Could a shot stop mouth cancer before it starts?
NCT ID NCT06561087
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Aug 13, 2026 · Updated 2 times
Summary
This study tests if injecting the cancer drug nivolumab directly into high-risk precancerous mouth lesions can stop them from turning into cancer. About 45 adults with these lesions will receive either the drug or a placebo injection. The goal is to see if the treatment is safe and effective at controlling the disease.
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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 45 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Feb 2025
- Expected to finish
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May 2029
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: 1. Presence of a treatment naïve, biopsy proven, intraoral premalignant lesion visible from oral cavity. 2. Be willing and able to provide written informed consent for the trial. In the event that non-English speaking participants are eligible for this study, a short form (if applicable) or an ICD in their language, will be utilized and completed in accordance with the MDACC "Policy For Consenting Non-English Speaking Participants." 3. Be \>/= 18 years of age on day of signing informed consent. 4. Be willing to provide tissue, either archive or from a newly obtained oral biopsy. 5. Have a performance status of 0-2 on the ECOG Performance Scale. 6. Demonstrate adequate organ function as defined in Table 1 7. Female subject of childbearing potential should have a negative urine or serum pregnancy test within 72 hours prior to receiving the first dose of study medication. If the urine test is positive or cannot be confirmed as negative, a serum pregnancy test will be required. 8. Female subjects of childbearing potential should be willing to use 2 methods of birth control or be surgically sterile or abstain from heterosexual activity for the course of study therapy through 120 days after the last dose of Nivolumab. Subjects of childbearing potential are those who have not been surgically sterilized or have not been free from menses for \> 1 year. 9. Male subjects should agree to use an adequate method of contraception starting with the first dose of study therapy through 120 days after the last dose of study therapy. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Is currently participating and receiving study therapy with potential anti-neoplastic activity or has participated in a study of an investigational agent and received study therapy with potential anti-neoplastic activity within 4 weeks of the first dose of treatment. 2. Has a known history of active TB (Bacillus Tuberculosis) 3. Hypersensitivity to nivolumab or any of its excipients. 4. Has had a prior anti-cancer monoclonal antibody (mAb) within 4 weeks prior to study Day 1 or who has not recovered (i.e., ≤ Grade 2 or at baseline) from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier. 5. Has had prior chemotherapy, targeted small molecule therapy, or radiation therapy within 2 weeks prior to study Day 1 or who has not recovered (i.e., ≤ Grade 2 or at baseline) from adverse events due to a previously administered agent. 6. Has a known additional malignancy that is progressing or requires active treatment other than adjuvant hormonal therapy. Exceptions include basal cell carcinoma of the skin or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin or in situ cervical cancer. 7. Has known history of, or any evidence of active, non-infectious pneumonitis. 8. Has an active infection requiring systemic therapy. 9. Has a history or current evidence of any condition, therapy, or laboratory abnormality that might confound the results of the trial, interfere with the subject's participation for the full duration of the trial, or is not in the best interest of the subject to participate, in the opinion of the treating investigator. 10. Has known psychiatric or substance abuse disorders that would interfere with cooperation with the requirements of the trial. 11. Is pregnant or breastfeeding or expecting to conceive or father children within the projected duration of treatment with nivolumab, starting with the pre-screening or screening visit through 120 days after the last dose of trial treatment. 12. Has received a live vaccine within 30 days of planned start of study therapy. Note: Seasonal influenza vaccines for injection are generally inactivated flu vaccines and are allowed; however intranasal influenza vaccines (e.g., Flu-Mist®) are live attenuated vaccines, and are not allowed.
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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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MD Anderson Cancer Center
RECRUITINGHouston, Texas, 77090, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- Genetically modified cells injected into mouth lesions to stop cancer before it starts
- AI to predict cancer risk from gut bacteria and scans
- Cancer drug injected directly into precancerous mouth spots shows promise in early trial
- Hunger training may help cut breast cancer risk in obese women
- Electric probe could spot mouth cancer without a biopsy