Your gut bacteria may hold the key to whether immunotherapy works
NCT ID NCT07815873
First seen Sep 11, 2026 · Last updated Sep 11, 2026
Summary
Researchers are studying whether the mix of bacteria in a person's gut can predict how well they respond to immunotherapy drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors. The trial enrolls about 360 adults with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma, endometrial cancer, or cervical cancer who are starting these treatments. Participants give regular stool and blood samples over two years, and researchers compare the bacteria and immune factors they find with how each person's cancer responds. The goal is to identify biomarkers that could one day help doctors choose the best treatment for each patient.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- What this could lead to
- If researchers find reliable gut or immune signals that predict who responds to immunotherapy, doctors could one day use a stool or blood test to guide treatment choices.
- What could go wrong
- This is an observational study, so it cannot prove that any gut microbe causes a better or worse response. Diet, antibiotics, and other factors can muddy the picture, and the findings may not hold across different cancers or patients.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
-
Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
-
About 360 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
-
Oct 2026
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
-
Apr 2031
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
-
Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
-
18 years and older
- Sex
-
Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
-
Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
4.1 INCLUSION CRITERIA: * Histologically or cytologically confirmed disease (see 3.1) * (i) patients with local advanced or metastatic NSCLC candidate to first-line ICB monotherapy or chemo-ICB combination OR (ii) patients with cutaneous melanoma candidate to first-line or adjuvant ICB (iii) patients with primary advanced or first recurrence endometrial or cervical cancer candidate to chemo-ICB combination * Signed Written Informed Consent * Males and Females, ages ≥18 years of age * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-2 * Have evaluable disease based on i-RECIST 1.1 * Patients must be willing and able to comply with scheduled visits, treatment schedule, laboratory tests and all protocol procedures. * Be willing to provide tissue from a newly obtained core or excisional biopsy of a tumor lesion, whenever possible. * Known mutation/molecular status as determined by local institutional standard (NSCLC: available comprehensive molecular analysis, melanoma: PD-L1 TPS score, BRAF V600, EC: p53, POLE, MMR status, CC: PD-L1 CPS score. Both wild type and mutation positive are eligible. Regarding gynecologic cancers, EC patients will be eligible for the study regardless of the MMR status (MMRd or MMRp), while only CC patients with a PD-L1 combined positive score (CPS) ≥1 will be eligible. * Patients who have been previously treated in the adjuvant setting for melanoma will be eligible for treatment after a 28-day washout period. * Patients must be medically fit enough to undergo surgery as determined by the treating medical and surgical oncology team. * Demonstrate adequate organ function as defined below: Hematologic Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) \>/= 1.5 X 10\^9/L; Hemoglobin \>/= 9.5 g/dL Platelets \>/= 100 X 10\^9/L PT/INR and PTT \</= 1.5 X ULN. Hepatic Total bilirubin \</= 1.5 X ULN (isolated bilirubin \>1.5 X ULN is acceptable if bilirubin is fractionated and direct bilirubin \<35%) AST and ALT Albumin \</= 2.5 X ULN 1 \>/=2.5 g/dL Renal Creatinine OR Calculated creatinine clearance OR 24-hour urine creatinine clearance \</=1.5 X ULN 2 \>/= 50 mL/min \>/= 50 mL/min. * The individual methods of contraception and duration should be determined in consultation with the investigator. * Women must not be breastfeeding. Exclusion Criteria: * Previous chemotherapy (\< 28 days washout), radiation therapy, immunotherapy, or biologic therapy * Any major surgery within the last 3 weeks * Pregnant or lactating female * Unwillingness or inability to follow the procedures * Grade 3 and 4 adverse event conditioning ICB interruption * Known oncogene-addicted NSCLC, with the exception of KRAS G12C and BRAF V600E mutant NSCLC Any serious or uncontrolled medical disorder * Prior malignancy active within the previous 2 years except for locally curable cancers that have been apparently cured, such as basal or squamous cell skin cancer, superficial bladder cancer, or carcinoma in situ of the prostate, cervix, or breast with local control measures (surgery, radiation). * Patients with active, known or suspected autoimmune disease such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Lupus, etc. or other conditions requiring systemic corticosteroids or other systemic immunosuppressive medications. * Patients with a condition requiring systemic treatment with either corticosteroids (\> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents) or other immunosuppressive medications within 14 days of study drug administration. * Prior treatment with an anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1 or anti-CTLA-4 antibody. * Antibiotic or antimycotic medications within 45 days from the beginning of ICB * Positive test result for hepatitis B or C virus * Human immunodeficiency virus or known acquired immunodeficiency syndrome * Concomitant Medications/Vaccinations: medications or vaccinations specifically prohibited in the exclusion criteria are not allowed during the ongoing study. If there is a clinical indication for one of these or other medications or vaccinations specifically prohibited during the study that the investigator considers necessary for a subject's welfare, it will be administered at the discretion of the investigator in keeping with the community standards of medical care. All concomitant medication (within 28 days before the first dose) will be recorded on the case report form (CRF). * Patients are prohibited from receiving the following therapies during the Screening and Treatment Phase (including retreatment for post-complete response relapse) of this study: * Immunotherapy not specified in this protocol * Chemotherapy not specified in this protocol * other Investigational agents * Radiation therapy * Live vaccines within 30 days prior to the first dose of trial treatment and while participating in the trial. Examples of live vaccines include, but are not limited to, the following: measles, mumps, rubella, varicella/zoster, yellow fever, rabies, BCG, and typhoid vaccine. * Systemic glucocorticoids for any purpose other than to modulate symptoms from an event of clinical interest of suspected immunologic aetiology. The use of physiologic doses of corticosteroids may be approved after consultation with the Sponsor. * Patients who, in the assessment by the investigator, require the use of any of the aforementioned treatments for clinical management should be removed from the study. Patients may receive other medications that the investigator deems to be medically necessary. The Exclusion Criteria describes other medications which are prohibited in this study.
Get updates
Get notified about this study
Sign up to get updates when this study changes or when new studies for Cervical cancer are added.
By submitting, you agree to our Terms of use
Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
-
The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
-
The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
-
A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
Istituto europeo di oncologia
Milan, MI, 20141, Italy
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Two-Drug combo targets stubborn KRAS lung cancer
- Smaller chest drain may speed recovery after lung cancer surgery
- Gut bacteria may hold clues to why some cancer treatments work better
- Breath-Tracking sensor aims to sharpen lung cancer scans
- Can PET scan signals predict who beats lung cancer with immunotherapy?
- Can pulsed radiation extend life in metastatic cervical cancer?