Cancer Clinical Trials in Canada

Bone is a common site of metastasis for a range of malignancies. Bone metastases have the potential to cause significant morbidity including pain, impairment of ambulation and reduced functional independence. Previous research has shown that pathological fractures are observed in 9 to 29 percent of patients with long bone metastases, and a high proportion of these require surgical intervention to relieve pain and restore function. The goal of this study is to describe the clinical outcomes of patients with femoral metastases at high risk of pathological fracture. Patients referred for treatment of femoral metastases at high risk of fracture will be followed prospectively after undergoing with surgery (± post-operative radiotherapy), or radiotherapy alone. Patient and disease characteristics, ambulatory status and limb function will be documented before treatment. These Clinical outcomes of participants in each treatment group will be measured 6 weeks after treatment, and 3- and 6 months after enrolment, with particular reference to patient-reported outcomes relating to pain, ambulatory status, limb function and quality of life. Read Less

This study will collect data on Canadian cancer patients that have uncommon/rare changes in their tumours, such as alterations/rearrangements in the genetic material inside cells - known as deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, which acts as a map and gives directions to the cells on how to make other substances the body needs - because some of these changes have been found to respond to different drugs that help to stop the cancer. These rare changes occur in genes such as but not limited to ALK, EGFR, ROS1, BRAF, and NTRK which have targeted drugs in a family known as tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), and KRAS G12C mutation, which now has a targeted inhibitor drug therapy for patients with non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The goals for the study are to compare the natural history of such cancers and the treatment outcomes, including toxicities and patient-reported outcomes, for the different therapies. Read Less

Researchers are looking for better ways of understanding and treating pancreatic cancer. The purpose of this study is to see how useful it is to look for changes and characteristics in your genes (molecules that contain instructions for the development and functioning of the cells) and the genes within the tumour. These characteristics may be useful in choosing treatments for patients in the future. Changes (mutations) in genes have been shown to be an important characteristic in cancers. Looking at differences in genes in patients with advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas and comparing this information with response to their initial chemotherapy treatment may help to learn which treatments may be better for certain patients after initial treatment. Read Less

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are among the most promising approaches to fighting cancer. However, a substantial percentage of patients experience off-target adverse effects in the form of mild to severe inflammation in different organs, commonly called immune-related adverse events (irAEs). irAEs can lead to treatment discontinuation, or can be life-threatening in extreme cases. The causes of irAEs are largely unknown and there are no reliable predictive biomarkers. The Montreal Immune-Related Adverse Events (MIRAE) study collects clinical information and biospecimens (blood, tissue, stool) from cancer patients treated with ICI to facilitate research on the identification of predictive biomarkers of irAEs, their causes, and the design of effective management strategies. Read Less

Cisplatin (CisP) is a chemotherapeutic agent used to treat head and neck and lung cancer in adults and over 15 different pediatric cancers. Despite its known toxicity, CisP is still widely used as a first line chemotherapy as it is so effective. Nephrotoxicity is one of the most common adverse effects of CisP, occurring in 20-50% of patients. It manifests as acute kidney injury (AKI) typically within the first few days of exposure and is associated with short and long-term morbidity. Furthermore, AKI diagnosis is only possible once kidney damage has progressed to functional impairment, when mitigation strategies are ineffective. Tests that could predict AKI risk pre-emptively or diagnose early-stage AKI before functional loss would be very impactful, affording opportunities for prevention or early intervention to mitigate CisP nephrotoxicity, reduce morbidity and improve health outcomes. The field of metabolomics seeks to identify patterns of small molecules (metabolites) involved in cell or tissue metabolism related to disease states, or patient factors like lifestyle and genetics. Plasma and urine are ideal for sampling the metabolome, which can identify at-risk patients and reveal disease-related changes earlier than existing diagnostic methods do. In CisP-treated children and adults from across Canada, we will identify urine and plasma metabolite profiles a) prior to CisP dosing that predict CisP AKI risk, and b) shortly after dosing to identify early-stage nephrotoxicity, before clinical signs of AKI are detectable. Our identified biomarkers will allow individualization of CisP treatment based on the level of nephrotoxicity risk and the design of trials to mitigate the progression and complications of CisP nephrotoxicity. Read Less

This is a prospective research study which will include patients who have progressed on immunotherapy as their most recent line of therapy. This study aims to characterize whether patients who fail to respond to immunotherapy versus patients who respond initially but after a period of time progress demonstrate different genomic, transcriptomic, epigenetic, immunophenotyping profiles. Patients will have a one-time fresh tumor biopsy. Serial blood samples (total amount of blood drawn may not exceed the lesser of 50 mL or 3 mL/kg in an 8 week period), archival tissue (if available) and one stool sample will be collected. Read Less

To examine the impact of health determinants at the individual (e.g. health related behaviors) and societal level (e.g. environmental factors, health related policy, quality of health systems) on health outcomes (e.g. death, non-communicable disease development) across a range of socioeconomic and health resource settings. Additional components of this study will examine genetic factors for non-communicable diseases. This will be examined both through a cross sectional component, and prospectively (cohort component). Read Less

CAN-RWE is an observational study that is following 500 children who have authorizations for medical cannabis for two years from across Canada. Read Less

Project EXCEL will provide community or online exercise programs to rural and remote and under-served cancer survivors, as well as encourage participants to become life-long exercisers. Exercise is an evidence-based self-management strategy that benefits all cancer survivors. However, most cancer survivors who live in remote or rural places don't have adequate opportunities to be involved in exercise programs that are tailored to their needs. Read Less