A Study to Examine the Clinical Value of Comprehensive Genomic Profiling Performed by Belgian NGS Laboratories: a Belgian Precision Study of the BSMO in Collaboration With the Cancer Centre (BALLETT)

September 16, 2021 updated by: The Belgian Society of Medical Oncology

A Study to Examine the Clinical Value of Comprehensive Genomic Profiling Performed by Belgian NGS Laboratories: a Belgian Precision Study of the BSMO in Collaboration With the Cancer Centre - Belgian Approach for Local Laboratory Extensive Tumor Testing (BALLETT)

The project, called "BALLETT" (Belgian Approach of Local Laboratory Extensive Tumor Testing), has a double goal: (1) show the relevance of broad molecular profiling to improve oncological patients care, (2) demonstrate that broad molecular testing can be performed in a decentralized setting by local diagnostics laboratories in a fully standardized and uniform way while complying with the highest quality standards.

This 2-year study involves the consortium of 9 cooperating Belgian NGS laboratories and will enroll 936 metastatic or locally advanced cancer patients coming from 13 different Belgian hospitals and cancer centers. Upon inclusion, all cancer patients will be offered 'comprehensive genomic profiling' (CGP) using Illumina's TSO500 NGS panel. This targeted NGS panel of 523 genes allows for the detection of single nucleotide variants, small indels, copy number variations and fusions, as well as for the determination of the 'tumor mutational burden' (TMB) and the 'microsatellite-instability' status (MSI). Both the wet lab execution of the CGP as well as the biological and clinical classification of the variants will be performed in a fully standardized way among the 9 participating Belgian local NGS laboratories.

The CGP results will be interpreted and discussed in the weekly meeting of the BALLETT national molecular tumor board (MTB), composed of oncologists, pathologists, molecular biologists, geneticists and bioinformaticians. The MTB will provide recommendations for targeted or immunotherapy based on the CGP results. Clinical Decision Support platforms OncoKDM (OncoDNA) and Clinical Genomics Workspace (PierianDx), both expert software that turns NGS data into actionable clinical information, will be used. The resulting therapy recommendation may consist of an approved therapy, a clinical trial, a medical need program or off-label use of cancer drugs. Treating physicians will receive the MTB recommendations and decide on the actual management of their patients. Reasons for not following the MTB recommendation will be registered.

The objectives of the project are:

  1. To evaluate the clinical value of CGP in "real-world" practice in giving patients with advanced/metastatic solid tumours broader access to precision medicine
  2. To describe the landscape of genomic alterations and quantify the actionable variants detected by comprehensive panel testing
  3. To evaluate the number of actionable variants that would have been missed if the NGS analysis was limited to the reimbursed NGS panel (ComPerMed panel).
  4. To assess the technical success of CGP
  5. To standardize CGP data analysis, clinical interpretation, therapy recommendation and reporting among participating laboratories to the highest extent possible
  6. To describe and to quantify the uptake of treatments and the inclusion in clinical trials recommended by the molecular tumour board guided by the CGP
  7. To assess clinical benefit by calculating PFS ratio for individual patients (PFS on CGP-selected therapy/PFS on prior therapy) (null hypothesis: ≤ 15% of patient population has PFS ratio of ≥ 1.3)
  8. To work in a multi-stakeholder approach to attract more innovative treatments and clinical trials in Belgium
  9. To establish a Belgian genomic tumor database under the authority of the governmental 'Sciensano' thereby increasing public health knowledge in Belgium

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

936

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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 Backup

Study Locations

      • Aalst, Belgium
        • Not yet recruiting
        • ASZ Aalst
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Max Schreuer
      • Antwerp, Belgium, 2610
        • Recruiting
        • GZA
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Annemie Rutten, Dr
      • Antwerp, Belgium, 2020
      • Brugge, Belgium
        • Recruiting
        • AZ Sint-Jan
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Jacques Van Huysse
      • Brussels, Belgium, 1090
      • Charleroi, Belgium, 6000
        • Not yet recruiting
        • Grand Hopital de Charleroi
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Jean-Luc Canon, Dr
      • Edegem, Belgium, 2650
        • Recruiting
        • Universitaire Ziekenhuis Antwerpen
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Hans Prenen, Dr
      • Gent, Belgium, 9000
        • Not yet recruiting
        • UZ Gent
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Sylvie Rottey, Prof. Dr
      • Hasselt, Belgium, 3500
        • Recruiting
        • Jessa Ziekenhuis
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Jeroen Mebis, Prof. Dr
      • Leuven, Belgium, 3000
      • Roeselare, Belgium
        • Recruiting
        • AZ DELTA
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Francesca Dedeurwaerdere, Dr
      • Turnhout, Belgium

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

Ages Eligible for Study

14 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult patients (18 years and above)
  • Patients with metastatic solid tumours that are candidates for systemic therapy (early lines are preferred). Numbers will be capped for frequent tumour types (breast cancer: 120 patients, NSCLC: 120 patients, colorectal cancer: 120 patients). There will be a cohort of 150 patients with rare tumours or tumours with rare histology (Eur. J. Cancer 2011; 47: 2493-2511). Patients will be recruited as they appear in clinical practice.
  • Life expectancy of > 12 weeks.
  • Patient showing an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status of ≤ 2.
  • Patients eligible for reimbursed NGS (cfr. indications NGS convention) will also be tested by the local NGS panel although this is not required if the CGP is ISO 15189 accredited. In that situation, the CGP is considered the local NGS. Patients that are not eligible for reimbursed NGS testing may only be tested by CGP.
  • Patients must have enough tissue from a metastatic (preferred) or primary lesion biopsy for local testing and CGP testing, sufficient to extract a minimum of 80 ng DNA diluted in TE 1x and 40-80 ng (80 ng recommended) RNA diluted in RNA-grade water for TSO500 library prep. The nucleic acid extract must meet the quality requirements specified in the protocol (See "TruSight Oncology 500 (TSO500) workflow - Workflow instructions for participant laboratories"). The tissue should not be more than 2 years-old and fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin. Availability of metastatic biopsies retrieved after a previous therapy line are mandatory for patients treated with therapies that are known to induce acquired mechanisms of resistance (EGFR TKIs in NSCLC, aromatase inhibitors in breast cancer, TKIs in GIST…). Bone biopsies that undergo decalcification are not allowed.
  • Patients can only be enrolled if they are also concomitantly registered in the Precision-1 study and the investigator agrees to subsequent registration of CGP-driven treatment given and the investigator assessed outcome on this and prior treatment (PFS based on RECIST 1.1 evaluation).
  • Patients able to provide written informed consent prior to enrolment into a potential subsequent clinical trial.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Life expectancy of less than 12 weeks.
  • Inability to comply with protocol procedures.
  • Known presence of severe hematopoietic, renal, and/or hepatic dysfunction (according to the local PI).
  • No informed consent provided.
  • Patient is not enrolled and followed as provided in Precision-1.
  • Insufficient DNA/RNA quantity (<80 ng DNA, <40-80 ng RNA) and quality (dCq value >5 for DNA, DV200 value <20% for RNA), (See "TruSight Oncology 500 (TSO500) workflow - Workflow instructions for participant laboratories").

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: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number/prevalence of variants with clinical significance
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year

Number/prevalence of variants with a classification of clinical significance Tier 1A or 1B (strong clinical significance) and Tier 2C and 2D (potential clinical significance) using CGP versus local NGS testing (if available) and/or versus minimally required ComPerMed panel.

Tiering according to Li et al. AMP/ASCO/CAP. J Mol Diagn 19:4-23, 2017.

through study completion, an average of 1 year
Number/prevalence of alterations by type (SNVs, CNVs, fusions)
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year
through study completion, an average of 1 year
Description of patient journey
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year
Percentage of patients with MTB recommendation categorized according to variant-therapy match scoring system, percentage of patients accessing genotype-informed treatment, turnaround time from CGP request to MTB recommendation, proportion of patients accessing molecular guided therapy or immune checkpoint inhibitors or combinations based on the result of CGP, timing of treatment initiation following MTB recommendation, proportion of deviations from treatment recommendations and reasons (rapid clinical deterioration, other protocol, patient ineligible, off-label treatment unavailable, clinical trial not feasible (e.g. physical distance), clinical trial not recruiting, physician's decision, patient's choice, …)
through study completion, an average of 1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Percentage of patients with successful CGP
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year
through study completion, an average of 1 year
PFS ratio
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year
PFS based on RECIST 1.1 evaluation of patients on the CGP recommended therapy and PFS ratio (PFS on CGP-selected therapy/PFS on prior therapy) (null hypothesis: ≤ 15% of patient population has PFS ratio of ≥ 1.3)
through study completion, an average of 1 year
Number of participating NGS laboratories continuing CGP after the study
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year
Including cost calculation and reimbursement data to support economic analysis (microcosting from the lab perspective and budget impact from the payer's perspective).
through study completion, an average of 1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

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

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)

June 1, 2021

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

May 1, 2023

Study Completion (Anticipated)

May 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 6, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 16, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

September 28, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 28, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 16, 2021

Last Verified

September 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

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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