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Contact the study team using the details below to take part. If there are no contact details below please ask your doctor in the first instance.
Prof
David
Cunningham
david.cunningham@rmh.nhs.uk
Hsiang-Chi
Chen
TRACCstudy@rmh.nhs.uk
Malignant neoplasms of digestive organs
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TRACC C is a prospective, randomised, multi-centre, study enrolling a total of 1681 patients Patients with high risk stage II or stage III colorectal cancer (CRC) whose pre-surgery blood test confirms presence of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) will be randomised to 1:1 with 810 patients treated in standard of care arm where patients are offered adjuvant chemotherapy according to national guidelines and 810 patients in the experimental arm, in which patients are treated based on ctDNA results . Patients will be stratified according to:
1. High risk stage II versus stage III
2. Site of primary tumour: right colon versus left colon versus rectum
Hypothesis: ctDNA directed adjuvant chemotherapy administration will enable biomarker driven selection of patients who would benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy, thereby reducing the proportion of patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy without compromising disease free survival.
Background: There are 42,000 new cases of CRC, a top four cancer, diagnosed in the UK each year (CRUK Bowel Cancer Statistics, 2017). Approximately half of these cases are curable and include stage II (n=9600/year) and III
(n=10,500/year). In patients with high risk stage II and stage III colorectal patients, adjuvant chemotherapy is currently determined by pathological features of the tumour resected at surgery. This is not a precise method of risk stratification of relapse and we are undoubtedly over-treating a proportion of patients already cured. Around 15-25% of patients offered standard oxaliplatin containing chemotherapy have permanent peripheral sensory neuropathy which can be quite debilitating and distressing (Grothey, Sem in Onc, 2003).
Progress has been made in minimising unnecessary chemotherapy with the landmark UK-led publication (Iverson T et al, Lancet Onc, April 2018), confirmed by international meta-analyses (Grothey A et al, NEJM, March 2018) indicating that 3 months of post-operative chemotherapy was non-inferior to 6 months, without loss of benefit. The 3 year disease-free survival (DFS) in the 3-month group was 76.7% (95% CI 75.1–78.2) and in the 6-month group was 77.1% (75.6–78.6) [HR: 1.006 (0.909–1.114)]. The incidence of peripheral sensory neuropathy was of significantly less magnitude, with the rate being 58% in the 6 month group versus 25% in the 3 month group. The SCOT trial has changed clinical practice and our current standard of care is either 3 months of doublet capecitabine and oxaliplatin
(CAPOX) or 6 months of single agent capecitabine chemotherapy in the adjuvant setting for patients with high risk stage II or stage III CRC.
Liquid biopsies, in particular ctDNA, are emerging as an indicator of microscopic minimal residual disease following surgery. There is increasing evidence that postoperative ctDNA levels could potentially be a prognostic biomarker, identifying patients with high or low risk of recurrence. This represents the next step in individualising risk stratification and treatment minimisation, thereby truly delivering personalised care to patients. Multiple prospective studies have shown that time to recurrence, relapse free survival and overall survival were significantly shorter in patients who are ctDNA positive post-operatively compared to negative patients in stage II and stage III colon cancer (Tie et al., Science Translational Medicine, 2016; Diehn et al., ASCO 2017; Tie et al., ASCO 2018). Similarly, in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (T3/T4 and/or N+) receiving chemo-radiotherapy recurrence-free survival was significantly worse in patients in whom ctDNA was detected after after surgery (HR 13.0; p<0.001). (Tie et al., Gut Feb 2018).
The technology for detecting ctDNA has advanced rapidly from the laborious droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) which involves designing individual probes for analysis, to next generation sequencing (NGS) directly in the blood by using suitable cutting edge gene panels. Our amendment now allows us to add TRACC C to the current TRACC protocol to use ctDNA analysis to guide therapy in high risk stage II and stage III patients with standard of care chemotherapy.
This study will facilitate rapid implementation of this technology for assessment across the existing network of recruiting centres.
Start dates may differ between countries and research sites. The research team are responsible for keeping the information up-to-date.
The recruitment start and end dates are as follows:
Type: Management of Care;Other;
You can take part if:
You may not be able to take part if:
Eligibility criteria to be used prior to registration (for all patients, Part A and B): Exclusion Criteria: • Scheduled to have neoadjuvant chemotherapy, (neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for patients with rectal cancer is permitted) • Current or previous other malignancy within 5 years of study entry, except cured basal or squamous cell skin cancer, superficial bladder cancer, prostate intraepithelial neoplasm, carcinoma in situ of the cervix or other non-invasive malignancy. Additional eligibility criteria for rectal cancer patients following completion of pre-operative radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy Patients scheduled to have further pre-operative treatment with chemotherapy • Patients that are no longer proceeding with surgery i.e. those in whom surgery is considered too high risk • Patients that are no longer proceeding with surgery as they are proceeding with a deferral of surgery approach Eligibility criteria at the first post-operative visit: Patients with no confirmed tissue diagnosis or high grade dysplasia included in the study based on imaging diagnosis but subsequent histopathology of surgical specimen confirms no carcinoma will be excluded • Scheduled to receive post-operative radiotherapy For patients in the ctDNA guided interventional arm of the study only (Part C) Exclusion Criteria: 1. History of concurrent and previous malignancy within the last 3 years, with the exception of non- melanomatous skin cancer and carcinoma in situ 2. Any major post-operative complications or other clinical conditions that in the opinion of the investigator would contra-indicate adjuvant chemotherapy 3. Any subject not due to receive adjuvant chemotherapy will not be eligible for Part C of the study 4. Hypersensitivity or contraindication to the drug(s) associated with the planned choice of systemic chemotherapy (CAPOX, FOLFOX or single agent 5-FU or capecitabine) as stated in the SPC for each of the drugs
Below are the locations for where you can take part in the trial. Please note that not all sites may be open.
The study is sponsored by THE ROYAL MARSDEN NHS FOUNDATION TRUST and funded by NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Co-ordinating Centre (NETSCC) .
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for Trial ID: CPMS 47994
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