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NCT Number: NCT05091190

Immunotherapy Clearance and Phenotype of Circulating Tumor Cells in Lung and Head and Neck Cancers

Immunotherapy is widely administrated as anticancer treatment in metastatic setting. Despite a proved efficacy in several cancer types and clinical situations, it exists a wide variability of responses in terms of efficacy and toxicity. The rate of responders depends mostly on the type of pathology, with 40% of responders among melanoma patients, 20-30% among lung and head and neck cancer patients and only 1% of responders among pancreatic cancer patients. Thus, the main challenge today is to be able to select patients for whom the treatment is likely to be effective. Several studies suggested that tumors with a high mutational burden and expressing PD-L1 are better responders to immunotherapy.

However, a proportion of PD-L1 negative cancers responds to immunotherapy, suggesting that other parameters have to be considered together with PD-L1 expression. Of that, the immunotherapy clearance seems to have an impact on overall survival, but larger studies, including different molecules and cancer types, are needed to better understand the correlation between the clearance and the response to immunotherapy.

Tumor cells released from the primary tumor in the blood circulation (CTCs, for circulating tumor cells) are considered as "liquid biopsies", as they contain the entire genetic and phenotypic information representative of the tumor, including PD-L1 expression. Thus, the variation of PD-L1 expression under treatment can be easily followed-up on blood samples collected during the time.

The objective of MADMAS is to study the correlation between the immunotherapy clearance, measured at the different times during treatment, and the variation of the number of CTCs expressing PD-L1 after two cures of treatment.

MADMAS will enroll patients with lung or head and neck cancers, treated with an immunotherapy-based therapy. Blood samples will be collected at the baseline and before the first two cures of treatment. The immunotherapy clearance will be measured with an innovative approach of Mass Spectrometry, and PD-L1 expression will be measured on CTCs, purified with a highly sensitive microfluidics technology.

Active, Not Recruiting

This study is active but is not currently recruiting participants.

Key information

Conditions

Metastatic NSCLC Bronchial Neoplasms Carcinoma, Bronchogenic Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung Head and Neck Neoplasms Lung Diseases Lung Neoplasms Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer Neoplasms Neoplasms by Site Respiratory Tract Diseases Respiratory Tract Neoplasms Thoracic Neoplasms

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Croix Rousse Hospital, Lyon, France

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Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

Lung cancer (n= 30):

  • Adult patients
  • Patients who gave its written informed consent to participate to the study
  • Weight at inclusion ≥ 48 kg
  • NSCLC histology only
  • Stage IV according to 8th TNM classification
  • Planned to be treated with immunotherapy (+/- chemotherapy) as a first line treatment in metastatic setting
  • PD-L1 status on primary tumor available at the inclusion
  • Patients affiliated to a social insurance regime

Head and neck cancer (n= 30):

  • Adult patients
  • Patients who gave its written informed consent to participate to the study
  • Weight at inclusion ≥ 48 kg
  • Recurrent or metastatic epidermoid carcinomas from oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, larynx (except nasopharynx)
  • Stage IV according to 8th TNM classification
  • Planned to be treated with immunotherapy (+/- chemotherapy)
  • PD-L1 status on primary tumor available at the inclusion
  • Patients affiliated to a social insurance regime

Exclusion criteria

  • History of previous cancers, except for adequately treated non-melanoma skin cancer, curatively treated in-situ cancer of the cervix, treated and with no evidence of disease for ≥ 5 years
  • Patients under tutorship or guardianship
  • Pregnant or breast feeding women
  • Patients under psychiatric care

Exclusion criteria

specific pour head and neck cohort:

  • Patients already treated with immunotherapy

Treatment and study plan

Blood draws

Other

Blood draws will be realized at the following time points:

C1T1: at the baseline, before treatment administration. C1T2: cycle 1, after treatment administration. C2T1: the day of the 2nd cycle, before treatment administration. C2T2: the day of 2nd cycle, after treatment administration. C3T1: the day of the 3rd cycle, before treatment administration. C3T2: the day of 3rd cycle, after treatment administration.

Primary outcomes

  1. Immunotherapy clearance (mL/min) and number of PD-L1 (absolute number) positive CTCs after two cycles of treatment (composite criteria)

    Time frame: At the end of cycle 2 (each cycle is 21 days)

    The clearance and the number of PD-L1 positive cells will be measured on blood samples collected the day of the third immunotherapy administration (each cycle is 14 to 28 days, depending on the type of immunotherapy).

Secondary outcomes

  1. Overall survival

    Time frame: 2 years

    time elapsed between the first immunotherapy administration and the death

  2. Progression free survival

    Time frame: 2 years

    time elapsed between the first immunotherapy administration and progression

  3. level of PD-L1 expression on primary tumor tissue

    Time frame: 2 years

    The level of PD-L1 expression will be measured by ICH on tissue from primary tumor surgery/biopsy through study completion, an average of 2 years.

  4. Baseline transcriptomic profile of CTCs isolated form peripheral blood

    Time frame: Day 1 of cycle 1, before treatment administration (cycle length: 14 days for nivolumab treatment and 21 days for pembrolizumab treatment)

    Baseline transcriptomic profile of CTCs isolated form peripheral blood: the transcriptomic profile of CTCs will be analyzed by NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing) from blood samples collected at cycle 1 day 1, before treatment administration.

  5. 1st cycle transcriptomic profile of CTCs isolated form peripheral blood

    Time frame: Day 1 of cycle 2, before treatment administration (cycle length: 14 days for nivolumab treatment and 21 days for pembrolizumab treatment)

    The transcriptomic profile of CTCs will be analyzed by NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing) from blood samples collected after the 1st cycle of treatment (cycle length between 14 and 21 days depending on the type of immunotherapy)

  6. 2nd cycle transcriptomic profile of CTCs isolated form peripheral blood

    Time frame: Day 1 of cycle 3, before treatment administration (cycle length: 14 days for nivolumab treatment and 21 days for pembrolizumab treatment)

    The transcriptomic profile of CTCs will be analyzed by NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing) from blood samples collected at the end of cycle 2 (each cycle is 21 days).

  7. identification of CTCs transcriptomic signatures, associated to immunotherapy efficacy or toxicity

    Time frame: 2 years

    the CTCs transcriptomic profile (measure 4) will be obtained with the NGS method; the analyses of these profiles will imply statistical models of logistic regression (Lasso Method). These data will be compared with clinical data on efficacy (PFS measured at 2 years after the beginning of treatment) and toxicity (stopping treatment for toxicity before the third cycle).

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Hospices Civils de Lyon

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Immunotherapy Clearance and Phenotype of Circulating Tumor Cells in Patients With Lung and Head and Neck Cancers, Treated With an Immunotherapy-based Therapy

Acronym: MADMAS

Important dates

Study start
2021
Primary completion
2026
Study completion
2026
First posted
Oct 25, 2021
Registry last updated
Sep 11, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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