Clinical Research Directory

An Exploratory Study of Single-Dose Neoadjuvant Nivolumab Without Surgical Delay in Patients With Resectable HCC

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether giving a single dose of Nivolumab (Opdivo®) before curative surgery for patients with resectable liver cancer can activate the body's immune response against the cancer and potentially reduce the risk of the cancer coming back after surgery, without delaying or affecting the planned surgery. The study will also evaluate whether this treatment is feasible and whether it may be effective. Participants will: * Complete all required examinations(e.g.: Laboratory tests, Tumor tissue biopsy, Computed tomography scan...) during the screening period * Receive single dose of Nivolumab intravenous infusion * Undergo surgery on its originally scheduled date * Visit the hospital once every 4 weeks for checkups and tests after receiving Nivolumab

TACE or Ablation Combined With Sintilimab and Ipilimumab N01 as Neoadjuvant Therapy for Resectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma With Intermediate-High Recurrence Risk

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. The recurrence rate after curative resection for early-stage HCC remains extremely high, with 2-year and 5-year recurrence rates reaching 50% and 70%, respectively. Currently, no standard perioperative treatment is recommended in domestic and international guidelines. Recently, data from a phase III clinical study, investigating neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy with camrelizumab plus apatinib in resectable HCC patients at intermediate-to-high risk of recurrence, demonstrated that the neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy combining targeted therapy and immunotherapy could significantly reduce postoperative recurrence. The median recurrence-free survival (RFS) in the target-immunotherapy group was 42.1 months, which was remarkably longer than 19.4 months in the surgery-alone group. Local therapies (TACE, ablation) can induce immunogenic cell death of tumors and remodel the tumor microenvironment, thereby exerting synergistic effects with immunotherapy. This strategy is expected to further improve recurrence-free survival in HCC patients after surgery. This clinical trial aims to explore the efficacy and tolerability of the following regimens compared with surgery alone: 1. TACE or ablation combined with anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 immunotherapy; 2. TACE or ablation combined with anti-CTLA-4 + anti-PD-1 + lenvatinib; 3. Dual immunotherapy with anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1; 4. Anti-CTLA-4 + anti-PD-1 + lenvatinib. Efficacy differences between groups will be compared using Bayesian statistical methods based on non-informative priors.

The Impact of Anaesthesia and Sedation on Inflammation and NETosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Ablation

According to recent literature, liver disease causes approximately 2 million deaths annually; 1 million are attributed to the complications of cirrhosis, while the remaining deaths are caused by hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The latter currently ranks 16th among the leading causes of death worldwide. Current research focuses on investigating novel therapeutic modalities, optimizing surgical and anesthetic practices, and identifying biological biomarkers to predict disease progression and severity. In this study, we address radiofrequency ablation (RFA) with the goal of improving periprocedural prognosis, recurrence rates, and overall survival. Specifically, we will quantify the expression of NETosis, a relatively novel biomarker with potential therapeutic and prognostic value in HCC progression. NETosis is a regulated form of cell death through which granulocytes release decondensed chromatin and various proteases into the extracellular space, forming a web-like meshwork known as neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). These structures are actively involved in hepatic tumorigenesis by promoting tumor growth and metastasis. Recent clinical data reveal that NETs play a key role in: Local tumor progression The incidence of hepatic metastasis Direct modulation of the immune response Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury Several recent studies demonstrate that the in vivo blockade of NETosis reduces tumor recurrence, mitigates the pro-inflammatory state, and serves as a valuable prognostic indicator in advanced liver disease \[2,3,4\]. To suppress NETosis expression and ultimately lower recurrence rates, our protocol evaluates the intraprocedural administration of 1% lidocaine followed by a continuous postoperative intravenous lidocaine infusion.

Outpatient Versus Inpatient Care Pathway for Intra-arterial Treatment of Primary Liver Cancer (CHOC)

Randomized multicentre trial comparing two care organisations (ambulatory vs conventional inpatient) for patients undergoing transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) or radioembolization (TARE) for primary liver cancer (Hepato Cellular Carcinoma (HCC) or intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA)). Patients are followed for 7 months to assess patient satisfaction, safety and clinical outcomes. A qualitative implementation study and a medico-economic evaluation (cost analysis and 5-years budget impact analysis) are embedded to assess acceptability, adoption, feasability, and sustainability and to inform scaling.

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation to RESCUE Patients With Unresectable Hcc Progressors to First Line Therapy With AtezolizUmaB and Bevacizumab

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), when administered in combination with atezolizumab and bevacizumab, can improve treatment response in participants with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) whose disease has progressed during prior atezolizumab-bevacizumab therapy. The study will also assess the safety and feasibility of this treatment strategy. Primary Objective: To determine whether FMT can restore or enhance response to atezolizumab and bevacizumab following disease progression. Participants will: Receive a fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). Resume treatment with atezolizumab and bevacizumab, administered every 3 weeks.

SHIELD: Sorafenib Hand-foot Syndrome Inhibition With Pre-Emptive Local Delivery of Topical Indomethacin

SHIELD is a single-center, open-label, single-arm prospective study designed to evaluate whether pre-emptive topical indomethacin can reduce sorafenib-associated hand-foot syndrome (HFS) in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Eligible adult patients with advanced HCC who are planned to initiate sorafenib will receive standard sorafenib treatment together with prophylactic 1% topical indomethacin gel applied to both hands twice daily for up to 12 weeks, or until development of HFS or discontinuation of sorafenib, whichever occurs first. The primary endpoint is the incidence of all-grade HFS during the first 12 weeks of sorafenib treatment. Secondary endpoints include grade 2 or higher HFS rate, grade 3 or higher HFS rate, mean sorafenib dose intensity during the first 12 weeks, adverse events of special interest, and duration of sorafenib treatment. The study will enroll 39 patients and compare outcomes with historical control data.

A Platform Trial for Personalized and Adaptive Therapies in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

This is a phase II, multi-arm, Bayesian adaptive platform trial designed to efficiently evaluate novel therapies for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after first-line treatment failure. The study aims to rapidly identify the most effective investigational regimens and discover predictive biomarker signatures (from tumor tissue, blood, and imaging) to guide personalized second-line therapy.

Becotatug Vedotin (MRG003) in Previously Treated Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma

This study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of Becotatug vedotin, MRG003, in previously treated advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Phase 2 Study of WGI-0301 Plus Nivolumab in Patients With HCC and RCC

This is a Phase II study being done at several hospitals without using a placebo. It will look at how safe and tolerable the drug WGI-0301 is when given together with nivolumab, how the body processes and responds to WGI-0301, and whether this combination shows early signs of working in people with advanced liver cancer or advanced kidney cancer.

Effects of Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy on Anti-tumour Immunity in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients Undergoing Liver Resection

Our study aims to evaluate the benefit of the administration of immunotherapy (atezolizumab), in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), prior surgical resection of the tumor. HCC is the most prevalent primary liver cancer, responsible for nearly 800,000 deaths annually, making it the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Ablation by radiologic micro-waves or surgical resection represent at the moment the only curative therapies for early stages of the disease. Despite these curative options, HCC recurrence is frequent. Recently, immunotherapy has demonstrated good results on patient overall survival for advanced stages of HCC in comparison to sorafenib. Because of the beneficial effect of immunotherapy on HCC, several groups have attempt to use it as adjuvant therapy in order to reduce the recurrence rate. However the results are at the moment controversial. One can hypothetize that postoperative inflammation and liver regeneration can negatively impact the effect of the immunotherapy. Therefore, the administration of the treatmeent before surgical resection could overcome this issue.

Transarterial Chemoembolization (TACE) Plus ABCB1 Inhibition Versus TACE Alone in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma

IMPACT-TACE is an investigator-initiated, prospective, multicenter, randomized, double-blinded, interventional trial to test the hypothesis that the simultaneous application of doxorubicin with the ABCB1 inhibitor nicardipine would significantly improve the success rate of TACE treatment.

Camrelizumab and Apatinib With or Without FOLFOX Chemotherapy for Advanced HCC

This is a multi-center randomized phase III clinical study of first-line Camrelizumab and Apatinib with or without intravenous FOLFOX Chemotherapy for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC).

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Identification Using Delta-HLD

HIDE (Hepatocellular Carcinoma Identification via Delta-HLD) is a proof-of-concept case-control study designed to evaluate the performance of delta-HLD, Epiliquid's proprietary liquid biopsy technology, in detecting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The study includes both plasma and tissue samples to assess biomarker concordance and evaluate diagnostic sensitivity and specificity using tumor-specific methylation markers detected by PCR.

Effect and Mechanism of ALPPS Operation on Liver Regeneration

Hepatobiliary malignancies-principally hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA)-are highly aggressive and often diagnosed at advanced stages. Curative-intent liver resection remains the standard for resectable disease; however, postoperative outcomes depend on an adequate functional future liver remnant (FLR). Associating Liver Partition and Portal Vein Ligation for Staged Hepatectomy (ALPPS) induces rapid FLR hypertrophy and has expanded resection eligibility compared with conventional two-stage hepatectomy by shortening the interval to definitive resection. Key uncertainties persist regarding the quality of ALPPS-induced regeneration and its relationship to long-term oncologic outcomes, including recurrence and metastasis. This observational study enrolls patients deemed suitable for ALPPS at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Perioperative care follows institutional standards; no therapeutic procedures are altered for research purposes. The investigators will collect clinically available liver tissue and relevant medical data obtained during standard surgical care to characterize cellular and molecular programs of regeneration across the ALPPS stages. High-throughput profiling-including single-cell and spatial transcriptomics-will be used to define cell-type composition, transcriptional states, and signaling pathways associated with regeneration. The primary objective is to describe cellular and gene-expression changes in regenerating liver induced by ALPPS. Secondary objectives include exploring associations between regenerative quality and short- and long-term clinical outcomes. Findings are expected to inform potential therapeutic targets and strategies to enhance safe regeneration and improve postoperative prognosis.

PIVKA-II for Predicting Portal Vein Thrombosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The goal of this cross-sectional observational study is to evaluate the relation between Prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence II (PIVKA-II) and the presence of portal vein tumor thrombosis (PVTT) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Researchers will compare PIVKA-II serum levels in HCC patients with PVTT and without PVTT. Participants will undergo history-taking, clinical examination, laboratory investigations, PIVKA-II serum level, Child-Pugh classification, Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, BCLC staging, abdominal ultrasonography, and Triphasic CT abdomen with contrast or MRI to evaluate tumor site, size, number, and presence of PVTT (a filling defect in the portal vein or its branch to distinguish PVTT or thrombus).

Fibroscan Evaluating Immunotherapy Response in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The goal of this prospective cohort study is to evaluate the role of transient elastography (Fibroscan) in predicting the response of immunotherapy in advanced Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Researchers will predict the response to 6 months of HCC immunotherapy regarding improvement of the degree of liver fibrosis, development of liver decompensation, complications, survival, and mortality. Participants will undergo history-taking, clinical examination, laboratory investigations, Child-Pugh classification, Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, BCLC staging, abdominal ultrasonography, Triphasic CT abdomen with contrast or MRI (for evaluation of tumor site, size and number), and Fibroscan examination at baseline and follow-up after 6 months.

Retrospective Clinical Validation of HepatoPredict

HepatoPredict is an innovative prognostic tool to support hepatologists, hepatobiliary surgeons and multidisciplinary teams in deciding on the best therapeutical approach for a patient with Hepatocellular Carcinoma, the most common type of primary liver cancer. HepatoPredict is a laboratory test that analyses a molecular signature from a small tumour sample and combines this information with details from imaging tests, such as the number of nodules and their size. Using a computational model, HepatoPredict determines whether a patient is likely to remain disease-free after hepatic surgery (good prognosis) or if there is a higher chance of the tumour returning (bad prognosis). Current selection criteria to assess the eligibility of patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma for liver transplantation present several problems, including: 1. selection of patients that will not benefit from a transplant. This could be due to recurrence of cancer or early death from another cause. 2. exclusion of patients who could benefit from a liver transplant but are currently not eligible; 3. increased tumor recurrence rates. Thus, improved tools that predict the likelihood of cancer coming back are needed to better assess if a patient will benefit from hepatic surgery. This will allow better use of organs, waiting list times, and improve ways of identifying the most appropriate treatments for individual patients. HepatoPredict accurately selects patients for hepatic surgery, outperforming conventional clinical criteria. In previous retrospective studies, HepatoPredict predicted successful surgery outcomes in patients who were not eligible by currently used criteria. This study aims to retrospectively validate the prognostic tool HepatoPredict in assessing how well a patient with Hepatocellular Carcinoma performed considering recurrence-free survival (no cancer recurrence) and overall survival after 5 years follow-up after liver surgery or liver transplantation.

HAIC Combined with Donafenib and Sintilimab As Perioperative Treatment for Resectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients At High Risk of Recurrence

This study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of therapy perioperative treatment with HAIC combined with donafenib and sintilimab (group A)/ donafenib combined with sintilimab (group B) compared with direct surgery (group C) in resectable HCC patients who are at high risk for disease recurrence.

PD-L1 Antibody + Bevacizumab With Hepatic Arterial Infusion Chemotherapy for Advanced HCC

This is a single-arm, phase II clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of PD-L1 antibody combined with bevacizumab and hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) for patients with advanced unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with extrahepatic metastases. Study Population: Patients with advanced HCC who have: * Confirmed extrahepatic metastases * No prior PD-L1 or bevacizumab therapy * Age 18-75 years * Child-Pugh A or B7 liver function * ECOG performance status 0-1 Treatment Regimen: * PD-L1 antibody: 1200mg every 3 weeks * Bevacizumab: 15mg/kg every 3 weeks * HAIC with FOLFOX regimen: Up to 6 cycles * Treatment continues until disease progression or up to 24 months Primary Endpoint: -Objective Response Rate (ORR) Secondary Endpoints: * Disease Control Rate (DCR) * Duration of Response (DOR) * Progression-free Survival (PFS) * Overall Survival (OS) * Safety assessments * Quality of life measurements Study Design Details: * Single-arm study using Simon's two-stage design * First stage: 27 patients * Second stage: 9 additional patients if first stage shows efficacy * Total planned enrollment: 36 patients * Study duration: October 2024 - July 2027 This study aims to evaluate whether adding HAIC to PD-L1 inhibitor plus bevacizumab immunotherapy can improve outcomes for advanced HCC patients with extrahepatic spread, who currently have limited treatment options. The trial will assess both efficacy and safety of this combination approach.