Magnetic Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping in Upper Gastro-Intestinal Cancer: A Feasibility Clinical Investigation (MAGMAP)

This is a multi-centre, partially blinded, side-by-side comparator study to assess the safety and tolerability, feasibility, and potential added diagnostic and clinical value of using the FerroTrace® and FerroMag Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping (SLNM) System for mapping sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in subjects with gastric, gastric-oesophageal junction, and oesophageal cancers, consisting of a safety lead-in phase and an expansion phase.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Gastric Cancer; Esophageal Cancer
• Intervention / Treatment: Combination product: FerroTrace® and FerroMag Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping (SLNM) System

Detailed Description

This is a multi-centre, partially blinded, side-by-side comparator study to assess the safety and tolerability, feasibility, and potential added diagnostic and clinical value of using the FerroTrace® and FerroMag SLNM System for mapping SLNs in subjects with gastric, gastric-oesophageal junction, and oesophageal cancers, consisting of a safety lead-in phase and an expansion phase.

A safety lead-in phase will be adopted to determine the optimal dose for the expansion phase. For the safety lead-in phase, a minimum of 6 eligible subjects will undergo a FerroTrace® injection followed by Research magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to visualise and assess SLNs. Safety will be monitored for 7 to 14 days, and will include reviews of safety, pharmacokinetics, image quality data from MRI pre and post FerroTrace® injection, and MRI SLN identification feasibility. Dose escalation/de-escalation may be performed using a 3+3 design if required. Upon successful completion of the safety lead-in phase, a dose of FerroTrace® will be selected for use in the expansion phase.

The expansion phase will consist of three cohorts of subjects (gastric, gastric-oesophageal junction, oesophageal cancers). Eligible subjects will undergo a FerroTrace® injection followed by a Research MRI to visualise and assess SLNs. If applicable a post neoadjuvant therapy Research MRI may be performed. The Research MRIs will be blinded to the multi-disciplinary team (MDT). During surgery a comparator product, Indocyanine green (ICG) with a near-infrared camera, will be used to identify fluorescent lymph nodes and in histopathology on ex-vivo specimens a magnetometer (FerroMag) will identify SLNs. The identification and location of all identified SLNs will be recorded, and all will be examined with fine serial sectioning and immunochemistry by pathology.

The study will assess disease free and overall survival and its correlation to histopathology and SLN location.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 60
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Australia
  • South Australia
    • Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, 5000
      • Royal Adelaide Hospital
    • Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia, 5042
      • Flinders Medical Centre
  • Victoria
    • Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia, 3084
      • Austin Hospital
    • Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3000
      • Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Subject is capable of understanding and has provided written informed consent.
• Subject over 18 years of age and is fit to complete the study in the opinion of the investigator.
• Subject with a previously untreated histopathology confirmed diagnosis of gastric, gastric-oesophageal junction, oesophageal cancer and at the time of enrolment is expected to undergo curative-intent surgery.
• Females of childbearing potential must be willing to use methods of contraception as deemed adequate by the Investigator to be eligible for, and continue participation in, the study.
• In the opinion of the Investigator, the subject can complete the study in compliance with the Investigational Plan and is able to comply with the requirements of the Investigational Plan.
• Subjects with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of Grade 0-2.
• Additional tumour specific inclusion criteria for subjects in expansion cohorts as directed by the Sponsor.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Subject has distant metastasis as detected on CT, PET, ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration (FNA), or cytology prior to enrolment.
• Subject started neoadjuvant therapy before informed consent, or prior to FerroTrace® administration.
• Subject has received a Feraheme® (ferumoxytol) injection within the past 180 days.

• Subject has a known or suspected history of allergies, hypersensitivity, or intolerances as follows:

  1. Iron compounds
  2. Polyacrylamide
  3. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) or has had an anaphylactic reaction to the Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccines
  4. Iodine compounds
  5. Known or suspected hypersensitivity to FerroTrace®, or to any ingredients of FerroTrace®.
• Subject known to have haemochromatosis.
• Subjects with other known iron metabolism disorder(s) if the Investigator determines the subject is at a higher risk of iron toxicity.
• Subjects who at the time of enrolment are pregnant or lactating, or from the time of enrolment through to 14 days after injection of the study dose are trying to become pregnant, planning to impregnate a partner, or planning to donate sperm.
• Subject has one or more absolute contraindications to MRI scanning as per Investigator judgement.
• Subjects with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of < 30 mL/min/1.73m2.
• Subject has inability or unwillingness to comply with all follow-ups through to the end of the study, and/or unwilling to allow review of medical records in accordance with local regulatory requirements at time of consent.
• Investigator determines that the subject is not suitable for study participation for any other reason.
• Subject received an investigational product (IP) within 30 days of FerroTrace® administration unless agreed by the sponsor.
• Subjects have hyperthyroidism or benign thyroid nodules

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Other: Single Arm; Eligible subjects will undergo their normal standard of care treatment pathway with the added interventions described below.

Combination product: FerroTrace® and FerroMag Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping (SLNM) System; FerroTrace will be injected peri-tumorally during the surgeons staging endoscopy, with an MRI conducted 12h to 28 days after injection. The MRI will be blinded to the clinical team and will assess the location of the primary draining lymph nodes (sentinel lymph nodes or SLNs). Patients will proceed to standard of care neoadjuvant therapy and/or surgery. During surgery, indocyanine green (ICG) will be used to identify draining lymph nodes. Following surgery, pathologists will use FerroMag to identify SLNs which will undergo standard H&E assessment, and if negative ultras-staging (fine serial slice and immunochemistry).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
SLN detection rate	SLN detection rate and number of SLNs per subject using MRI and FerroMag following FerroTrace® injection and concordance between MRI and FerroMag	Up to 14 days post surgery
Ultra-staging diagnostic value	Positive diagnostic value of FerroTrace® SLN mapping and SLN histopathological ultra-staging defined as the number of additional node negative (pN0/ypN0) subjects who are diagnosed with isolated tumor cells (pN0i+/ypN0i+), micro-metastasis (pN1mi/ypN1mi) and node positive (pN1/ypN1) by SLN ultra-staging plus standard of care histopathology versus standard of care histopathology only.	Up to 14 days post surgery
Surgical quality	Percentage of subjects with an SLN identified on MRI that is/are untreated by radiotherapy or surgery.	Up to 14 days post surgery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Rate of Adverse Events (AEs)	Incidence, nature, severity, and relatedness to FerroMag or FerroTrace® of AEs and Serious Adverse Events (SAEs), changes of laboratory parameters, vital signs, and ECG results per NCI CTCAE v5.0	The earlier of 28 days post FerroTrace injection or commencement of neoadjuvant therapy or surgery
SLN Location Disease Free Survival	Disease free survival rates of subjects categorised by SLN location (MRI identified SLNs all treated/removed by radiotherapy/surgery versus some SLNs not treated/removed).	Up to 5 years post surgery
SLN Ultra-staging Disease Free Survival	Disease free survival rates of subjects categorised by histopathology after SLN ultra-staging.	Up to 5 years post surgery
SLN Location Overall Survival	Overall survival rates of subjects categorised by SLN location (MRI identified SLNs all treated/removed by radiotherapy/surgery versus some SLNs not treated/removed)	Up to 5 years post surgery
SLN Ultra-staging Overall Survival	Overall survival rates of subjects categorised by histopathology after SLN ultra-staging	Up to 5 years post surgery

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
FerroTrace and ICG Concordance	Nodal yield of ICG nodal mapping and concordance rate of FerroTrace® identified SLNs versus ICG identified nodes, categorised by subjects' neoadjuvant therapy type if applicable	Up to 14 days post surgery
FerroTrace enhanced MRI Diagnosis	Specificity and sensitivity of FerroTrace® enhanced MRI in detecting tumour deposits in the SLNs versus CT, positron emission tomography (PET), and standard of care histopathology	Up to 14 days post surgery
FerroTrace enhanced MRI Response	Specificity and sensitivity of FerroTrace® enhanced MRI in detecting response to neoadjuvant therapy in lymph nodes	Up to 14 days post surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Ferronova Pty Ltd
• Collaborators: Austin Health; Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Australia; Flinders Medical Centre; Royal Adelaide Hospital; South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute
• Investigators: Study Director: Joe El-Aklouk, Ferronova Pty Ltd

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 21, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 31, 2029

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 2, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 2, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): June 12, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 6, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 31, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Sentinel lymph node
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms; Digestive System Neoplasms; Digestive System Diseases; Gastrointestinal Diseases; Stomach Diseases; Head and Neck Neoplasms; Esophageal Diseases; Stomach Neoplasms; Esophageal Neoplasms; Therapeutics; Drug Therapy; Drug Delivery Systems
• Other Study ID Numbers: SMF-3

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
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No