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ETHAN - ET for Male BC

ETHAN: A Phase II Study Comparing Different Endocrine THerapies for mAle Breast caNcer

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05501704
Enrollment
60
Registered
2022-08-15
Start date
2023-10-11
Completion date
2036-04-01
Last updated
2026-08-24

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Hormone Receptor Negative Breast Carcinoma, Hormone Receptor-positive Breast Cancer, Male Breast Cancer

Keywords

Male Breast Cancer, Hormone Receptor-positive Breast Cancer, Hormone Receptor Negative Breast Cancer

Brief summary

This research study is looking to see how well male breast cancer responds to preoperative treatment with endocrine therapy and which endocrine therapy regimen is the most effective treatment for male breast cancer. The drugs used in this study are: * Tamoxifen * Anastrozole * Degarelix * Abemaciclib

Detailed description

This is an open-label, multicenter, randomized trial for men with stage I-III hormone receptor-positive (HR+)/HER2-negative breast cancer. The trial will have two phases: A 3-week window phase containing endocrine therapy followed by a 4-month treatment phase where participants are treated with one of four endocrine therapy treatment combinations. Tamoxifen is the standard of care for the treatment of breast cancer in men. Anastrozole is a standard treatment in women with breast cancer and works more effectively than tamoxifen. This study hopes to learn if anastrozole may also be effective in men. Given that gonadal suppression and CDK 4/6 inhibitors have both improved treatment in women with breast cancer, the study hopes to learn how the addition of Degarelix (gonadal suppression) and Abemaciclib (CDK 4/6 inhibitors) work in comparison to standard of care tamoxifen. The research study procedures include screening for eligibility and study treatment including laboratory evaluations and quality of life questionnaires. After completion of treatment, participants will be followed for up to 10 years It is expected that about 60 men will take part in this research study. Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical company, is supporting this research study by providing one of the study drugs. This study is also being supported by Johns Hopkins University on behalf of the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC).

Interventions

DRUGTamoxifen

Taken orally

DRUGAnastrozole

Taken orally

DRUGDegarelix

Subcutaneous (under the skin) injection

DRUGAbemaciclib

Taken orally

Sponsors

Jose Pablo Leone
Lead SponsorOTHER
Eli Lilly and Company
CollaboratorINDUSTRY
Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium
CollaboratorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
MALE
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Men aged 18 years or older, with diagnosis of invasive breast cancer who have not undergone surgical resection of the primary tumor and axillary nodes. * Stage I, II, or III per American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging 8th edition (112). * Breast cancer must be hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative according to definition below assessed by local pathology. * Hormone receptor-positive is defined as: positivity for at least one of the hormone receptors (estrogen receptor \[ER\] or progesterone receptor \[PR\]) by IHC. ER and PR assays are considered positive if there are \> 1% positive tumor nuclei in the samples. * HER2-negative is defined per the current American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists Clinical Practice Guideline (113). * Patients with multifocal or multicentric disease are eligible if the treating investigator has determined the patient should be treated as ER-positive and HER2-negative. * Bilateral breast cancers are allowed if the treating investigator has determined the patient should be treated as ER-positive and HER2-negative. * Patients with a history of ipsilateral or contralateral DCIS or LCIS are eligible. * ECOG performance status ≤ 2. * Required laboratory values demonstrating adequate organ function: * ANC ≥ 1000/mm3 * Hemoglobin ≥ 8 g/dl * Platelets ≥ 50,000/mm3 * Serum creatinine ≤ 3.0 x ULN (institutional) * Total bilirubin ≤ 2.0 x ULN (institutional). * AST and ALT ≤ 5.0 x ULN (institutional) * Men with partners of childbearing potential must be willing to use one highly effective form of non-hormonal contraception or two effective forms of non-hormonal contraception by the patient and/or partner and continue its use for the duration of the study treatment and for 6 months after the last dose of study treatment. * Non-English-speaking patients are eligible but will be exempt from patient-completed questionnaires. * Willing and able to sign informed consent. * Willing to undergo breast biopsy after completion of window phase. * Patient is able to swallow oral medications.

Exclusion criteria

* Prior endocrine therapy, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or investigational therapy for the current breast cancer diagnosis. * Prior endocrine therapy, systemic therapy, radiation therapy, or investigational therapy for any other malignancy within the past 12 months. * Diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer (T4d). * Other concurrent serious diseases that may interfere with planned treatment, including severe cardiac disease, congestive heart failure (CHF) of New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class III or higher, severe pulmonary conditions/illness, uncontrolled infections. * The patient has serious and/or uncontrolled preexisting medical condition(s) that, in the judgment of the investigator, would preclude participation in this study (for example, interstitial lung disease, severe dyspnea at rest or requiring oxygen therapy, severe renal impairment \[e.g. estimated creatinine clearance \<30ml/min\], history of major surgical resection involving the stomach or small bowel, or preexisting Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis or a preexisting chronic condition resulting in baseline Grade 2 or higher diarrhea). * The patient has active systemic bacterial infection (requiring intravenous \[IV\] antibiotics at time of initiating study treatment), fungal infection, or detectable viral infection (such as known human immunodeficiency virus positivity or with known active hepatitis B or C \[for example, hepatitis B surface antigen positive\]. Screening is not required for enrollment. * The patient has a personal history of any of the following conditions: syncope of cardiovascular etiology, ventricular arrhythmia of pathological origin (including, but not limited to, ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation), or sudden cardiac arrest.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in Ki-67At the end of the 3-week window period.Ki-67 will be evaluated by ImmunoHistoChemistry (IHC) following consensus recommendations using imaging analysis methods.
RCB indexAt time of surgery.RCB will be determined using data from each participating institution pathology department, and will be reviewed by the study team pathologist.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Changes in estradiol levelsBaseline and at the end of the three-week window periodTo evaluate the physiologic endocrine changes that occur as a result of treatment with tamoxifen, anastrozole and anastrozole and degarelix as measured by estradiol levels at baseline and at the end of the three-week window period
Changes in testosterone levelsBaseline and at the end of the three-week window periodTo evaluate the physiologic endocrine changes that occur as a result of treatment with tamoxifen, anastrozole and anastrozole and degarelix as measured by testosterone levels at baseline and at the end of the three-week window period
Preoperative Endocrine Prognostic Index (PEPI) scoreAt time of surgeryTo evaluate the comparative efficacy of the experimental treatments as measured by PEPI score at surgery.

Countries

United States

Contacts

CONTACTJose Pablo Leone, MD
josep_leone@dfci.harvard.edu617-789-2903
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORJose Pablo Leone, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Aug 25, 2026