, assessed according to RECIST 1.1, or death from any cause, whichever occurs first. Participants without an event at the last follow-up will be censored at that date. RFS will be compared between the ctDNA methylation-guided treatment group and the conventional treatment group.
Time frame: From randomization through the end of the two-year postoperative follow-up.
Overall Survival (OS)
Time from randomization to death from any cause. Participants who are alive at the last follow-up will be censored at that date. OS will be compared between the two treatment groups.
Time frame: From randomization through the end of the two-year postoperative follow-up.
Postoperative ctDNA Methylation Positivity Rate
Proportion of all enrolled participants with positive ctDNA methylation results one week after surgery. Associations between postoperative ctDNA methylation status and clinicopathological characteristics will also be assessed.
Time frame: One week after surgery (±3 days).
Agreement Between ctDNA Methylation Status and Imaging Findings
Agreement between ctDNA methylation status and imaging-based no evidence of disease (NED) status.
Time frame: During the two-year postoperative follow-up.
Lead Time From ctDNA Methylation Positivity to Imaging-Confirmed Recurrence
Median time interval from ctDNA methylation positivity to subsequent imaging-confirmed recurrence.
Time frame: During the two-year postoperative follow-up.
Secondary No Evidence of Disease (NED) Conversion Rate
Proportion of all participants with recurrence who receive curative-intent local treatment after recurrence and achieve NED. This proportion will be compared between the two treatment groups.
Time frame: During the two-year postoperative follow-up.
ctDNA Methylation Clearance Rate
Proportion of participants in the ctDNA methylation-guided treatment group with initially positive ctDNA results who become ctDNA negative after treatment. The association between ctDNA clearance and RFS will be explored.
Time frame: During treatment and subsequent follow-up, through the end of the two-year postoperative follow-up.
Time to ctDNA Methylation Clearance
Median time to conversion from ctDNA positivity to negativity after treatment in participants with initially positive ctDNA results in the ctDNA methylation-guided treatment group.
Time frame: During treatment and subsequent follow-up, through the end of the two-year postoperative follow-up.
ctDNA Methylation Test Reporting Turnaround Time
Turnaround time for reporting ctDNA methylation test results, with a target of no more than five working days, and its impact on the timeliness of clinical decision-making.
Time frame: At ctDNA methylation testing time points during the two-year postoperative follow-up.
Patient-reported Quality of Life
Patient-reported quality of life assessed using the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire. Quality of life will be compared between the ctDNA methylation-guided treatment group and the conventional treatment group.
Time frame: During the two-year postoperative follow-up.
Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER)
Health economic evaluation of the ctDNA methylation-guided treatment strategy compared with conventional treatment using the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio.
Time frame: During the two-year postoperative follow-up.
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 ↗
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