Short-course vs long-course radiotherapy followed by the PD-L1 drug adebrelimab plus CAPEOX before surgery for locally advanced rectal cancer
Official title: Total Neoadjuvant Treatment With Short-course Radiotherapy Versus Long-course Radiotherapy Followed by PD-L1 Inhibitor Plus Capecitabine-Oxaliplatin in Patients With Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: a Multi-centres, Open-label, Phase 2, Randomized Controlled Trial
Run by Shandong Provincial Hospital · NCT07284992 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This trial will test whether adding the PD‑L1 drug adebrelimab to either short‑course or long‑course radiotherapy plus CAPEOX chemotherapy before surgery helps patients with locally advanced, MSS rectal cancer.
Quick facts
| Phase | Phase 2 |
|---|---|
| Study type | Interventional |
| Ages | 18 Years to 80 Years |
| Sex | All |
| Enrollment | 208 (estimated) |
| Sponsor | Shandong Provincial Hospital Government |
| Drugs / interventions | adebaylimab, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, prednisone, Adebrelimab |
| Locations | 1 site (Jinan, Shandong) |
| Status | Recruiting |
| Started | September 12, 2025 |
| Main results expected | November 30, 2028 |
| Study ends | June 30, 2033 |
| Registry record updated | December 16, 2025 |
| Trial ID | NCT07284992 on ClinicalTrials.gov |
Is this trial a fit for you?
✓Likely a good fit
Ideal candidates are adults with operable, locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma (≤10 cm from the anal verge), MSS status, clinical T3 or node‑positive M0 disease, ECOG 0–1, and no prior anti‑tumor treatment.
✕Probably not a fit
Patients with MSI‑high tumors, metastatic (M1) disease, poor performance status, prior cancer therapy, or those unable to undergo surgery are unlikely to benefit from this protocol.
A plain-English reading of the study's rules. Only the study team can confirm whether you qualify.
What this trial studies
This multicenter, prospective cohort study assigns eligible patients in a 1:1 ratio to receive either short‑course radiotherapy (5×5 Gy) or long‑course radiotherapy (1.8 Gy × 25–28) combined with the PD‑L1 antibody adebrelimab and CAPEOX chemotherapy as neoadjuvant therapy. Treatment is given prior to total mesorectal excision (TME), which is scheduled 2–3 weeks after completion of neoadjuvant therapy unless delayed for clinical reasons. The study will monitor safety and measure tumor response and surgical outcomes in patients with locally advanced, MSS rectal adenocarcinoma. Key eligibility includes tumor ≤10 cm from the anal verge, clinical stage T3+ or node‑positive disease, ECOG 0–1, and no prior anti‑cancer treatment.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, adding adebrelimab to radiotherapy and CAPEOX before surgery could increase tumor response and improve surgical outcomes or reduce the chance of recurrence.
How similar studies have gone: Checkpoint inhibitors have produced strong responses in MSI‑high rectal cancers, and early‑phase trials combining immunotherapy with radiotherapy in MSS rectal cancer have shown promising but not yet definitive results, so this approach remains experimental.
Who can join: the full rules
Show full inclusion / exclusion criteria
Inclusion Criteria: * 1\. sign written informed consent before implementing any test related process; * 2\. Patients diagnosed as rectal adenocarcinoma by primary biopsy and histopathological examination; * 3\. patients with CT stage ≥ T3 or CN stage N1+, M0 or EMVI (+) or MRF (+) or suspected lateral lymph node metastasis (\>5mm) who are judged by imaging and colonoscopy to be operable and need neoadjuvant therapy. * 4\. according to imaging and colonoscopy, the main body of the tumor was located ≤ 10cm from the anal edge; * 5\. patients with tumor mismatch repair/microsatellite instability (MMR/MSI) status as MSS; * 6\. according to the criteria for evaluating the efficacy of solid tumors (RECIST version 1.1), at least one lesion can be measured by imaging; * 7\. the patient has not received any anti-tumor treatment in the past, including but not limited to surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, etc; * 8\. ECoG score: 0-1; * 9\. sufficient organ function, the subject shall meet the following laboratory indicators: 1. The absolute value of neutrophils (ANC) ≥ 1.5x109/l without granulocyte colony stimulating factor in the past 14 days. 2. Platelets ≥ 100 × 109/l without blood transfusion in recent 14 days. 3. Hemoglobin\>9g/dl without blood transfusion or use of erythropoietin in recent 14 days; 4. Total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 × upper limit of normal value (ULN); 5. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in ≤ 2.5 × ULN 6. Serum creatinine ≤ 1.5 × ULN and creatinine clearance rate (calculated by Cockcroft Gault formula) ≥ 60 ml/min; 7. Good coagulation function was defined as international normalized ratio (INR) or prothrombin time (PT) ≤ 1.5 times ULN; 8. Normal thyroid function is defined as thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) within the normal range. If the baseline TSH is beyond the normal range, subjects with total T3 (or FT3) and FT4 within the normal range can also be enrolled; 9. Myocardial enzyme spectrum is within the normal range (for example, simple laboratory abnormalities that are not clinically significant according to the comprehensive judgment of the researcher are also allowed to be included in the group) * 10\. female subjects of childbearing age should receive urine or serum pregnancy test within 3 days before receiving the first study drug administration (the first day of the first cycle) and the result is negative. If the result of urine pregnancy test cannot be confirmed as negative, blood pregnancy test is required. Women of non reproductive age were defined as having been postmenopausal for at least 1 year, or having undergone surgical sterilization or hysterectomy; If there is a risk of pregnancy, all subjects (male or female) need to take contraceptive measures with an annual failure rate of less than 1% during the whole treatment period until 120 days after the last study drug administration (or 180 days after the last chemotherapy drug administration). Exclusion Criteria: * 1\. patients diagnosed with other malignant tumors and not cured within 5 years before the first administration (excluding skin basal cell carcinoma, skin squamous cell carcinoma, and/or cancer in situ after radical resection); * 2\. Patients with advanced rectal cancer with distant metastasis; * 3\. currently participating in intervention clinical research treatment, or having received other research drugs or used research instruments within 4 weeks before the first administration; * 4\. have previously received the following therapies: anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1 or anti-PD-L2 drugs or drugs that stimulate or synergistically inhibit T cell receptors (e.g., CTLA-4, OX-40, CD137); * 5\. have received systemic treatment with Chinese patent medicine with anti-tumor indications or drugs with immunomodulatory effect within 2 weeks before the first administration; * 6\. active autoimmune diseases requiring systemic treatment (such as the use of disease relieving drugs, glucocorticoids or immunosuppressants) occurred within 2 years before the first administration. Replacement therapy (such as thyroxine, insulin or physiological glucocorticoids for adrenal or pituitary insufficiency, etc.) is not considered as systemic therapy; * 7\. the patients were receiving systemic glucocorticoid therapy (excluding local glucocorticoids via nasal spray, inhalation or other routes) or any other form of immunosuppressive therapy within 14 days before the first administration of the study; Note: it is allowed to use physiological doses of glucocorticoids (≤ 10 mg/day of prednisone or equivalent drugs); In the absence of active autoimmune diseases, inhaled or topical steroid and prednisone dose\>10mg/day or equivalent dose of adrenocortical hormone are allowed to replace; * 8\. known allogeneic organ transplantation (except corneal transplantation) or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; * 9\. those who are known to be allergic to the study drug adebaylimab and the active ingredients or excipients of combined chemotherapy drugs; * 10\. have not fully recovered from the toxicity and/or complications caused by any intervention measures before starting treatment (i.e. ≤ grade 1 or reaching the baseline, excluding fatigue or hair loss); * 11\. known history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (i.e. HIV 1/2 antibody positive); * 12\. untreated active hepatitis B (defined as HBsAg positive and HBV-DNA copy number detected is greater than the upper limit of normal value in the laboratory of the research center); Note: hepatitis B subjects who meet the following criteria can also be enrolled: 1. HBV viral load\<1000 copies/ml (200 iu/ml) before the first administration. Subjects should receive anti HBV treatment during the whole study chemotherapy drug treatment to avoid virus reactivation 2. For subjects with anti HBC (+), HBsAg (-), anti HBS (-) and HBV viral load (-), preventive anti HBV treatment is not required, but virus reactivation needs to be closely monitored * 13\. active HCV infected subjects (HCV antibody positive and HCV-RNA level higher than the detection limit); * 14\. inoculate live vaccine within 30 days before the first administration (cycle 1, day 1); Note: it is allowed to receive inactivated virus vaccine for injection against seasonal influenza within 30 days before the first administration; However, live attenuated influenza vaccines administered intranasal are not allowed. * 15\. pregnant or lactating women; * 16\. there are any serious or uncontrollable systemic diseases, such as: 1\) The resting ECG has significant abnormalities in rhythm, conduction or morphology, and the symptoms are serious and difficult to control, such as complete left bundle branch block, heart block above grade II, ventricular arrhythmia or atrial fibrillation; 2) Unstable angina pectoris, congestive heart failure, chronic heart failure with NYHA classification ≥ 2; 3) Myocardial infarction occurred within 6 months before enrollment; 4) Blood pressure control was not ideal (systolic blood pressure\>140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure\>90 mmHg); 5) There was a history of non infectious pneumonia requiring glucocorticoid treatment within 1 year before the first administration, or there was currently clinically active interstitial lung disease; 6) Active pulmonary tuberculosis; 7) Active or uncontrolled infection requiring systemic treatment; 8) There were clinically active diverticulitis, abdominal abscess and gastrointestinal obstruction; 9) Liver diseases such as cirrhosis, decompensated liver disease, acute or chronic active hepatitis; 10) Poor control of diabetes mellitus (FBG\>10mmol/L); 11) The urine routine showed that the urine protein was ≥++, and it was confirmed that the 24-hour urine protein quantitation was more than 1.0 G; 12) Patients with mental disorders and unable to cooperate with treatment; * 17\. for those who have a history of uncontrolled epilepsy, central nervous system disease or mental disorder, the clinical severity may hinder the signing of informed consent or affect the patient's compliance with oral drugs according to the judgment of the investigator; The medical history or disease evidence, abnormal treatment or laboratory test values that may interfere with the test results, prevent the subjects from participating in the whole process of the study, or the researchers believe that there are other potential risks that are not suitable for the study.
Where it's running
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Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University
Jinan, Shandong, China Recruiting
Study contacts
- Principal investigator: Changqing Jing, Professor — Shandong Provincial Hospital
- Study coordinator: Feng Tian, Dr.
- Email: tianfeng@sdu.edu.cn
- Phone: +86 18866102886
Similar studies
Other studies for the same condition or treatment. Recruiting studies are listed first.
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Combining adebrelimab with radiotherapy and chemotherapy for advanced rectal cancer treatment
This study is testing if combining a new drug called adebrelimab with radiation and chemotherapy can help people with advanced rectal cancer have better surgery results and improve their health.
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Different-Dose Short-Course Radiotherapy With CAPOX, PD-1 Blockade, and IL-2 in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer
This phase II trial tests whether a low-dose short-course radiotherapy combined with CAPOX, a PD-1 blocker, and IL-2 works as well as the standard-dose short-course approach in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.
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β-hydroxybutyrate with short-course radiotherapy, immunotherapy and CAPEOX before surgery for locally advanced rectal cancer
This phase II trial will test whether adding β-hydroxybutyrate supplements to short-course radiotherapy followed by immunotherapy plus CAPEOX chemotherapy improves outcomes for people with locally advanced rectal cancer before surgery.
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Long-course versus short-course radiotherapy before immunotherapy and total neoadjuvant therapy for locally advanced rectal cancer
This trial tests whether adding immunotherapy to total neoadjuvant therapy and using short-course versus long-course radiotherapy improves outcomes for adults with locally advanced rectal cancer.
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Node-sparing radiotherapy with chemotherapy and PD-1 inhibitor for rectal cancer
This study is testing a new treatment for mid-low rectal cancer that combines special radiation, chemotherapy, and an immune booster to see if it helps patients respond better while protecting their lymph nodes.
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Combining long-course radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and PD-1 inhibitor for high-risk rectal cancer
This study is testing a new treatment plan that combines radiation, chemotherapy, and a PD-1 inhibitor to see if it helps people with high-risk rectal cancer do better than with standard treatments.
How to take part
- Review the eligibility criteria above with your treating physician.
- Check the official listing on ClinicalTrials.gov for the latest contact details and recruitment status.
- Contact the study coordinator or principal investigator to ask for pre-screening. Pre-screening is free and never obligates you to enroll.