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SSRI Antidepressant Fluoxetine Improving Immunotherapy Efficacy in Advanced Hepatobiliary Malignancy Patients With Depression and Anxiety

SSRI Antidepressant Fluoxetine Improving Immunotherapy Efficacy in Advanced Hepatobiliary Malignancy Patients With Depression and Anxiety: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT07174947
Enrollment
240
Registered
2025-09-16
Start date
2025-10-01
Completion date
2027-12-01
Last updated
2026-03-24

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

Conditions

Anxiety Disorders, Depression Disorders, Fluoxetine, Hepatobiliary Malignancy

Brief summary

Advanced liver and gallbladder malignancies (including liver cancer, cholangiocarcinoma and gallbladder cancer) are a type of disease that is difficult to treat, and most patients have a short survival period. In recent years, immunotherapy (such as PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors) has brought new hope to these patients, but still only a small number of patients can benefit. Research has found that approximately 40% of patients with liver and gallbladder tumors have symptoms of depression and anxiety, which not only affect their quality of life but may also reduce the therapeutic effect by influencing immune function. Fluoxetine is a commonly used antidepressant. The latest research shows that in addition to improving mood, it may also enhance the anti-tumor effect of immunotherapy. This study aims to explore whether fluoxetine combined with immunotherapy can better control tumors than immunotherapy alone, prolong the survival period of patients, and at the same time improve the depressive and anxious symptoms and quality of life of patients.

Interventions

Fluoxetine: Maintain at 20mg per day, orally, until disease progression or intolerance

DRUGPlacebo

Placebo: 1 placebo tablet per day for maintenance, orally.

Sponsors

First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Age: 18 to 80 years old, both male and female are acceptable. * The histopathological/cytological diagnosis is hepatocellular carcinoma or cholangiocarcinoma. Hepatocellular carcinoma can be diagnosed by imaging. * Patients with metastatic advanced or locally advanced liver and gallbladder malignancies; * No treatment has been received and a first-line treatment regimen including PD-1 inhibitors /PD-L1 inhibitors is planned to be carried out; * Patients with a PHQ-9 score of ≥10 or a GAD-7 score of ≥8, that is, those with positive screening for depression or anxiety; * At least one lesion measurable by CT or MRI (with a maximum diameter of ≥0.5cm); * ECOG: 0-2; * Child-Pugh score ≤7 points; * The expected survival period is ≥12 weeks. * Baseline blood cell count tests and blood biochemistry must meet the following standards:1) White blood cell count ≥3.0×10\^9/L; Hemoglobin ≥90 g/L;2) Absolute neutrophil count ≥1.5×10\^9/L;3) Platelet count ≥100×10\^9/L;4) Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) ≤ 2.5 times the upper limit of the normal upper limit (ULN);5) Total bilirubin ≤ twice ULN;6) Serum creatinine ≤ 1.5 times ULN; Albumin ≥30 g/L; * The subjects voluntarily joined this study, signed the informed consent form, had good compliance and cooperated with the follow-up.

Exclusion criteria

* Those with uncorrectable coagulation dysfunction and a distinct bleeding tendency; * Patients who currently have unstable or active ulcers or gastrointestinal bleeding; * Severe functional insufficiency of vital organs, such as severe cardiopulmonary insufficiency, etc; * Patients with hepatic encephalopathy or intractable ascites requiring treatment; * A history of mental disorders such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and active suicidal ideation; * Patients with active hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (active is defined as a viral load \> 20,000 IU/mL), or those who are positive for HBV or HCV and refuse to receive standardized antiviral treatment; * Unable to swallow oral medication; * Patients allergic to fluoxetine; * Currently using drugs that may have serious interactions with fluoxetine; * The researchers assessed that the patient was unable or unwilling to comply with the requirements of the research protocol.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Objective Response Rate (ORR) by mRECIST (%)at 4-12 weeks after treatment initiationProportion of participants achieving complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) based on mRECIST criteria, measured on contrast-enhanced CT/MRI at 4-12 weeks after treatment initiation.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Overall Survival (OS) (months)5 yearsTime from treatment initiation to death from any cause.
Progression-Free Survival (PFS) (months)5 yearsTime from treatment initiation to radiologically confirmed disease progression (mRECIST) or death from any cause, whichever occurs first.
status of anxiety and depression5 yearsmeasured by psychologist using GAD-7 and PHQ-9, more than 10 points in either of the charts would be marked as positive
Quality of Life Score (EORTC QLQ-C30, 0-100 scale)5 yearsHealth-related quality of life will be assessed using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core-30 (EORTC QLQ-C30). Scores for global health status/QoL, functional scales, and symptom scales will be calculated according to the EORTC scoring manual, with higher scores indicating better functioning for functional scales and worse symptoms for symptom scales.

Countries

China

Outcome results

None listed

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