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TIME in Immunotherapy Combined With nCRT for Rectal Cancer

The Therapeutic and Prognostic Implications of Tumor Immune Microenvironment in The Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy Combined With Chemoradiotherapy for Rectal Cancer

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05507112
Acronym
TIMENT-R
Enrollment
100
Registered
2022-08-18
Start date
2022-12-20
Completion date
2029-12-01
Last updated
2026-07-07

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

Conditions

Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer

Keywords

Rectal Cancer, Immunotherapy, neoadjuvant therapy, Tumor Immune Microenvironment

Brief summary

This is an open-label, prospective phase II clinical trial to evaluate the therapeutic and prognostic implications of tumor immune microenvironment in the neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemoradiotherapy for patients with rectal cancer. A total of 100 patients will be enrolled in this trial. The primary endpoint is the complete response rate, defined as the proportion of patients who achieve pathological complete response (pCR) or clinical complete response (cCR) without evidence of distant metastasis on post-treatment or preoperative assessment. The long-term prognosis and adverse effects will also be evaluated and analyzed.

Detailed description

Objectives: 1. To clarify the efficacy and safety of combined therapy for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) patients and verify the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant immunotherapy for dMMR/MSI-H LARC patients. 2. To clarify the effect of nCRT on TIME for rectal cancer, and the further effect of adding Immunotherapy. 3. To verify the feasibility of predicting the efficacy of combined therapy by the infiltration level of CD8+ PD1+ TILs in tumor tissue before treatment in pMMR/MSS LARC patients and explore the comprehensive prediction index of the efficacy of combined therapy for LARC patients. 4. To clarify the potential mechanism of immune response or immune escape to neoadjuvant immunotherapy for LARC patients.

Interventions

DRUGPD-1 inhibitor

Tislelizumab (3 cycles): 200mg i.v. q3w on day 1 of each cycle, and starting from the second week after the start of radiotherapy

DRUGCapecitabine

Capecitabine 1650mg/m2/d orally twice-daily, 5 days a week for a total of 5 weeks.

RADIATIONLong-course radiation therapy

45-50 Gy/day, 5 days a week for a total of 5 weeks.

Sponsors

Peking Union Medical College Hospital
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 75 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

1. Age ≥ 18 years and ≤75 years on the day of signing informed consent. 2. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-2. 3. Histologically proven rectal adenocarcinoma. 4. \<12 cm from anal verge. 5. Clinical stage of T3/T4 or N positive and M0 6. No previous chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy or surgical treatment 7. No immune system disease (e. g. systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic vasculitis, scleroderma, mixed connective tissue disease, dermatomyositis (DM), hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, ulcerative colitis (UC), autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. 8. Adequate hepatic and renal function to chemoradiotherapy, immunotherapy and surgery. 9. Willing and able to provide written informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

1. Allergic to any component of chemotherapy or immunotherapy; 2. Patients with multiple primary colorectal cancer; 3. Other malignant tumors within 5 years, except for adequately treated cervical carcinoma in situ or cutaneous basal cell carcinoma, or basically controlled localized prostate cancer or surgically excised ductal carcinoma in situ of breast; 4. Patients with intestinal obstruction, intestinal perforation, intestinal bleeding, or other conditions requiring emergency surgical resection; 5. Prior or planed organ/bone marrow transplant 6. Patients who receive systemic steroid therapy or immunosuppressive agents within 30 days before enrollment in the study; 7. Pregnant or lactating women 8. Patients with a history of severe mental illness or being unable to comply with the research protocols. 9. Patients who have contraindications to chemoradiotherapy, immunotherapy or surgery. 10. Patients who have any other conditions that investigator judges unsuitable to participate.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Complete response rate (CR rate)1-2 weeks after surgery or assessment after termination of neoadjuvant treatmentProportion of patients who achieve pathological complete response (pCR) or clinical complete response (cCR) without evidence of distant metastasis on post-treatment or preoperative assessment.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Pathological tumor regression grade (CAP)1-2 weeks after surgeryAll tumor tissues will be analyzed by experienced pathologists. Determination of tumor regression will adopt College of American Pathologists (CAP) tumor regression grade, which are as follows: CAP0: No viable cancer cells (complete response); CAP1:Single cells or rare small groups of cancer cells (near complete response); CAP2: Residual cancer with evident tumor regression, but more than single cells or rare small groups of cancer cells (partial response); and CAP3: Extensive residual cancer with no evident tumor regression (poor or no response).
Rate of tumor down-staging1-2 weeks after surgeryThe proportion of patients experiencing tumor down-staging will be assessed by pathology.
Lymphocytes infiltration changes after treatment2 weeks before treatment and 1-2 weeks after surgeryThe categories, number and distribution of lymphocytes infiltrated in tumor and tumor stroma are measured by Multiplex immunofluorescence assay.
The expression of immune-related pathways2 weeks before treatment and 1-2 weeks after surgeryThe expression of immune-related pathways is measured by RNAseq.
Rectal MRI defined tumor regressionBaseline and 1 week before surgeryProportion of patients achieving rectal MRI-confirmed near or complete tumor regression.
Rectal MRI defined tumor down-stagingBaseline and 1 week before surgeryProportion of patients achieving rectal MRI-confirmed down-staging.
Rectal MRI defined tumor volume changeBaseline and 1 week before surgeryThe change of patients' tumor volume will be confirmed by rectal MRI.
Local recurrence (LR) rate3, 5 yearsPresence of adenocarcinoma within the rectal wall or within the mesorectum confirmed by pathology
Disease free survival (DFS)3, 5 yearsThe three-year and five-year disease-free survival of patients.
Disease-related Treatment Failure (DrTF) rateBaseline and months 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 60DrTF was defined as the time from the initiation of radiotherpay to the date of each of the following, whichever occurred first: disease progression during/after treatment, distant metastasis at any timepoint, or death from any cause.
Overall survival (OS)3, 5 yearsThe three-year and five-year overall survival of patients.
Surgical complicationsThe surgical complications are assessed up to 5 years from the surgeryRate of surgical complications, such as intraoperative hemorrhage, anastomotic leakage, intestinal obstruction, etc, which will also be assessed according to "Clavien-Dindo Classification of surgical complications".
R0 resection rateWithin two weeks after surgeryRate of complete tumor removal with negative microscopically resection margin.
Rate of sphincter-sparing surgeryWithin two weeks after surgeryRate of sphincter-sparing surgery if surgery is performed.
Rate of adverse eventFrom date of randomization until the date of death from any cause, assessed up to 5 yearsRate of adverse events will be assessed according to National Cancer Institution Common Terminology Criteria of Adverse Events (NCI-CTCAE) v.4.02. Adverse events of this trial will include immune-related adverse events, chemo- and radiotherapy related adverse events, and combined treatment-related adverse events.
Patient reported outcome: Quality of life according to questionnaire European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Core Questionnaire 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) (v 3.0)Baseline and months 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 60Score values from 1 (not at all) to 4 (very much) respectively from 1 (very poor) to 7 (excellent). Score outcome depends on score type.
Patient reported outcome: Quality of life according to questionnaire European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Colorectal Cancer 29 (EORTC QLQ-CR29)Baseline and months 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 60Score values from 1 (not at all) to 4 (very much). Score outcome depends on score type.
Patient reported outcome: Functional outcome according to Wexner scoreBaseline and months 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 60Five score values from "never" to "1 per day or more often". The more often the worse outcome.

Countries

China

Contacts

STUDY_CHAIRJiaolin Zhou, Ph.D

Peking Union Medical College Hospital

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jul 8, 2026