Metronomic Capecitabine Plus Aromatase Inhibitor for First Line Treatment in HR(+), Her2(-) Metastatic Breast Cancer (MECCA)

February 24, 2026 updated by: wang shusen, Sun Yat-sen University

A Phase 3 Randomized Controlled Study of Metronomic Capecitabine Combined With Aromatase Inhibitor Versus Aromatase Inhibitor Alone for First Line Treatment in Hormone Receptor-positive, Her2-negative Metastatic Breast Cancer

The study is designed to compare the clinical benefit following treatment with aromatase inhibitor in combination with metronomic capecitabine versus aromatase inhibitor alone in women with hormone receptor-positive, Her2-negative advanced breast cancer who have not received prior systemic anti-cancer therapies for their advanced/metastatic disease.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Initial endocrine therapy (ET) is a common choice for hormone receptor positive (HR+), HER2 negative (HER2-) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients for its good tolerability, low toxicity and durable response. The median time to progression (TTP) of initial ET in HR+, HER2- metastatic patients is about 9 months with aromatase inhibitors (AIs). However, all metastatic patients receiving ET will develop resistance to the conventional endocrine treatments ultimately. So some novel agents, like palbociclib and everolimus, are approved to be effective in improving the efficacy of standard ET. But the fact we have to face is either palbociclib or everolimus is focusing on a single checkpoint of pathway that responsible for resistance of ET. In clinical, there are some patients without an activation of resistance-related pathways have poor response to endocrine therapy. And the mechanisms of resistance to endocrine therapy is complicated and not fully understood. So far, these novel agents have not completely solved the clinical problems of secondary drug-resistance. Maybe a broad spectrum anti-cancer therapy with low toxicity and good tolerability is more practical and promising in the near future. Metronomic chemotherapy is administration of low-dose chemotherapy to induce disease control in metastatic cancer patients, which has low-incidence of adverse effects. More and more evidences showed activity of metronomic therapy in breast cancer. Metronomic therapy with or without endocrine therapy in both metastatic and neoadjuvant setting showed considerable efficacy. Although the concept of combination of chemotherapy and endocrine therapy simultaneously was large abandoned because of previous using tamoxifen and intravenous chemotherapy showing no additional benefit, with better understanding of the biology of endocrine therapy and metronomic chemotherapy, it's worth to evaluate whether endocrine therapy plus low-dose metronomic chemotherapy brings a better clinical benefit rate without sacrificing the quality of patients' life. In this phase III study, we investigate the efficacy and safety of low-dose capecitabine plus AI to treat metastatic HR+, HER2- postmenopausal breast cancer patients.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
263

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • China
    • Guangdong
      • Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, 510060
        • State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult women with locoregionally recurrent or metastatic disease not amenable to curative therapy
  • Confirmed diagnosis of ER positive/Her2-negative breast cancer
  • No prior systemic anti-cancer therapy for locoregionally recurrent or metastatic disease
  • Any menopausal status, but premenopausal or perimenopausal patients are required to receive LHRHa treatment
  • Measurable disease defined by RECIST version 1.1, or bone-only disease
  • Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) 0-2, and life expectancy ≥ 3 months
  • Adequate organ and marrow function
  • Resolution of all toxic effects of prior therapy or surgical procedures

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients who have progressed within 2 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy
  • Patients who have not received prior endocrine therapy and are eligible to receive fulvestrant as initial therapy
  • Patients with advanced, symptomatic, visceral spread that are at risk of life threatening complication in the short term
  • Known uncontrolled or symptomatic central nervous system metastases
  • Diagnosis of any other malignancy within 3 years prior to randomization (except adequately treated basal or squamous cell skin cancer or cervical carcinoma in situ)
  • Serious uncontrolled intercurrent infections or intercurrent medical or psychiatric illness

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Active Comparator: Aromatase inhibitor
Aromatase inhibitor (Anastrozole 1 mg, orally once daily or Letrozole 2.5mg, orally once daily or Exemestane 25mg, orally once daily)
Drug: Aromatase Inhibitor
Aromatase Inhibitor (Anastrozole, 1mg, orally once daily or Letrozole, 2.5mg, orally once daily or Exemestane , 25mg, orally once daily)
Other Names:
  • exemestane
  • letrozole
  • anastrozole
Experimental: Capecitabine+Aromatase inhibitor
Capecitabine, 500mg, orally three times daily in combination with an aromatase inhibitor (Anastrozole 1 mg, orally once daily or Letrozole 2.5mg, orally once daily or Exemestane 25mg, orally once daily)
Drug: Aromatase Inhibitor
Aromatase Inhibitor (Anastrozole, 1mg, orally once daily or Letrozole, 2.5mg, orally once daily or Exemestane , 25mg, orally once daily)
Other Names:
  • exemestane
  • letrozole
  • anastrozole
Drug: Capecitabine
Capecitabine, 500mg, orally three times daily (continuously)
Other Names:
  • xeloda

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Progress-free survival
Time Frame: Baseline up to approximately 20 months
Time from randomization to the first documentation of objective tumor progression or to death due to any cause without documented progression.
Baseline up to approximately 20 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Overall Survival
Time Frame: Baseline until death (up to approximately 48 months)
Time from randomization to date of death due to any cause.
Baseline until death (up to approximately 48 months)

Other Outcome Measures

Other Outcome Measures

For clinical trials, a planned measurement described in the protocol that is used to determine the effect of an intervention/treatment on participants. For observational studies, a measurement or observation that is used to describe patterns of diseases or traits, or associations with exposures, risk factors, or treatment. Types of outcome measures include primary outcome measure and secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Objective Response Rate (ORR)
Time Frame: Baseline up to approximately 20 months
Objective response is defined as a complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) according to RECIST v.1.1. recorded from randomization until disease progression or death due to any cause.
Baseline up to approximately 20 months
Disease Control Rate (DCR)
Time Frame: Baseline up to approximately 20 months
Disease control is defined as complete response (CR), partial response (PR), or stable disease (SD) >24 weeks according to the RECIST version 1.1 recorded in the time period between randomization and disease progression or death to any cause.
Baseline up to approximately 20 months
Adverse events
Time Frame: Baseline up to approximately 20 months
Adverse events, serious adverse events, and laboratory tests will be analyzed and summarized according to severity.
Baseline up to approximately 20 months
Quality-of-life score
Time Frame: Baseline up to approximately 20 months
The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Breast (FACT-B) version 4 questionnaire will be distributed to the patients by the study site personnel and will be filled out by the patients independently. Final scores (FACT-B-Total) of all subscales range from 0 to 148, where 148 represents the most favorable score and accordingly a highest QoL.
Baseline up to approximately 20 months
Quality-of-life score
Time Frame: Baseline up to approximately 20 months
EORTC QLQ-BR23 questionnaire will be distributed to the patients by the study site personnel and will be filled out by the patients independently.
Baseline up to approximately 20 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Sun Yat-sen University

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Shusen Wang, MD, Sun Yat-sen University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
July 19, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
August 25, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
August 25, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
May 7, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 7, 2016

First Posted (Estimated)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
May 10, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
February 27, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
February 24, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • SYSUCC 5010-MECCA

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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