Clinical Research Directory

Detecting HPV DNA in Anal and Cervical Cancers

This is a research study for individuals who have cancer associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) and are being treated with radiation as part of standard care for their cancer. Doctors leading this study will use blood tests to find out if they can detect the HPV virus in the blood of study participants before, during, and after radiation treatment. They will also collect blood and archival tumor tissue (from a previous biopsy) to perform other tests in the future that could provide more information about HPV-associated cancers and how they respond to treatment. Participation in this study will last approximately 2 years.

Dynamic ctDNA Assessment in Cervical and Anal Canal Tumors: Optimizing Follow-up and Clinical Outcomes

After definitive radiotherapy (RT) treatment (with or without chemotherapy), cervical and anal canal neoplasms frequently exhibit disease persistence or recurrence. Due to the local inflammatory process post-treatment, response assessment by imaging (current gold standard) is limited, often necessitating multiple follow-ups and repeated invasive biopsies. Conventional follow-up is complex and costly, requiring equipment from secondary and tertiary services, trained radiologists, and patient exposure to radiation and contrast. In this context of human papillomavirus(HPV)-related neoplasms, recent studies have demonstrated the role of ctDNA (circulating tumor DNA) in assessing the risk of recurrence or disease progression, providing a rationale for using the tool in two fronts: * Optimizing follow-up based on serial monitoring of ctDNA; * Selecting patients with positive ctDNA after RT, who are at high risk of recurrence, for treatment intensification. Monitoring with ctDNA as a standalone follow-up tool in cases evolving with negative ctDNA after RT has the potential to replace imaging exams, being a minimally invasive test performed on a peripheral blood sample. Currently, ctDNA testing has expensive methodologies not available in the Unified Health System (SUS). This project aims to develop a methodology for ctDNA evaluation focused on HPV ctDNA research that is low-cost and executable in SUS, as well to assess the accuracy of this test in the population with HPV-related tumors. Additionally, we will evaluate whether the early introduction of immunotherapy in patients with positive ctDNA after definitive treatment can increase cure rates. Immunotherapy already has a well-defined role in the treatment of metastatic HPV-related neoplasms. Recently, the use of anti-programmed death-1 (anti-PD1) has also shown benefits in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer with a high risk of recurrence who are candidates for chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Therefore, its use focused on HPV-related tumors, as well as a better understanding of which patients benefit from this strategy, warrants further investigation.

Immune PET and Proteomics for the Assessment of Response to Spatially Fractionated or Palliative Radiotherapy With or Without Immunotherapy

The aim of the study is to evaluate the response to four schemes of treatment with novel diagnostic tools - Immuno-PET and proteomics as well as standard imaging (magnetic resonsonce imaging and computed tomography). Two fractionation schedules of radiotherapy will be used. The first will be a common standard of palliative irradiation - 20 Gy delivered in five fractions of 4 Gy (SHORT). The other is called Spatially Fractionated Radiotherapy (SFRT). SFRT is delivered in one fraction of 20 Gy but the dose is diversified inside the tumor to produce areas of high and low doses distributed alternately. This kind of irradiation may be able to stimulate immune response and improve the efficiency of immunotherapy. A drug belonging to the class of immunotherapeutic agents - Pembrolizumab will be added to the treatment scheme in two arms of the study to check that assumption. The response of the target tumor will be evaluated with PET study using Pembrolizumab labeled with zirconium-89 which will show the spatial distribution of immune receptors within the target tumor and other involved sites if there are any. The examination will be repeated after the treatment to evaluate changes in distribution of the immune receptors necessary for the drug to work. Additionally, the researchers will repeatedly test the presence and concentration of a wide panel of proteins in blood to evaluate response to the treatment more precisely.

Pd-1 Antibody Combined Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is one of the major health problems for chinese women. Besides surgery and radiotherapy, neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been proved to be an effective program by many studies. However, not all patients respond well to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. This is an open-label, single-arm, multi-center clinical trial to evaluate whether PD-1 in combination with neoadjuvant chemotherapy will achieve better objective response rate.

Clinical Triage and Treatment of Atypical Glandular Cells (AGC) Detected in Screening

The risk of cervical cancer after diagnosis with atypical glandular cells (AGC) detected by screening is elevated for 15 years after discovery. The current recommendation is that when AGC is detected during screening, referel is made to a gynecologist for colposcopy with biopsy within 3 months after the index test. Repeated tests should be done after one year and after two years and if these are negative, the woman can return to routine screening. Given the increased risk of cancer associated with AGC a new evaluation of the optimal follow-up and treatment of AGC, which is detected during screening, is carried out. In this randomized study, women with AGC will be randomized to routine treatment according to current guidelines or to conization. The aim of the study is to determine which of the two treatments is most effective.

Evaluation of First-void Urine as an Alternative to Cervical Sampling for Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Testing in Cervical Cancer Screening (Single-center Study).

Papillomaviruses are responsible for almost all cervical cancers. In France, there are more than 3000 new cases of cervical cancer each year and nearly 1000 deaths. One of the ways to prevent this cancer is screening by PCR on cervical sample for which national coverage rate remains very insufficient (\<60%). The invasive and uncomfortable nature of cervical sampling has been identified as a major obstacle to screening. In this context, an alternative sample, such as the first-void urine, seems to be judicious. Nevertheless, some studies have shown a lack of sensitivity of the HPV PCR test on urine. As underlined by the French National Authority for Health (HAS), this is mainly due to a lack of standardization of urine collection. In this study, the investigators therefore propose to evaluate the performance of the HPV PCR test on first-void urine using a standardized protocol. Through a questionnaire, they will also evaluate the acceptability of the first void urine collection device.

A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Study of Photoelectric Detection in Cervical Cancer Screening

The main purpose of this study is to verify the accuracy of the fluorescence photoelectric cervical lesion image detector relative to the pathological gold standard and the detection rate of CIN 2 +, as well as the significance of it as a shunt tool before colposcopy through a randomized controlled study. The secondary objectives were to compare the relative pathological accuracy of the fluorescence photoelectric cervical lesion image detection results with the HPV detection results and cytological results, and to compare the lesion area displayed by the fluorescence photoelectric cervical lesion image detector with the lesion area that appeared after traditional colposcopy chemical staining. In this study, 4200 subjects who have been evaluated and can be enrolled (these subjects have the indication of referral to colposcopy) will be included in the study, and they will be divided into two groups according to the principle of randomization. The histological results were obtained after routine colposcopy and biopsy. The experimental group first underwent colposcopy and biopsy after the judgment of the fluorescent photoelectric cervical lesion image detector to obtain histological results. Finally, the accuracy of the relative pathological results, the detection rate of CIN2 +, negative predictive value and positive predictive value of the two groups were compared.

A Multicenter Real-world Study of Screening of Cervical Cancer Based on Photoelectric Detection

The main purpose of this study is to explore the accuracy and clinical value of fluorescent photoelectric cervical lesion image detector as a screening and shunt tool for cervical lesions through a multi-center, large-sample real-world study with histopathology as the gold standard. The secondary purpose of the study was to verify the coincidence of the fluorescent photoelectric cervical lesion image detector with traditional colposcopic chemical staining. This study is expected to include 20,000 participants with definite histological results, and compare the specificity and sensitivity, negative predictive value and positive predictive value of three cervical lesion screening methods, such as fluorescent photoelectric cervical lesion image detector, HPV nucleic acid detection and cytology detection. The advantages and disadvantages of fluorescent photoelectric cervical disease image detector, HPV nucleic acid detection and cytology examination were analyzed, and their application scenarios were provided to provide evidence-based medical support for the establishment of comprehensive prevention and treatment system of cervical cancer suitable for China's national conditions.

Cadonilimab Plus Nab -Paclitaxel for Patients With Recurrent, or Metastatic Cervical Cancer Resistant to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

This is a phase II trial of combination therapy of cadonilimab(Bispecific Anti-PD-1/CTLA-4 Antibody) plus nab-Paclitaxel in patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer that had failed PD-1/PD-L1 blockade therapy. As a bispecific antibody against PD-1 and CTLA-4, cardonirimab can not only induce the production of a large number of T cells in the early stage of immune response by antagonizing CTLA-4, but also block PD-1 and PD-L1/L2 combination. Thereby restoring the killing function of T cells to tumor cells and reducing the exhaustion of T cells.The hypothesis is the combination of cadonilimab and nab-Paclitaxel will overcome PD-1/PD-L1 blockade-resistance to enhance the response of patients with persistant, recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer.