Chemotherapy, Host Response and Molecular Dynamics in Periampullary Cancer

The CHAMP (Chemotherapy, Host response And Molecular dynamics in Periampullary cancer) study is a prospective, single-arm observational study that will start Sept 1 2018. All patients diagnosed with a histologically or cytologically confirmed diagnosis of pancreatic or other periampullary adenocarcinoma undergoing adjuvant or palliative chemotherapy treatment in the Department of Oncology, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö will be invited to participate. The estimated number of recruited patients is 90/year, 75 with pancreatic cancers. Of note tumour origin can seldom be firmly established in non-resectable cases, where only a fine needle aspiration or biopsy specimen is available before initiation of palliative chemotherapy. Main exclusion criteria are: 1. patients having another concomitant life-threatening disease and 2. patients who are unable to receive chemotherapy will be informed about the study by their oncologist and a research nurse and, if they want to participate, will sign an informed consent form.

The treatment regimen will follow national guidelines, and will not be affected by the study. Clinical and pathological data will be compiled at study entry. Radiological and clinical workup will be performed every three months. Primary endpoint will be overall survival, secondary endpoints will be disease specific survival, time to progression, and quality of life (EORTC-QLQ-PAN26). Serial sampling of blood during chemotherapy treatment will be performed by a dedicated research nurse along with the clinical routine sampling. Plasma and serum samples for analysis of ctDNA and cytokines, respectively, will be will be drawn before chemotherapy start (timepoint 0/T0), and prior to each additional course of chemotherapy (monthly e.g. gemcitabine based regimens; T1-5 or biweekly e.g. combination regimen FOLFIRINOX; T1-11), and after the last course of treatment (T6 or T12). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) will be isolated from buffy coat in plasma vials before start of chemotherapy (T0), before the second or third (T2/T3) (monthly or biweekly, respectively) course of chemotherapy, before the fourth or seventh (T4/T7) course of chemotherapy, and after the last course of treatment. A homepage is under construction.