Archives: Clinical Trials

The primary objective is to confirm clinical safety and feasibility of combining the antigen-loaded Dendritic Cell (DC) vaccine with chemotherapy including folinic acid, oxaliplatin, irinotecan and 5-Fluorouracil (5FU) (FOLFIRINOX) and nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine in patients with pancreatic cancer.

The secondary objectives of this trial are to determine preliminary clinical efficacy based on response rates, overall survival and progression free survival compared with historic control, and surgical conversion rate as defined as percent of locally advanced (unresectable) patients achieving resectability within 6 months of treatment initiation. Also, to identify vaccine immunogenicity by measuring acquired, T cell-mediated immune activating events post-vaccination and to correlate clinical response with acquired immune responses.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as gemcitabine hydrochloride and oxaliplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Erlotinib hydrochloride may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Giving gemcitabine hydrochloride and oxaliplatin together with erlotinib hydrochloride may kill more tumor cells.

PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of erlotinib hydrochloride when given together with gemcitabine hydrochloride and oxaliplatin in treating patients with advanced biliary tract cancer, pancreatic cancer, duodenal cancer, or ampullary cancer.

This study examines heart rate monitoring variability for the early detection of pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is a very difficult disease to detect early. This study is being done to observe the heart rate variability in patients with pancreatic cancer compared to undiagnosed individuals with increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. This may help researchers determine if pancreatic occurrences/recurrences (chance of coming back) can be detected sooner through monitoring heart rate and activity.

Metastatic (HR-positive, HER2-negative) breast cancer (BC), advanced or unresectable neuroendocrine tumours of pancreatic (pNET), gastrointestinal or lung origin and metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) are diseases with poor outcome. Everolimus increases patients' median progression-free survival (PFS) with 4.6 months in metastatic BC (mBC), 7 months in (p)NET and 3 months in mRCC. However, serious adverse events (AEs) occur frequently. This reduces effectiveness of everolimus, because AEs are managed with dose reductions, treatment interruptions or even complete discontinuation of everolimus.

Therapeutic-drug-monitoring (TDM) is used to adjust the prescribed daily dose, to maintain effective everolimus whole blood concentrations, with the lowest possible risk of AEs. While everolimus TDM has been common in transplantation medicine, it has not been implemented in oncology.

The importance of TDM in oncology is supported by previous research which showed that a 2-fold increased everolimus whole blood trough concentration was associated with a short-term risk of grade ≥ 3 pneumonitis, stomatitis and metabolic events. Moreover, an exposure-toxicity relationship of everolimus in patients with thyroid cancer was observed, since initial everolimus concentrations could be associated with early toxicity (18 µg/L were associated with toxicity, the investigators assume that the upper therapeutic window of everolimus in the oncologic setting will be ±18 µg/L. Similarly, a tendency to improved PFS and overall survival was observed when Cmin in steady state was above 14.1 μg/L. This seems to be the lower limit of the therapeutic window.

Before consensus about the feasibility of everolimus TDM in the oncologic setting can be achieved, a number of questions (the knowledge gaps) need to be answered: 1. It is unknown whether everolimus whole blood trough levels (over time) predict long-term AEs. 2. The optimal concentration range for everolimus, with the treatment of mBC, mRCC, or (p)NET is unknown, especially the upper limit associated with toxicity. 3. It is unknown what everolimus concentration level is associated with the need for everolimus dose reductions.

The primary objectives of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of glufosfamide in subjects with pancreatic cancer who have been previously treated with gemcitabine as measured by overall survival compared with best supportive care.

Clinical results on intra-arterial adjuvant chemotherapy for prevention

of liver metastasis following curative resection of pancreatic cancer

Genes contain genetic code which tell the body which proteins to make. Some types of cancer are caused by changes, or mutations, in a gene called KRAS. Researchers are looking for ways to stop the actions of abnormal proteins made from the mutated KRAS gene. The so-called G12D mutation in the KRAS gene is common in people with some solid tumors.

ASP4396 is being developed as a potential new treatment for solid tumors in people who have the G12D mutation in their KRAS gene. ASP4396 is not currently available as a treatment for the public. In this study, researchers will learn how ASP4396 is processed by and acts upon the body. This information will help find a suitable dose and to check for potential medical problems from ASP4396.

In this study, ASP4396 is being given to humans for the first time.

People in this study will be adults with locally advanced (unresectable), or metastatic solid tumors with the G12D mutation in their KRAS gene. Locally advanced means the cancer has spread to nearby tissue. Unresectable means the cancer cannot be removed by surgery. Metastatic means the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. They may have been previously treated with standard therapies or refused to receive those treatments.

The main aims of the study are to check the safety of ASP4396, how well people cope with medical problems during the study (how well it is tolerated), and to find a suitable dose of ASP4396.

This is an open-label study. This means that people in this study and clinic staff will know that they will receive ASP4396.

This study will be in 2 parts.

Part 1 is called Dose Escalation. Different small groups of people will receive lower to higher doses of ASP4396. For each dose, all medical problems will be recorded. The first group will receive the lowest dose of ASP4396. A medical expert panel will check the results and decide if the next group can receive a higher dose of ASP4396. The panel will do this until all groups have taken ASP4396 or until suitable doses have been selected for Part 2.

Part 2 is called Dose Expansion. Other different small groups of people will receive ASP4396 with the most suitable doses worked out from Part 1. This will help find a more accurate dose of ASP4396 to use in future studies.

In both parts of the study, ASP4396 will be given through a vein. This is called an infusion. Each treatment cycle is 21 days long. People will continue treatment until: they have medical problems from the treatment they can't cope with (can't tolerate); their cancer gets worse; they start other cancer treatment; or they ask to stop treatment.

People will visit the clinic on certain days during their treatment, with extra visits during the first 2 cycles of treatment. The study doctors will check for any medical problems from ASP4396. Also, people in the study will have a health check including blood tests. On some visits they will also have scans to check for any changes in their cancer. Tumor samples will be taken at certain visits during treatment with the option of a tumor sample being taken after treatment has finished.

People will visit the clinic about 7 days after they stop treatment. They will be asked about any medical problems and will have a health check including blood tests.

After this, people will visit the clinic for a health check several times. The number of visits and checks done at each visit will depend on the health of each person and whether they completed their treatment or not.

After treatment has finished, people in the study will be followed up for up to 45 weeks.

The goal of this observational study is to explore whether contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) can early predict and evaluate the treatment response of first-line chemotherapy in locally advanced and borderline resectable pancreatic cancers.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

Question 1: What quantitative parameters of CEUS performed before first-line chemotherapy can predict the early treatment response of patients with locally pancreatic cancer?Question 2: Can CEUS reflect early neovascular changes after first-line chemotherapy in pancreatic tumors? Participants will receive CEUS examination carried out by experienced operators before the first cycle of chemotherapy and after 2 treatment cycles.

This study aims to evaluate the EUS-RFA in terms of efficacy for pain management and improvement in quality-of-life parameters for patients with advanced inoperable pancreatic cancer. The primary objectives of this study are to 1) evaluate the utility of EUS-RFA for pain control and improvement in quality-of-life parameters for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer; 2) to measure the reduction of analgesic medications' requirements in patients affected by inoperable pancreatic cancer.

This research is being done to investigate if a new technique to biopsy the pancreas will lead to a larger amount tissue material that can be analyzed. Investigators have called the technique the &#x0022corkscrew&#x0022 technique and believe it will allow obtaining a larger biopsy sample during the endoscopic ultrasound examination. The corkscrew technique uses a clockwise rotational movement to drive the needle into the pancreatic mass (like a wine bottle opener twists and buries itself into a cork). It is believed that this will lead to a better biopsy sample than the usual way and therefore result in a higher chance of a diagnosis.