Patient-derived Organoids Drug Screen in Pancreatic Cancer

Summary

Few chemotherapeutic options exist for pancreatic cancer. Moreover, objective criteria are lacking for deciding which regimen is more beneficial for patient presenting with metastases at diagnosis.

This study investigates whether organoid generation from tumour samples of pancreatic cancer is a safe and feasible process for testing of multiple chemotherapy regimens in the laboratory.

By participating to this study, patients will have a part of the tumour tissue retrieved and sent to the laboratory for organoid generation and drug testing. For surgically-resectable tumors, tumoral tissue samples will be collected from the main surgical specimens, before sending it for final pathological examination. In case of suspected metastatic lesion at diagnosis, curative surgery is not indicated. Therefore, we will offer patients to undergo port-a-cath implantation for chemotherapy delivery and concomitant laparoscopic surgical excisional biopsy of suspicious metastatic (either hepatic or peritoneal) lesions.

At this stage of the study, the treatment that the patient will receive after surgery will not be affected by the results of the laboratory testing. In fact, all patients will receive the standard of care treatment based on the most recent oncologic guidelines and on the oncologist's clinical judgement. As part of the study, each patient will be followed for 30 days to assess possible surgical complications related to the surgical biopsy.

This study will help to speed up the implementation of organoid generation in the clinical routine for the choice of the best treatment of patients affected by pancreatic cancer.

Conditions

• Pancreas Cancer
• Pancreas Neoplasm
• Pancreas Adenocarcinoma
• Pancreatic Cancer
• Pancreatic Neoplasms
• Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Surgical biopsy of tumoral tissue for organoid generation

In surgically-resectable lesions, tumoral samples will be collected from the main surgical specimens, before sending it for final pathological examination. Patients with metastatic disease, will be offered to undergo port-a-cath implantation for chemotherapy delivery and concomitant laparoscopic surgical excisional biopsy of suspicious metastatic lesions. Intraoperative frozen section will confirm the presence of malignant cells in the sample. Part of the specimen will be sent for assessment of contamination by bacterial and/or fungal flora by the Microbiology Laboratory. The remaining tumour sample will be sent for patient-derived organoid (PDO) formation. Two patients' blood samples will be retrieved in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) tubes and will be sent with the surgical specimen. All patients will then receive the standard of care (SOC) treatment according to the clinical judgement of the oncologist in charge, always within the framework of the international guidelines.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Prof. Dr. med. Dres. h.c. Jan Schmidt, MME

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Daniel Helbling, Dr. Med. · Onkozentrum Zürich

• Marianna Kruithof-De Julio, Prof. Dr. phil. · University of Bern

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

100 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-09-22

Primary Completion

2023-12-31

Completion

2023-12-31

Countries

• Switzerland

Study Locations