Lab Research Using Mini-tumors to Study Prostate Cancer Treatments

NCT ID: NCT07004582

Last Updated: 2026-01-27

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

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Recruitment Status

NOT_YET_RECRUITING

Total Enrollment

600 participants

Study Classification

OBSERVATIONAL

Study Start Date

2026-02-10

Study Completion Date

2031-12-30

Brief Summary

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For men with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, finding the right and effective treatment right away is challenging. Many of these men face a high risk of cancer recurrence: about half experience a relapse after surgery, and more than a third after undergoing radiation therapy. Men with metastatic prostate cancer have particularly poor prognoses, with a five-year survival rate of only 30% to 50%. In short, it is difficult to predict which treatment, or combination of treatments, will lead to longer survival for this group of men with aggressive (metastatic) prostate cancer.

In the laboratory, it is possible to grow small samples of tumors into 3D mini-tumors. These mini-tumors retain the characteristics of the patient's original tumor tissue. Various treatments can be tested on these 3D mini-tumors to determine which therapy is most effective for each individual case. There are currently two techniques available for creating these 3D mini-tumors in the lab. In this project, we aim to investigate which of these two techniques works best in order to test and personalize treatments.

Detailed Description

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The biological diversity of high-risk prostate cancer makes it difficult to find an effective first-line or second-line cancer treatment. Therapy failure is high for men with high-risk localized cancer, having a risk of a biochemical relapse between 42% and 50% following radical prostatectomy and 36-43% after radiation therapy. Moreover, very high-risk prostate cancers with distant metastasis, accounting for 22% of the prostate cancer diagnoses, have a worse prognosis with overall 5-year survival rates of only 30-45%. Personalized treatment plans based on ex vivo therapy testing on patient-derived prostate cancer cultures could offer a more tailored approach by predicting the most effective therapy for each patient's specific tumor profile.

Ex vivo patient-derived 3D cultures may be an excellent solution which is able to recapitulate histological characteristics of the original tumor and could be utilized to assess tumorigenesis, potential drug targets and patients' drug responsiveness. Aside from the preservation of histological characteristics of the original tumor, ex vivo patient-derived 3D cultures are able to maintain physiological tumor features by preservation of the tumor micro-environment which is essential for testing selected types of anti-cancer drugs. Ex vivo patient-derived 3D cultures are generated from small fragments of tumor tissue containing organ-specific (tumor) cell types, which are cultivated into miniature, self-organizing prostate tumors using one of two principal techniques: organoid (i.e., utilizing a basement membrane exact) or tumor replica technology (i.e., utilizing a suspension culture without matrix support). Success rates of culturing prostate cancer organoids based on left-over tissue after radical prostatectomy are excellent, varying between 90% and 98%, however, for the more high-risk (metastasized) prostate cancers, the success rates vary considerably from 16% to 44% based on the small amount of needle biopsy tissue and inherent low cellular yield, limited cell-cell interaction, or prostate cancer subtype specific growth factors.

To overcome the above-mentioned low success-rates, the high turnaround time, and challenges of deriving (metastasized) prostate cancer organoids, the tumor replica technology may be interesting to explore. The tumor replica technology is optimized by Rianne Vaes at the Maastro Lab in the IPON-3 study for lung cancer (NL79010.068.21) and has increased the success rate from 17% to 70% (unpublished). So far, only one study generated prostate cancer tumor replicas utilizing this technique and showed an excellent success rate of 100% after radical prostatectomy. However, the establishment and use of tumor replicas derived from high-risk (metastatic) prostate cancer biopsies have been described yet, nor have been from prostate cancer recurrence following initial radiation therapy (i.e. radioresistant prostate cancer). Moreover, only one study demonstrated the capability of predicting the therapy response for prostate cancer drugs as well as radiation therapy on patient-derived 3D organoids of treatment-naïve prostate cancer patients utilizing left-over prostatectomy tissue. The number of patients on which treatment responsiveness was tested, however, was low (3 patients tested for prostate cancer drugs and 2 for radiation therapy).

Conditions

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Prostate Cancer Prostate Cancer Metastatic Disease Prostate Cancer Recurrent Advanced Prostate Cancer

Study Design

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Observational Model Type

COHORT

Study Time Perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

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HDR brachytherapy

High-risk or recurrent prostate cancer patients that will undergo high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy.

HDR brachytherapy

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

High dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy for the treatment of high-risk or recurrent prostate cancer

Diagnostic biopsy

Patients with MRI-suspected metastatic prostate cancer - with at least clinical stage T3-4 disease - that will undergo a diagnostic transperineal prostate biopsy procedure guided with ultrasound (i.e., targeted or template prostate cancer needle biopsies taken through the perineum guided with transrectal ultrasound)

Diagnostic biopsy

Intervention Type DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Transperineal prostate biopsies guided with transrectal ultrasound for the diagnosis of (recurrent) prostate cancer

Interventions

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HDR brachytherapy

High dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy for the treatment of high-risk or recurrent prostate cancer

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Diagnostic biopsy

Transperineal prostate biopsies guided with transrectal ultrasound for the diagnosis of (recurrent) prostate cancer

Intervention Type DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Patients aged 18 years or older
* Patients with prostate cancer
* Patients planned for HDR brachytherapy treatment for high-risk or recurrent prostate cancer or transperineal prostate biopsy with MRI-suspected metastatic prostate cancer with at least clinical stage T3-4.

Exclusion Criteria

* Patients younger than 18 years
* Patients of whom it is not possible to obtain left-over tissue as part of the normal clinical treatment procedure (e.g., if all tumor material is required for the pathologist to make a diagnosis, to stage the patient or to perform a molecular diagnosis).
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

MALE

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Zuyderland Medical Centre

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Maastricht University Medical Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Maastricht Radiation Oncology

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Evert J Van Limbergen, PhD, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Maastricht Radiation Oncology

Locations

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Zuyderland Medisch Centrum

Heerlen, Limburg, Netherlands

Site Status

Academisch Ziekenhuis Maastricht

Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands

Site Status

Maastricht Radiation Oncology

Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands

Site Status

Countries

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Netherlands

Central Contacts

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Iris EWG Laven, PhD

Role: CONTACT

0031(0)884455666

Chantal Overhof, BEc

Role: CONTACT

0031(0)884455666

Facility Contacts

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Lizzy EJM Driessen, PhD

Role: primary

0031 (0) 88 459 7777

Max H Bruins, PhD, MD

Role: backup

0031 (0) 88 459 7777

Joep GH Van Roermund, PhD, MD

Role: primary

0031 (0)43 387 6543

Thomas MA Kerkhofs, PhD, MD

Role: backup

0031 (0)43 387 6543

Iris EWG Laven, PhD

Role: primary

0031 (0) 88 44 55 666

Evert J Van Limbergen, PhD, MD

Role: backup

0031 (0)88 44 55 666

Other Identifiers

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NL-009852

Identifier Type: REGISTRY

Identifier Source: secondary_id

PR3DICT

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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