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Colorectal and anal cancer

Clinical Trials

ART: Anal squamous cell carcinoma: Investigation of functional imaging during chemoradiotherapy

We may be able to predict which patients with anal squamous carcinoma, a colorectal cancer, are likely to relapse from MRI, CT, and PET images taken just after they finish chemoradiotherapy.

ART is a single-centre observational study will recruit 16 participants receiving radical chemoradiation therapy for anal cancer within the Oxford University Hospitals. MRI, CT, and PET images of their tumours will be taken after their chemotherapy treatment. The patients will be followed to see if there are any correlations between their images and how well the treatment works. We hypothesise that the patients whose images show no resolution of poor vascularity or hypoxia will be more likely to relapse.

This study is run by OCTO.

Sharon Love and Pradeep Virdee

FOXFIRE: 5-Fluorouracil, OXaliplatin and Folinic acid +/- Interventional Radio-Embolisation as first line treatment for patients with unresectable liver-only or liver-predominant metastatic colorectal cancer

FOXFIRE logoFOXFIRE is a randomised phase III trial that tests whether adding radioembolisation to a standard chemotherapy protocol (5-fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, and folinic acid) will improve the treatment of metastatic bowel cancer in the liver. These liver tumours are often too large to be operated on. In radioembolisation, radioactive beads are injected into the tumour's blood vessel. They block the blood supply to the tumour and damage the cancer cells with radiation.

This study is run by OCTO.

Sharon Love, Joanna Moschandreas, and Pradeep Virdee

MErCuRIC1: A Phase 1 Study of MEK 1/2 Inhibitor PD-0325901 With cMET Inhibitor PF-03241066 in RASMT and RASWT (With Aberrant c-MET) Colorectal Cancer Patients

MERCURIC1 is a phase I study that tests two new cancer treatments (crizotinib and PD0325901) together for the first time. The first part of the trial will see what doses of the two drugs can safely be given together. Once the investigators have identified a suitable dose combination, they will look at how effective treatment is in bowel cancers where either the RAS gene is mutated, or MET is over-active.

This trial is run by OCTO.

Sharon Love and Corran Roberts

RHYTHM-I: Modulation of Radiotherapy according to HYpoxia: exploiting changes in the Tumour Microenvironment to improve outcome in rectal cancer

Cancer cells with low oxygen levels are less likely to respond to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. New treatments are needed for patients with low-oxygen tumours. However, we first need to be able to identify those patients. The traditional way of measuring tumour oxygen, by inserting a needle into the tumour and measuring it directly, is not possible in rectal cancer.

RHYTHM-I will look for another way of identifying low-oxygen rectal tumours, by testing blood samples, cancer tissue samples, and looking at detailed scans. It will also investigate whether chemoradiotherapy can raise the oxygen levels in rectal tumours.

This study is run by OCTO.

Sharon Love and Pradeep Virdee

SONATINA: A Phase II Multi-Centre Randomised Controlled Study Of Nelfinavir Addition to Radiotherapy Treatment In Neo-Adjuvant Therapy for Rectal Cancer

In the laboratory, cancer cells become more sensitive to radiotherapy when they are treated with HIV protease inhibitors, such as Nelfinavir. SONATINA tests whether the laboratory effect translates into a clinical effect in patients.

Nelfinavir was given to patients with rectal cancer as a tablet to see if it enhances the number of cancer cells killed by radiotherapy. The safety of the treatment will also be tested.

This study is run by OCTO.

Corran Roberts