Immune Repertoire Decoding for Chronic Pancreatitis-to-Pancreatic Cancer Risk Stratification

May 21, 2026 updated by: Zhuan Liao, Changhai Hospital

Immune Repertoire Decoding Enables Dynamic Risk Stratification During Chronic Pancreatitis-to-Pancreatic Cancer Transition

This study will follow people with chronic pancreatitis, people with pancreatic cancer, and healthy volunteers. The goal is to better understand why some people with chronic pancreatitis may later develop pancreatic cancer.

Participants will provide blood samples and health information. Some participants may also provide tissue samples if these are available during routine medical care. The study team will look for changes in the immune system, genes, medical images, and clinical information that may be linked to the development of pancreatic cancer.

People with chronic pancreatitis will be followed over time. The information collected in this study may help researchers develop a model to identify patients with chronic pancreatitis who have a higher risk of pancreatic cancer.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Detailed Description

Chronic pancreatitis is considered an important precancerous condition for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, but the immune changes associated with malignant transformation remain incompletely understood. This prospective observational cohort study will enroll healthy controls, patients with chronic pancreatitis, and patients with newly diagnosed pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma at Changhai Hospital.

The study will collect standardized clinical information, laboratory data, abdominal CT or MRI imaging data, peripheral blood samples, and, when available, tissue samples. Peripheral blood samples will be used for immune repertoire profiling, including T-cell receptor and B-cell receptor sequencing. Additional analyses may include antibody repertoire profiling, germline genetic testing, single-cell sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, and multiplex immunofluorescence in selected representative cases.

Patients with chronic pancreatitis will undergo longitudinal follow-up approximately every 6 to 12 months. The study will compare immune repertoire features across healthy controls, chronic pancreatitis, and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, and will evaluate dynamic immune changes during disease progression. The collected immune, genetic, imaging, and clinical data will be integrated to develop and validate an artificial intelligence-based risk stratification model for identifying patients with chronic pancreatitis who may be at increased risk of pancreatic cancer. Participant enrollment and baseline sample collection are planned to be completed by June 2028. Follow-up, data processing, model development, and final data collection are planned to continue through December 2028.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

800

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

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

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Participants will be selected from healthy volunteers and patients receiving care at Changhai Hospital. The study population will include healthy controls, patients with chronic pancreatitis, and patients with newly diagnosed pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Patients with chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma will be identified through outpatient clinics, inpatient wards, and routine clinical evaluation. Healthy volunteers will be recruited as a reference cohort.

Participants will be recruited using a non-probability sampling approach from outpatient clinics, inpatient wards, and healthy volunteer sources at Changhai Hospital.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults aged 18 years or older.
  • Able to understand the study procedures and provide written informed consent.
  • Healthy controls: participants without a known history of chronic pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer.
  • Chronic pancreatitis cohort: participants diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis according to clinical guidelines, based on clinical, imaging, and/or genetic information.
  • Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cohort: participants with newly diagnosed pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma based on clinical, imaging, and/or pathological evaluation.
  • Willing to provide blood samples and relevant clinical information.
  • For participants with chronic pancreatitis, willing to undergo longitudinal follow-up approximately every 6 to 12 months.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Unable or unwilling to provide written informed consent.
  • Unable to provide required clinical information or biological samples.
  • Prior diagnosis of another active malignant tumor, except adequately treated non-melanoma skin cancer or carcinoma in situ, if considered not to affect study participation by the investigator.
  • Current severe acute infection or other serious medical condition that, in the investigator's judgment, may interfere with study participation or interpretation of immune-related analyses.
  • Use of systemic immunosuppressive therapy or immunotherapy within a period considered clinically relevant by the investigator.
  • Any condition that, in the investigator's judgment, makes the participant unsuitable for this study.

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

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Healthy Controls
Healthy volunteers without chronic pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer will be enrolled as the reference cohort for comparison with the chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cohorts.
Chronic Pancreatitis
Participants with chronic pancreatitis will be enrolled as the main longitudinal cohort. This cohort will be followed over time to evaluate clinical, imaging, genetic, and immune features associated with pancreatic cancer risk.
Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
Participants with newly diagnosed pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma will be enrolled as the pancreatic cancer cohort for comparison with the healthy control and chronic pancreatitis cohorts.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Peripheral Blood TCR/BCR Immune Repertoire Features Over 30 Months
Time Frame: Baseline and every 6 to 12 months for up to 30 months after enrollment
Peripheral blood T-cell receptor and B-cell receptor immune repertoire features will be measured from blood samples. Features will include clonotype diversity, clonal expansion, V/J gene usage, CDR3 sequence characteristics, B-cell receptor somatic hypermutation, and shared immune clonotype clusters. These features will be compared across healthy controls, participants with chronic pancreatitis, and participants with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, and longitudinal changes will be evaluated in participants with chronic pancreatitis.
Baseline and every 6 to 12 months for up to 30 months after enrollment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Performance of a Multimodal Risk Stratification Model for Pancreatic Cancer in Chronic Pancreatitis
Time Frame: Baseline and follow-up data collected up to 30 months after enrollment
A risk stratification model will be developed using immune repertoire, germline genetic, imaging, and clinical features to identify participants with chronic pancreatitis who may be at increased risk of pancreatic cancer. Model performance will be assessed using discrimination, calibration, sensitivity, specificity, and other predictive performance measures.
Baseline and follow-up data collected up to 30 months after enrollment
Number of Participants With Chronic Pancreatitis Who Develop Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
Time Frame: From enrollment to the last scheduled follow-up, up to 30 months
The number of participants with chronic pancreatitis who develop pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma during follow-up will be recorded. The diagnosis will be based on clinical evaluation, imaging findings, pathology when available, and follow-up information.
From enrollment to the last scheduled follow-up, up to 30 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Changhai Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Zhuan Liao, PhD, Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University

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 (Estimated)

June 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 21, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 21, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

May 28, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 28, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 21, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CHEC2026-120
  • 82541011 (Other Grant/Funding Number: National Natural Science Foundation of China)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

De-identified individual participant data underlying the main study results may be shared under controlled access. Shared data may include de-identified demographic and clinical data, laboratory results, imaging-related data or metadata, germline genetic testing results, immune repertoire-derived data, and longitudinal follow-up outcomes. Data will be shared together with relevant metadata or a data dictionary when permitted by the ethics approval, informed consent, and institutional data-sharing policies.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Beginning 12 months after publication of the main study results and available for 5 years.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Researchers with a scientifically sound proposal may submit a data access request to the study investigators or the designated data management platform. Requests will be reviewed for scientific purpose, ethical approval, data security, and consistency with the informed consent and institutional policies. Data will be shared only after approval and, when required, completion of a data use agreement.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL

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.

Clinical Trials on Pancreatic Cancer

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Norway

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe