A study looking at lung cancer cells before, during and after treatment

Please note - this trial is no longer recruiting patients. We hope to add results when they are available.

Cancer type:

Lung cancer

Status:

Closed

Phase:

Phase 1

This study will look at lung cancer cell changes throughout treatment and afterwards. The researchers will record genes and proteins in these cells. They hope that in future this may help predict treatment outcomes for lung cancer.

Doctors usually treat lung cancer with surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Lung cancer can be difficult to treat, so researchers are looking for new ways to do this. Studying lung cancer cells even more closely may help them to develop new treatments.

In this study, researchers will look at your lung cancer treatment and results. They will also follow how your cancer cells change through treatment. They will see if they can pick out particular genes and proteins linked to whether your treatment works well or not. They will then build a record of everyone’s results. In future, doctors may be able to use this record to see which type of treatment will work best for different people.

The aim of this study is to gather this information by taking blood and tissue samples at different stages of your lung cancer journey. You will not have any direct benefit from taking part in this study and it is unlikely to change your treatment plan in any way. But the results of the study could be used to help people with cancer in the future.

Who can enter

You can enter this study if you have, or your doctor thinks you may have, lung cancer.

Trial design

This study will recruit about 250 people into 2 groups. The group you are in will depend on your stage of treatment. If you are waiting for tests to see if you have lung cancer, you will be in group 1. If you have already been told you have lung cancer, you will be in group 2.

If you are in group 1, you may be waiting for a bronchoscopy Open a glossary item , or a biopsy of your lung guided by a CT scan or ultrasound. If you are in group 2, you will repeat the CT, ultrasound or bronchoscopy you had to diagnose your lung cancer.

Whichever test you are having, you will have a blood sample taken beforehand for this study. You will also have one extra tissue sample (biopsy) taken during the test.

If your tests do not show lung cancer, you will leave the study. Everyone else will have repeat study biopsies and blood tests during and after their course of treatment. When you have them will depend on the type of treatment you are having.

The lung cancer treatment you have will depend on your individual situation. The study will not affect the treatment already planned for you. If you are having treatment as part of another clinical trial, the study should not affect this.

Hospital visits

People in group 2 will make one extra hospital visit for the first study biopsy, taken during a bronchoscopy Open a glossary item , or an ultrasound or CT scan.

You can talk to your study doctor about how often you will have to come in for the other biopsies and blood tests, as this will depend on your treatment plan.

After the study, you will continue to see the lung doctors at the Hammersmith Hospital once a month and have a blood test if you need to. You will see the doctors more regularly than this if you are unwell. If your cancer gets worse, you will have another study biopsy and blood test.

Side effects

Possible side effects from a bronchoscopy Open a glossary item include

Sore throat
Coughing up blood
Small amount of bleeding from the main airway (the bronchus) - the extra study biopsy will not increase this risk

Possible side effects from a lung biopsy include

An air leak from your lung (‘pneumothorax’ - pronounced ‘new-mo-thor-axe’) making your other lung deflate, but this is rare and can be treated
Chest pain and breathlessness (if you have a pneumothorax)

You may also have a small bruise from your blood test.