Clinical Research Directory

Will a Pre-therapy Exercise Intervention Improve the Outcomes of Patients With Advanced Oesophageal Cancer?

Background Regular exercise can significantly improve physical and mental health during cancer treatment and reduce the time needed in the hospital. Animal studies suggest that exercise training can also reduce the number of cancer cells. For example, exercise training in mice produces more immune cells in the tumour. These immune cells in the tumour contribute to the destruction and reduction of the size of the tumour and are a vital component of effective immunotherapy (cancer treatment that helps the immune system fight cancer). In humans, exercise training and the immune response in tumours are less understood. Only 1 study has investigated the effect of a single exercise session before surgical removal of the prostate in prostate cancer patients. As the benefits of exercise are gained from weeks/months of exercise, no effect on the immune cells in the tumours were found. The investigators have carried out a previous study looking at how exercise affects fitness before major surgery. After this they used state-of-the-art methods to detect and visualise immune cells within the tumour. Compared with the patients who did not exercise, the exercise group had significantly more immune cells in their tumours, consisting of a group of cells that are important for killing cancerous cells called CD8+ T cells. CD8+ T cells in tumours are associated with improved survival outcomes. Importantly, they found a link between changes in fitness and the amount of these cells in the tumour. This suggests that if there is increase in fitness, there also an increase in the frequency of these cells in the tumour. Therefore, the investigators propose performing a clinical trial to find out the best level of exercise patients need to sustain before surgery to produce this improved immune response. The trial will aim to understand how this happens and how the entry of immune cells into the tumour changes the environment around a tumour. The investigators consist of a team of exercise immunologists, tumour immunologists and clinicians working with the Human Performance Institute at the University of Surrey in collaboration with the Royal Surrey NHS Trust. How it will be done The investigators will assess immune cell response in blood samples obtained from oesophageal cancer patients before, during and after a high or low intensity exercise programme. Following the exercise programme, tumour tissue removed at surgery from these patients will be used to investigate the the presence and quantity of these immune cells. Potential impact A better understanding of this is important, as current anti-cancer immune-based therapeutics work best when there is a an immune response within the patient's tumour. Generating evidence that exercise can improve the immune response against the tumour in patients with oesophageal cancer would provide significant justification for introducing "personalised" exercise programmes to improve treatment outcomes.

Multicenter Prospective Cohort on Esophageal Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection

In France in 2018, there were an estimated 2,074 new cases of esophageal adenocarcinoma and 3,224 cases of squamous cell carcinoma. The estimated deaths from esophageal cancer were 3,725, with a standardized 5-year net survival rate of 20% for cases diagnosed between 2010 and 2015, mainly due to late diagnosis. Surgery was historically the standard treatment for localized disease but carries significant morbidity. Over the past decade, endoscopic treatments, particularly endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), have become the reference approach for superficial esophageal cancers. After endoscopic resection, histological analysis allows classification of recurrence risk into very low, low, and high categories. Predicting lymph node or distant recurrence is complex, depending on factors such as depth of wall infiltration, lymphovascular invasion, and tumor differentiation. The frequent combination of unfavorable histological features may have led to an overestimation of lymph node involvement risk in T1b cancers. ESD is widely performed in France, with over 1,600 procedures reported in 2023 for esophageal and gastric lesions, demonstrating the feasibility of a large observational study. This multicenter French cohort will evaluate technical, oncological, and organizational outcomes of esophageal ESD, including overall survival, recurrence-free survival, and management of residual Barrett's esophagus. It will also identify predictive factors for treatment success, recurrence, and complications, providing real-world evidence to guide patient management.

AUGMENTED RESPONSE OF VOLATILE BIOMARKERS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF OESOPHAGOGASTRIC CANCER (AROMA2)

Cancer of the stomach and oesophagus is among the world's top five cancers. Survival rates are very poor as the disease presents late and early symptoms are non-specific. The study team has developed a non-invasive test for cancers of the stomach and oesophagus based on the detection of volatile organic compounds in exhaled breath. These compounds are known to be produced by both cancers as well as cancer associated bacteria within the gut. The proposed innovation is to improve the accuracy of this test by investigating whether simple metabolic substrates can increase the production of these volatile organic compounds by both the tumour and its associated bacteria.

Evaluation of Seismocardiography(SCG) for Assessing Fitness and Predicting Outcomes in Oesophageal Cancer Surgery

Oesophageal cancer is a common cause of cancer death worldwide. Curative treatment involves chemotherapy and surgery but has significant risks. Therefore, patient selection and improving physical fitness to withstand such major treatment is important to reduce the risk of complications. Physical fitness is traditionally measured by a specialised exercise test called Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), which can take up to one hour and requires specialised staff and expensive equipment such as a graded exercise bike or treadmill. Seismofit is a small device (smaller than a smartphone) used to estimate fitness in patients in under three minutes while lying down at rest. It measures the vibrations generated by the heart and, together with patient height, weight, age, and gender, accurately estimates fitness using an algorithm developed in healthy patients. The device has never been tested in a large group of oesophageal cancer patients to see if it can be used to predict complications in patients undergoing cancer treatment. In this study, patients undergoing Oesophageal cancer treatment with chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy and surgery will have Seismofit measurements at various points during their treatment to see if we can predict complications and hospital stay. Secondly, this study will also evaluate the accuracy of Seismofit compared to the gold standard CPET results in cancer patients.

Metformin as a Metabolic Intervention in Oesophageal Adenocarcinomas to Improve Response to Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy

The primary objective of this study is to investigate whether two weeks of metformin treatment can activate the tumour microenvironment in patients with stage II and III oesophageal adenocarcinomas.

Longitudinal Assessment of Biomarkers After Oesophagogastric Cancer Surgery

Oesophagogastric cancer (cancer of the gullet and stomach) is the fifth most common cancer in England and Wales with 16,000 new cases diagnosed every year. Survival rates are poor with only 15% surviving beyond 5 years. There is also increasing research to understand the cancer biology and factors allowing cancers to progress. It is likely there is a relationship between the cancer-specific microbiome, cells related to inflammation, which promotes cancer progression. The BIORESOURCE 1 study has established a comprehensive resource of matched samples from patients with oesophageal and gastric cancer. This longitudinal study aims to obtain further matched biosamples in the follow-up period after cancer surgery to find biomarkers that may predict treatment response, recurrence and/or long term prognosis.

Blood-borne Assessment of Stromal Activation in Esophageal Adenocarcinoma to Guide Tocilizumab Therapy

The primary objective of this study is to demonstrate that stroma-targeting by tocilizumab in patients with adenocarcinoma of the esophagus or gastroesophageal junction with highly activated stroma increases efficacy of chemoradiotherapy measured by pathological response according to the Mandard criteria. Patients will be grouped for ADAM12, a non-invasive blood-borne marker of stromal activation.