How to get involved

 

The National Lung Matrix Trial closed to recruitment in October 2021. Your oncologist will be able to advise you on other studies you may be able to participate in.

How to get involved in this trial

If you think you may be eligible to enter the trial, you should first talk to your oncologist at your next hospital visit about how to be involved in Cancer Research UK’s Stratified Medicine Programme 2 (SMP2). 

Patients will need to take part in SMP2, as this allows their tumour tissue to be tested to see if there are any specific gene changes that can be targeted by one of the trial treatments. The hospital needs to know the results of the SMP2 test, before they can find out if the patient can enter the National Lung Matrix Trial.

Once a patient has agreed to take part in SMP2, the hospital will send off some of their cancer tissue that was collected when their lung cancer was diagnosed, to one of three hospital laboratories called the ‘Technology Hubs’, where the small piece of tumour tissue is tested to see if any changes in the genes can be found.

If there isn’t enough tissue left over from the diagnostic biopsy, the patient can consent to another biopsy, which would only be used for sending for SMP2 testing.

The result of these tests is sent back to the hospital, who can then see if the patient has any of the specific gene changes that mean they are eligible for the National Lung Matrix Trial. It can take up to a couple of months to get the result back at the hospital.

In the National Lung Matrix trial, patients will be offered a particular treatment depending on the specific gene change present within their cancer cells. If the patient took part in SMP2 at a hospital that doesn’t treat patients in the National Lung Matrix Trial, they would be referred to a site open to the National Lung Matrix Trial.

Who can enter the trial?

You may be able to join this trial if all of the following apply:

  • You have non-small cell lung cancer that is either squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma.
  • You have cancer that has spread outside your lung (stage 3) and you can’t have surgery or radiotherapy with the aim of curing it, or it has spread to another part of your body (stage 4).
  • You have had at least one suitable standard treatment and your cancer has continued to grow.
  • You have consented and given a sample of your tumour in CRUK’s SMP2.
  • You have had a CT or MRI scan in the last 4 weeks that shows an area of cancer that can be measured.
  • You are well enough to carry out all of your normal activities, apart from heavy physical work (performance status 0 or 1).
  • You are at least 18 years old.
  • You have satisfactory blood results.

You cannot join this trial if:

  • You have cancer that has spread to your brain or is pressing on your spinal cord, unless this has been treated, is not getting any worse or causing any symptoms, and you haven’t needed to take steroids in the last 4 weeks.
  • You have had major chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy or any other anti-cancer treatment in the last 4 weeks.
  • You have any problems with your digestive system that could affect how you absorb drugs.
  • You have had any other cancer in the last 3 years apart from carcinoma in situ of the cervix, or basal cell skin cancer that was successfully treated.
  • Are still having side effects from earlier cancer treatment unless they are very mild (except hair loss).
  • Have HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C.
  • Have certain heart problems, which depend on which treatment you might receive.
  • Are pregnant or breastfeeding.

How many patients are needed?

The trial is currently aiming to recruit 640 patients. Each cohort will include a maximum of 30 patients and some cohorts may fill up quicker than others if the gene changes that they target are more common in the patient population.

As the trial goes on, the research team may identify other drugs that they think could work for patients with other gene changes. If this happens, new Arms will be added to the trial and the number of patients in the trial will increase.

A group called the Trial Steering Committee will review the trial data at certain points, and may decide to suspend recruitment or remove an Arm or Cohort from the trial if it is not effective.

Which hospitals are running the trial?

Stratified Medicine Programme 2 Hospitals:

For a list of hospitals able to recruit patients to SMP2, please go to the Stratified Medicine Hospitals page

National Lung Matrix Trial Hospitals:

The following hospitals are able to recruit patients to the National Lung Matrix Trial:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Colchester

 

Devon 
Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

London

 

 

Maidstone 

 

Manchester 

 

Newcastle 

 

Oxford 

 

Sheffield 

 

 

The following hospitals are planning to open in the future:

 

 

Plymouth
Derriford Hospital

 The following hospitals are open as National Lung Matrix Trial ‘Feeder sites’, meaning they can consent patients to another biopsy if there is no tissue available to send for SMP2 testing:

 

Cambridge