Single shot aims to stop liver cancer recurrence
NCT ID NCT06526338
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Sep 04, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This phase 2 trial tests whether a single injection of IP-001, given right after standard liver cancer ablation or surgery plus ablation, can help keep the cancer from coming back. About 126 adults with intermediate to high risk of recurrence will be followed for at least two years. The study compares IP-001 plus standard care against standard care alone.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- IP-001 injection
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this could offer a new way to delay or prevent liver cancer from coming back after standard ablation treatment.
- What could go wrong
- This is an early phase 2 trial with only 126 people, so results may not apply to everyone. The treatment is a single injection, and its long-term safety and effectiveness are not yet proven.
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
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Phase 2
Tests whether the treatment actually works, and watches for side effects, in a larger group.
- Participants
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About 315 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jul 2024
- Expected to finish
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Dec 2030
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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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
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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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.
Inclusion Criteria: * Age ≥ 18 years at time of signing Informed Consent. * Has a diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) documented radiologically by American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) criteria and/or histopathologically from a tumor biopsy. * Has a treatment plan to receive a curative ablation (MWA only) or a curative surgical resection and ablation, or where the patient may benefit from surgery and ablation or ablation prior to receiving anti-cancer therapy. * Has HCC with intermediate, high or very high risk of recurrence. * Has hepatic only HCC (disease confined to the liver only), defined by no extra-hepatic lesions greater than 1 cm in size. * Has an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-1. * Patient with past or ongoing hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection will be eligible if the patient has completed HCV treatment at least 1 month prior to Day 1. * Patient with controlled hepatitis B will be eligible if the patient meets the following criteria: 1. Antiviral therapy for hepatitis B virus (HBV) must be given for at least 4 weeks, and HBV viral load must be less than 500 IU/mL prior to treatment. Patients on active HBV therapy with viral loads under 500 IU/mL should stay on the same therapy throughout study treatment. 2. Patients who are hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) positive, negative for HBsAg, and negative or positive for anti- HBs, and who have an HBV viral load under 500 IU/mL do not require HBV anti-viral prophylaxis. * Patients who are not exposed to unreasonable risks by continued use of the investigational agent in spite of progression of disease. Such criteria may include the following: 1. Absence of symptoms and signs indicating clinically significant progression of disease. 2. No decline in performance status, as measured by ECOG or Karnofsky or both. 3. Absence of symptomatic rapid disease progression requiring urgent medical intervention. 4. Ensure that patients are reconsenting to treatment with the Informed Consent clearly stating that retreatment is not standard of care. * Has adequate organ function as specified in the Adequate Organ Function Laboratory Values Table. Specimens must be collected within 14 days prior to Day 1. 1. Hematological: Absolute neutrophil count ≥1500/µL or ANC of ≤1500/µL if there is a stable medical history of neutropenia per provider discretion; Platelets ≥40,000/µL; Hemoglobin ≥8.0 g/dL. 2. Renal: Creatinine OR measured or calculated creatinine clearance (GFR can also be used in place of creatinine or CrCl) ≤1.5 × ULN OR GFR ≥30 mL/min for patients with creatinine levels \>1.5 × institutional ULN 3. Hepatic: Total bilirubin ≤2 mg/dL OR direct bilirubin ≤ULN for patients with total bilirubin levels \>2 mg/dL; AST (SGOT) and ALT (SGPT) ≤5 × ULN; Albumin (c) \>2.6 g/dL 4. Coagulation: International normalized ratio (INR) OR prothrombin time (PT) ≤1.5 × ULN unless patient is receiving anticoagulant therapy as long as PT is within therapeutic range of intended use of anticoagulants Retreatment Inclusion Criteria: * Patients receiving retreatment with IP-001 following intrahepatic recurrence must satisfy all of the following: * Radiographic recurrence remains amenable to curative-intent thermal ablation. * No symptomatic rapid disease progression requiring urgent systemic therapy or palliative intervention. * ECOG performance status remains 0-2. * No evidence of clinically significant hepatic decompensation. * No extrahepatic disease that would preclude additional local therapy. * The Investigator determines that additional thermal ablation remains clinically appropriate. * The patient continues to satisfy protocol safety requirements. Exclusion Criteria: * Known allergic reaction to shellfish, crabs, crustacean, or any trial components used in trial treatment. * Has an active infection requiring systemic therapy. * Has a diagnosis of immunodeficiency or currently receiving chronic systemic steroid therapy (in dosing exceeding 10 mg daily of prednisone equivalent), or any other form of immunosuppressive therapy within 7 days prior to treatment day (Day 1), or has plans to start treatment including \>10 mg daily of prednisone equivalent or any immunotherapy. * Has an active autoimmune disease that has required systemic treatment in the past 2 years (i.e., with use of disease modifying agents or immunosuppressive drugs). NOTE: replacement therapy (e.g., thyroxine or insulin) is not considered a form of systemic treatment and is allowed. * Has had an allogeneic tissue/solid organ transplant, or eligible for a liver transplant and/or on the liver transplantation waiting list. * History of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, organizing pneumonia (e.g., bronchiolitis obliterans), drug-induced pneumonitis, active tuberculosis, or idiopathic pneumonitis. * Has received local therapy to the liver, ablation other than microwave ablation (i.e., alcohol ablation, transcatheter chemoembolization, transcatheter embolization, hepatic arterial infusion, local radiation/Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy or radioembolization) less than 3 months prior to treatment. * Is receiving any of the following prohibited concomitant therapies less than 21 days from treatment or 5 drug elimination half-lives, whichever is shorter, prior to randomization: 1. Antineoplastic systemic chemotherapy or biological therapy. 2. Immunotherapy not specified in this protocol. 3. Systemic glucocorticoids for any purpose other than to modulate symptoms from an adverse event (AE) that is suspected to have an immunologic etiology. Inhaled or topical steroids are allowed, and systemic steroids at doses ≤10 mg/day prednisone or equivalent are allowed. Exception: steroids may be used for premedication prior to imaging. * Has received a live vaccine within 28 days prior to treatment Day 1. Retreatment Exclusion Criteria: * Development of symptomatic extrahepatic disease. * ECOG \>2 attributable to cancer progression. * Rapid multifocal progression requiring systemic therapy. * Investigator determination that further local therapy is unlikely to provide meaningful clinical benefit. * Withdrawal of consent.
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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.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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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
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University of Louisville
RECRUITINGLouisville, Kentucky, 40202, United States
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