Timing of Minimally Invasive Local Treatment After First-Line Systemic Therapy in Oligometastatic Esophageal or Gastric Adenocarcinoma

NCT ID: NCT07000253

Last Updated: 2025-06-02

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

NOT_YET_RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

PHASE2/PHASE3

Total Enrollment

290 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2026-01-31

Study Completion Date

2034-01-31

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

Purpose of the Study:

This clinical study investigates whether a shorter or longer duration of systemic therapy before local treatment (surgery or radiation) results in better disease control in patients with esophageal or gastric cancer with a limited number of metastases, also known as oligometastases.

Background:

In about 25% of patients with advanced esophageal or gastric cancer, the disease spreads to only a few sites (oligometastatic disease). Prior studies suggest that local treatment after systemic therapy may extend survival in this subgroup. However, it is unclear how long systemic therapy should last before initiating local treatment. The OMEC-5 study aims to clarify this and identify potential biomarkers for treatment response.

Study Design:

Initiated by Amsterdam UMC and UMCU and conducted in multiple hospitals across Europe.

Total of 414 patients to be enrolled.

Duration: \~53 months (35 months enrollment + 18 months follow-up).

Approved by the medical ethics committee at Amsterdam UMC.

Procedure:

Eligibility screening: Includes physical exam, blood tests (incl. circulating tumor cells), medical history review, and confirmation of oligometastases by an expert panel.

Initial treatment: All participants receive 4 months of standard systemic therapy (chemotherapy + immunotherapy and/or targeted therapy depending on tumor markers like HER2 or Claudin 18.2).

Response assessment (Review 1): Imaging and/or laparoscopic examination.

If oligometastases persist and tumors have not progressed, participants are randomized into two groups:

Group A (longer systemic therapy): 4 more months of systemic therapy, then local treatment if disease is stable, followed by 4 months of immunotherapy ± targeted therapy.

Group B (shorter systemic therapy): Immediate local treatment followed by 4 months of systemic therapy, then reassessment and potentially 4 months of immunotherapy ± targeted therapy.

Follow-up: Regular scans and quality-of-life questionnaires (5 times), and periodic blood sampling (4 times).

Treatments Involved:

Chemotherapy: CapOx or FOLFOX

Immunotherapy: nivolumab or pembrolizumab

Targeted therapy: trastuzumab (HER2-positive) or zolbetuximab (Claudin 18.2-positive)

Potential Benefits and Risks:

Patients may benefit from better disease control and a personalized treatment strategy.

Known side effects relate to the standard treatments used (chemo, immuno, targeted therapies), and no extra medical risk is expected beyond routine care.

Possible inconveniences include blood draws, scans, minor surgery (laparoscopy), and time investment.

Data and Sample Handling:

Personal data and tumor/blood samples are coded and securely stored.

Data may be used for future cancer research if the patient consents.

Participants can withdraw at any time.

Confidentiality and Privacy:

Patient data are kept confidential, and participants have rights to access or delete their data. Privacy measures comply with GDPR and Dutch law.

Compensation and Insurance:

Participation is voluntary, with no financial compensation. Standard treatment costs are covered by healthcare insurance. No extra insurance is required, as the treatment aligns with standard care practices.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

Esophageal Cancer Gastric (Stomach) Cancer Gastric Adenocarcinoma Gastric Adenocarcinoma or Gastroesophageal Junction Adenocarcinoma or Esophageal Carcinoma Esophageal Carcinoma Gastric (Cardia, Body) Cancer

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

long duration of systemic therapy

Patients with no disease progression at 4 months (18 weeks) after systemic therapy with oxaliplatin, fluorpyrimidine, checkpoint inhibitor and/or taregted therapy and fit for local treatment will receive 4 additional months of systemic therapy and subsequent evaluation for local treatment to all disease sites.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Chemotherapy

Intervention Type DRUG

Chemotherapy preferably CapOx (capecitabine + oxaliplatin) or FOLFOX (5-fluoruracil, leucovorin and oxaliplatin) will be combined with immunotherapy (preferably nivolumab or pembrolizumab) and/or targeted therapy (for example trastuzumab in the case of HER2 overexpression or zolbetuximab in the case of Claudin 18.2 overexpression). These regiments are the standard-of-care (SOC) combination therapies used in this study. Acceptable chemotherapy regimens predominantly for Asian centers include SOX (S-1 and Oxaliplatin).

Targeted Systemic Therapy

Intervention Type DRUG

Biomarker selected patients will receive trastuzumab, zolbetuximab or any other targeted agent according to standard of care.

Immunotherapy

Intervention Type DRUG

Biomarker selected patients will recieve checkpoint inhibitors according to standard care

Surgery

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

If the primary tumor is present, this tumor will be surgically removed. Metastases may also be removed by surgery.

Radiotherapy

Intervention Type RADIATION

Metastases may be irradiated

Short duration of systemic therapy

Patients with no disease progression at 4 months (18 weeks) after systemic therapy oxaliplatin, fluorpyrimidine, checkpoint inhibitor and/or targeted therapy and fit for local treatment will recieve direct local treatment to all disease sites.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Chemotherapy

Intervention Type DRUG

Chemotherapy preferably CapOx (capecitabine + oxaliplatin) or FOLFOX (5-fluoruracil, leucovorin and oxaliplatin) will be combined with immunotherapy (preferably nivolumab or pembrolizumab) and/or targeted therapy (for example trastuzumab in the case of HER2 overexpression or zolbetuximab in the case of Claudin 18.2 overexpression). These regiments are the standard-of-care (SOC) combination therapies used in this study. Acceptable chemotherapy regimens predominantly for Asian centers include SOX (S-1 and Oxaliplatin).

Targeted Systemic Therapy

Intervention Type DRUG

Biomarker selected patients will receive trastuzumab, zolbetuximab or any other targeted agent according to standard of care.

Immunotherapy

Intervention Type DRUG

Biomarker selected patients will recieve checkpoint inhibitors according to standard care

Surgery

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

If the primary tumor is present, this tumor will be surgically removed. Metastases may also be removed by surgery.

Radiotherapy

Intervention Type RADIATION

Metastases may be irradiated

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy preferably CapOx (capecitabine + oxaliplatin) or FOLFOX (5-fluoruracil, leucovorin and oxaliplatin) will be combined with immunotherapy (preferably nivolumab or pembrolizumab) and/or targeted therapy (for example trastuzumab in the case of HER2 overexpression or zolbetuximab in the case of Claudin 18.2 overexpression). These regiments are the standard-of-care (SOC) combination therapies used in this study. Acceptable chemotherapy regimens predominantly for Asian centers include SOX (S-1 and Oxaliplatin).

Intervention Type DRUG

Targeted Systemic Therapy

Biomarker selected patients will receive trastuzumab, zolbetuximab or any other targeted agent according to standard of care.

Intervention Type DRUG

Immunotherapy

Biomarker selected patients will recieve checkpoint inhibitors according to standard care

Intervention Type DRUG

Surgery

If the primary tumor is present, this tumor will be surgically removed. Metastases may also be removed by surgery.

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Radiotherapy

Metastases may be irradiated

Intervention Type RADIATION

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

* Age ≥18 years
* Ability to provide written informed consent
* Histologically confirmed esophageal, gastric or gastroesophageal junction tumor with oligometastatic (M1) disease defined according to the OMEC consensus statement:

* One organ with ≤3 metastases or 1 involved extra-regional lymph node station (based on the TNM 8 classification)
* ≤3 unilobar liver metastases or ≤2 bilobar liver metastases
* ≤ 3 unilateral lung metastases
* Unilateral adrenal gland involvement
* Metastasis confined to 1 bone structure or 1 soft tissue compartment
* Synchronous oligometastatic disease with a resectable primary tumor or metachronous oligometastatic disease (in the event of a locoregional recurrence this should be resectable)
* Metastases should be deemed amenable by the international multidisciplinary expert team for radical local treatment
* WHO performance status 0-2
* Indication for checkpoint inhibition and/or targeted therapy

* PD-L1 with a CPS of 1 or higher as per local clinical practice for immunotherapy use
* HER2 overexpression as per local clinical practice for trastuzumab use
* Claudin 18.2 overexpression as per local clinical practice for zolbetuximab use.
* Any other biomarker that allows targeted therapy in first line approved by EMA
* No prior systemic therapy for metastatic disease
* CT-scan ≤8 weeks prior to inclusion
* Ability to undergo local treatment and start systemic treatment beyond 18 weeks of total systemic treatment.

Exclusion Criteria

* Squamous cell carcinoma
* Brain metastases
* Peritoneal or pleural carcinomatosis
* Patients with MSI dMMR
* Uncontrolled immunodeficiency (e.g. AIDS)
* Peripheral neuropathy \>CTCAE grade 1, precluding start of full dose oxaliplatin treatment
* Both organ metastasis and extra-regional lymph node metastasis
* Conditions precluding local treatment or systemic therapy for oligometastatic disease:

* Serious medical comorbidities precluding local treatment (e.g., interstitial lung disease in patients with pulmonary metastasis)
* Clinical or radiological evidence of spinal cord compression or epidural tumor within 2 mm of the spinal cord
* Simultaneous other malignancy or previous other malignancy with a disease-free period of \<5 years, except adequately treated non-melanoma skin cancer or in-situ cancers
* Uncontrolled (bacterial) infections
* Significant concomitant diseases preventing the safe administration of study drugs or likely to interfere with study assessments
* Uncontrolled angina pectoris, cardiac failure or clinically significant arrhythmias
* Continuous use of immunosuppressive agents equivalent to \>10 mg daily prednisone
* Concurrent use of the antiviral agent sorivudine or chemically related analogues, such as brivudine
* Pregnancy or breast feeding
* Patients (M/F) with reproductive potential not implementing adequate contraceptive measures
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

UMC Utrecht

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Academisch Medisch Centrum - Universiteit van Amsterdam (AMC-UvA)

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Hanneke W. M. van Laarhoven

prof . dr.

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Learn about the lead researchers overseeing the trial and their institutional affiliations.

Peter van Rossum, MD, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Amsterdam UMC

Richard van Hillgersberg, MD, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

UMC Utrecht

Hanneke van Laarhoven, MD, PhD, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Amsterdam UMC

Tiuri Kroese, MD, PhD

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

University of Zurich

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

Amsterdam Univeristy Medical Center

Amsterdam, , Netherlands

Site Status

UMC Utrecht

Utrecht, , Netherlands

Site Status

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

Netherlands

Central Contacts

Reach out to these primary contacts for questions about participation or study logistics.

Hanneke van Laarhoven, MD, PhD, PhD

Role: CONTACT

+31204444321

Richard van Hillgersberg, MD, PhD

Role: CONTACT

Facility Contacts

Find local site contact details for specific facilities participating in the trial.

Hanneke van Laarhoven, MD, PhD, PhD

Role: primary

+31204444321

Peter van Rossum, MD, PhD

Role: backup

Richard van Hillegersberg

Role: primary

+313088 755 5555

Related Links

Access external resources that provide additional context or updates about the study.

https://omecprojects.com/

Description of the complete OMEC protocol

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

OMEC-5

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

More Related Trials

Additional clinical trials that may be relevant based on similarity analysis.