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Clinical Trials Capabilities > Clinical Oncology

Strength and Expertise

The Comprehensive Cancer Trials Unit, under the leadership of Professor Benny Zee and Professor Anthony Chan, has conducted over 100 clinical trials over the last 10 years. These include IND registration studies in partnership with pharmaceutical industry, CUHK-led phase I/II studies using novel agents supported by the US NCI CTEP, collaborative group studies with international and regional groups, as well as local multi-center and in-house studies focusing particularly in Asian cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Two phase III clinical trials in HCC and NPC have recently been published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute with major impact on the treatment of these two diseases (JNCI 05;97:536-9, JNCI 05;97:1532-8). Close proximity to the Sir Y.K. Pao Cancer Centre laboratories has facilitated translational studies particularly in the areas of novel biomarkers as well as molecular therapeutics. The group was the first to demonstrate the demethylation of regulatory elements responsible for silencing EBV genes in EBV-associated malignancies using azacytidine; and in partnership with Department of Chemical Pathology, the group rapidly validated the use of the novel biomarker EBV DNA in diagnosis, monitoring and prognostication of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Special Facility and Equipment

In 2006, the number of out patient attendance is up to 77,332. In order to meet the rising needs, the expanded and renovated Ambulatory Cancer Care Centre (ACCC) has been opened in May 2007 to provide quality ambulatory cancer care services through extended hours of service. The Centre provides 16 ¡§day beds¡¨ and 28 infusion-chairs and attends to over 100 patient visits per day. One ambulatory Cell separator for peripheral blood harvest and therapeutic plasma/leukophoresis has been equipped in the centre. This on-site Oncology Haematology Laboratory allows quick and timely general haematology services for patients attending ACCC. It is close to the Cancer Patient Resource Centre, laboratories and state of the art diagnostic imaging facilities. For services to in-patients, the Oncology wards are in the hospital main block 4EF with a total of 66 beds. In addition, the department has 26 beds in Bradbury Hospital and 50 beds in Shatin Hospital.

Treatment Planning and Simulation Facilities:

The radiotherapy treatment planning facilities available include 7 sets of Varian Eclipse treatment planning computers, 5 of them with HELIO inverse planning facility for planning of IMRT treatments, a RadCalc (Lifeline Software, Inc) workstation and a Sun Nuclear MAPCHECK workstation for QA of treatment planning calculations. The simulation facilities available include 1 CT Simulator (Philips Big Bore Oncology) and 1 radiotherapy treatment simulator (Varian Ximatron with digital image).

External Beam Radiotherapy:
Conventional RT, 3DCRT, IMRT, IGRT, TBI, TBEI and other treatment modalities are provided by means of (a) 4 linear accelerators (2 Varian Clinac 2300CD and 2 Varian Clinac 600CD, all with electronic portal imaging system, three with conventional MLC, one with micro-MLC, one with respiratory gating system for motion compensated radiotherapy), (b) 1 BrainLab Stereotactic radiosurgery/radiotherapy treatment system for both cone-based and micro-MLC-based treatments, (c) 1 Philips RT100 superficial x-ray therapy unit.

Therapeutic Nuclear Medicine:
A radioisotope laboratory is available for preparation and management of a range of unsealed radioactive substances for clinical use. This includes Iodine-131 for treatment of CA and toxic thyroids, Yttrium-90 microspheres and Lipiodol-Iodine-131 for treatment of liver cancer, Yttrium-90 for treatment of arthritis, Phosphorus-32 for treatment of polycythemia, and Strontium-89 for treatment bone metastasis.

Dosimetry and Dosimetry Audit:
The Department is equipped with a comprehensive range of dosimetry equipment, including a secondary standard dosemeter system (PTW UNIDOS electrometer with Farmer type thimble chamber and Roos electron chamber) calibrated at the National Physical Laboratory, UK; a number of Nuclear Enterprises and PTW Farmer type tertiary standard dosemeters for routine calibration of radiotherapy equipment; a Harshaw TLD dosimetry system, RIT113 radiation therapy dosimetry system, Rando anthropomorphic phantom, and a Scanditronix RFA3 radiation beam data acquisition system. The dosimetry protocol is based on IAEA TRS398 dosimetry code. The Department, being a member institution of RTOG is subject to dosimetry audit of the US Radiological Physics Centre. The Department is also a member participant in the IAEA/WHO TLD Postal Dose Quality Audit Programme for Co-60 and Megavoltage X-ray Beams.

Types of Laboratory Equipment:
For pre-clinical trial study, status of the art equipment would be used. The Department has laboratories on the 3/F and 4/F of the Sir YK Pao Centre for Cancer Centre.
Analyses of global differences in protein / peptide expression patterns are performed in department¡¦s laboratories using 2D-PAGE, MALDI-TOF, SELDI, HPLC and ICAT. Specific proteins of interest are also studied using automated immunohistochemistry. Differentially expressed proteins / peptides, in combination with clinical data, are then evaluated for their use as tumor markers which are then further characterized by molecular techniques such as quantitative RT-PCR and cDNA microarray.

Disease Types and Number of Patients Potential for Clinical Trials Recruitment

The total number of new patients in 2006 presented to our Department in the following areas:

  • Breast: 537
  • Lung: 614
  • Liver: 389
  • Colon: 290
  • Non-Hodgkin¡¦s Lymphoma: 77
  • Head & Neck and Nasopharyngeal: 238
  • Prostate: 83
  • Stomach: 53

Collaboration, Partners and Multi-centre Trials Capability

  • Collaborations with Mayo Clinic Phase 2 Consortium
  • Collaborations with Wisconsin-Johns Hopkins
  • Collaborations with international co-operative groups - RTOG, International Breast Cancer Study Group, Switzerland (ISCSG), Breast International Group, Belgium (BIG), European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer, Europe (EORTC)
  • Collaborations with Cancer Research UK
  • Collaborations with Lung Cancer Research Group members
  • Collaborations with Cancer Therapeutics Research Group members

Clinical Trials Monitored and/or Audited by Industry, FDA and local RGC etc.

In 2006, number of clinical trials being monitored: 39
In 2006, number of clinical trials being audited: 39
Among 39 studies, all industry studies have being monitored & audited. 3 have been external audited by regional cooperative group.