Hepatocellular Cancer clinical trials at UCSF

This phase II trial studies how well standard of care hypofractionated radiation therapy followed by durvalumab with or without tremelimumab works in treating patients with hepatocellular cancer (liver cancer) that has spread to other places in the body (advanced) and that is growing, spreading, or getting worse (progressing) after treatment with PD-1 inhibitor immunotherapy. In some patients, cancer cells and immune cells start to express signals that stop the body's immune system from killing the cancer. New drugs being developed, such as durvalumab and tremelimumab, are designed to target and block these signals and may help increase the immune response to prevent or slow down cancer growth. Hypofractionated radiation therapy delivers higher doses of radiation therapy over a shorter period of time and may help the immune system work even better. Giving durvalumab with or without tremelimumab after radiation therapy may work better than radiation therapy alone in treating patients with liver cancer.

Acute kidney injury (AKI), or worsening kidney function, is a common complication after liver transplantation (20-90% in published studies). Patients who experience AKI after liver transplantation have higher mortality, increased graft loss, longer hospital and intensive care unit stays, and more progression to chronic kidney disease compared with those who do not. In this study, half of the participants will have their body temperature cooled to slightly lower than normal (mild hypothermia) for a portion of the liver transplant operation, while the other half will have their body temperature maintained at normal. The study will evaluate if mild hypothermia protects from AKI during liver transplantation.

The purpose of this study is to determine the safety and efficacy of belzutifan in combination with pembrolizumab and lenvatinib in multiple solid tumors including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), colorectal cancer (CRC), pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), biliary tract cancer (BTC), endometrial cancer (EC),and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). There is no formal hypothesis testing in this study.

This phase II trial studies how well radiation therapy works for the treatment of gastrointestinal cancer that are spreading to other places in the body (metastatic). Radiation therapy uses high energy x-rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. This trial is being done to determine if giving radiation therapy to patients who are being treated with immunotherapy and whose cancers are progressing (getting worse) can slow or stop the growth of their cancers. It may also help researchers determine if giving radiation therapy to one tumor can stimulate the immune system to attack other tumors in the body that are not targeted by the radiation therapy.

This is a Phase 1/1b, open-label, first-in-human, dose-escalation and expansion study of SRF388, a monoclonal antibody that targets IL-27, as a monotherapy and in combination in patients with solid tumors.

This phase I trial studies the side effects of pembrolizumab in treating patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and malignant neoplasms that have come back (relapsed), do not respond to treatment (refractory), or have distributed over a large area in the body (disseminated). Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread.

TARGET-HCC is a longitudinal, observational study of patients being managed for HCC in usual clinical practice. TARGET-HCC will create a research registry of participants with HCC within academic and community real-world practices in order to assess the safety and effectiveness of the entire spectrum of current and future therapies across diverse populations.

Clinical guidelines (AASLD) recommend the use of abdominal ultrasound (US) for surveillance testing for the early detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). The serum protein biomarker alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is commonly used to augment US but its use alone is not recommended by clinical guidelines. Despite evidence that HCC surveillance improves early detection and reduces mortality from HCC, current HCC surveillance tests lack sensitivity, leaving a significant proportion of patients to present with late-stage disease. The Glycotest HCC Panel has shown better sensitivity than AFP, which is ineffective for the detection of early-stage HCC. This clinical study seeks to validate the Glycotest HCC Panel using a large multicenter cohort of cases and controls that includes patients diagnosed with early-stage HCC against a background of cirrhosis and cirrhotic patients without HCC (at risk) undergoing an established surveillance protocol.

Background: Primary Liver Cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. It is the cancer with the fastest rising incidence and mortality in the United States. Researchers want to learn more about liver cancer to help them design better treatments. Objective: To better understand liver cancer. Eligibility: People ages 18 and older who have liver cancer and had or are planning to have immune therapy Design: Participants will be screened with a review of their medical records. They will be asked about their medical history and test results. Participants will come to the NIH Clinical Center. During this visit, their medical records, test results, imaging studies, and tissue samples (if available) will be gathered. Participants will learn the results of a test to see if they have any mutations known to be connected to cancer. They will learn if there are treatment options for them. Participants will give blood, urine, and stool samples or rectal swabs. Participants will not have follow-up visits just for this study. If they join another NIH research study and have visits for this other study, their medical records; test results; and blood, urine, and stool samples may be collected. This will occur about every 3 months. If they have a biopsy or surgery on another study or as part of treatment and there is leftover tissue, researchers would like to collect some of that tissue. Participants will be contacted every 6 months by phone or e-mail. They will be asked about their health. They will provide any medical records, test results, and imaging studies. Participants will be followed on this study for life.