Vitamin C to Chemotherapy Related Anemia in Pancreatic Cancer (PTCA199-3)

August 4, 2025 updated by: Guopei Luo, Fudan University
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of low-dose vitamin C on improving the quality of life for metastatic pancreatic cancer patients receiving gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel chemotherapy.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal malignancy with a 5-year survival less than 10%. Approximately 80% of patients with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage. Chemotherapy is one of the major treatments for advanced pancreatic cancer. The Metastatic PAncreatic Cancer Trial (MPACT) has confirmed the efficacy of gemcitabine combined with nab-paclitaxel as the first-line treatment to metastatic pancreatic cancer. However, the side-effects related to gemcitabine combined with nab-paclitaxel including anemia, hand/foot numbness, fatigue, nausea, and malnutrition have impaired the tolerability of the regimen.

Vitamin C, also called ascorbate, is an essential nutrient for the human body. It modulates metabolism, immune reaction, collagen synthesis, and iron absorption. Some studies have shown that high-dose intravenous Vitamin C may be effective against various types of cancer. Meanwhile, medium or low dose of Vitamin C may enhance the tolerability of chemotherapy by increasing iron absorption, improving anemia, alleviating pain and hand/foot numbness, and thus improving quality of life for patients with pancreatic cancer.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of low-dose vitamin C on improving the quality of life for metastatic pancreatic cancer patients receiving gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel chemotherapy. One hundred patients will be randomly assigned to the experimental group (gemcitabine combined with nab-paclitaxel, Vitamin C) or the control group (gemcitabine combined with nab-paclitaxel). Rate of anemia, rate of hand/foot numbness, severity of pain, quality of life, and overall survival are measured every four weeks.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

Phase

  • 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 Locations

  • China
    • Shanghai
      • Shanghai, Shanghai, China, 200032
        • Shanghai 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

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document.
  • Age ≥ 18 years and ≤ 80 years.
  • Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-2.
  • Histologically or cytologically confirmed metastatic pancreas adenocarcinoma.
  • Adequate organ performance based on laboratory blood tests.
  • Presence of at least of one measurable lesion in agreement to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours (RECIST) criteria.
  • Hemoglobin (Hgb) ≥ 8 g/dL.
  • The expected survival ≥ 3 months.
  • Women of childbearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients who have received any form of anti-tumor therapy.
  • The diagnosis was confirmed by pathology as non-adenocarcinoma of pancreas.
  • Inflammation of the digestive tract, including pancreatitis, cholecystitis, cholangitis, etc.
  • Pregnant or nursing women.
  • Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency.
  • Severe and uncontrollable accompanying diseases that may affect protocol compliance or interfere with the interpretation of results, including active opportunistic infections or advanced (severe) infections, and diabetes that cannot be controlled after adequate clinical anti-hyperglycemia treatment according to guidelines, uncontrollable hypertension, cardiovascular disease (Class III or IV heart failure as defined by the New York Heart Association classification, congestive heart failure (CHF), myocardial infarction in the past 6 months , unstable arrhythmia or unstable angina, cerebral infarction within 3 months, etc).
  • Renal insufficiency or dialysis
  • History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to gemcitabine, nab-paclitaxel, or other agents used in the study.
  • Other serious accompanying illnesses, which, in the researcher's opinion, could seriously adversely affect the safety of the treatment.
  • Patients who are unwilling or unable to comply with study procedures.

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: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Ascorbate
nab-paclitaxel (120 mg per square meter of body-surface area) followed by gemcitabine (1000 mg per square meter) on days 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks. Vitamin C 900 mg/day, three times a day, orally.
Drug: Ascorbate
Vitamin C 900 mg/day, three times a day, orally.
Other Names:
  • Vitamin C
Drug: Nab paclitaxel
Nab-paclitaxel (120 mg per square meter of body-surface area) on days 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks
Other Names:
  • Nab-paclitaxel
Drug: Gemcitabine
Gemcitabine (1000 mg per square meter) on days 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks
Other Names:
  • Gemcitabine Hydrochloride
Other: Control
nab-paclitaxel (120 mg per square meter of body-surface area) followed by gemcitabine (1000 mg per square meter) on days 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks.
Drug: Nab paclitaxel
Nab-paclitaxel (120 mg per square meter of body-surface area) on days 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks
Other Names:
  • Nab-paclitaxel
Drug: Gemcitabine
Gemcitabine (1000 mg per square meter) on days 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks
Other Names:
  • Gemcitabine Hydrochloride

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rate of anemia
Time Frame: At the end of Cycle 1 (each cycle is 28 days)
Rate of anemia after every cycle of chemotherapy
At the end of Cycle 1 (each cycle is 28 days)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Quality of life (QOL)
Time Frame: At the end of Cycle 1 (each cycle is 28 days)
Change of QOL after every cycle of chemotherapy assessed using European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30)
At the end of Cycle 1 (each cycle is 28 days)
Overall survival (OS)
Time Frame: At the end of Cycle 1 (each cycle is 28 days)
OS of subjects from date of randomization until the date of first documented progression or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 24 months.
At the end of Cycle 1 (each cycle is 28 days)
Change of numeric rating scale (NRS)
Time Frame: At the end of Cycle 1 (each cycle is 28 days)
Change of NRS and the administration of analgesic drugs after every cycle of chemotherapy. The range of NRS scale is 0-10 and higher scores mean a worse outcome.
At the end of Cycle 1 (each cycle is 28 days)
Rate of grade 3 neuropathy
Time Frame: At the end of Cycle 1 (each cycle is 28 days)
Rate of grade 3 neuropathy after every cycle of chemotherapy
At the end of Cycle 1 (each cycle is 28 days)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Fudan University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Guopei Luo, MD, Fudan 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)

August 20, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 15, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 15, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 17, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 29, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

August 31, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 7, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 4, 2025

Last Verified

August 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • PTCA199-3

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

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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