Lab Mini-tumors Testing Prostate Cancer Treatment Options
Grows patients' prostate tumor samples into lab mini-tumors to test treatments.
Key facts
- Who runs it
- Maastricht Radiation Oncology
- Where
- Heerlen and Maastricht, NetherlandsSee the 3 sites
- Trial code
- Registry title
- Lab Research Using Mini-tumors to Study Prostate Cancer Treatments
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 600 people, planned
- Started
- 15 Mar 2026
- Expected to end
- 30 Dec 2031
- Type of study
- Observational, 2 groups
- Treatments tested
- HDR brachytherapy
- Diagnostic biopsy
- Record updated
- 23 April 2026
Who can take part
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for men aged 18 or older with prostate cancer who are already planned for brachytherapy or a prostate biopsy. Leftover tumor tissue is used to grow lab mini-tumors.
- Age
- 18 years or older
- Sex
- Men
- Disease stage
- Prostate cancer: high-risk or recurrent (planned for HDR brachytherapy), or MRI-suspected metastatic prostate cancer with at least clinical stage T3-4 (planned for transperineal prostate biopsy).
Main reasons for not taking part
- Younger than 18 years
- Leftover tissue cannot be obtained during normal clinical treatment, for example when all tumor material is needed for diagnosis, staging or molecular testing
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 5 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Patients aged 18 years or older
- Patients with prostate cancer
- Patients planned for HDR brachytherapy treatment for high-risk or recurrent prostate cancer or transperineal prostate biopsy with MRI-suspected metastatic prostate cancer with at least clinical stage T3-4
Who cannot take part
- Patients younger than 18 years
- Patients of whom it is not possible to obtain left-over tissue as part of the normal clinical treatment procedure (e.g., if all tumor material is required for the pathologist to make a diagnosis, to stage the patient or to perform a molecular diagnosis)
Where in Netherlands
- Zuyderland Medisch CentrumHeerlen, NetherlandsContact: Lizzy EJM Driessen, PhDNot yet recruiting
- Academisch Ziekenhuis MaastrichtMaastricht, NetherlandsContact: Joep GH Van Roermund, PhD, MDNot yet recruiting
- Maastricht Radiation OncologyMaastricht, NetherlandsContact: Iris EWG Laven, PhDTaking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
For men with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, finding the right and effective treatment right away is challenging. Many of these men face a high risk of cancer recurrence: about half experience a relapse after surgery, and more than a third after undergoing radiation therapy. Men with metastatic prostate cancer have particularly poor prognoses, with a five-year survival rate of only 30% to 50%. In short, it is difficult to predict which treatment, or combination of treatments, will lead to longer survival for this group of men with aggressive (metastatic) prostate cancer.
Read full original descriptionShow less
In the laboratory, it is possible to grow small samples of tumors into 3D mini-tumors. These mini-tumors retain the characteristics of the patient's original tumor tissue. Various treatments can be tested on these 3D mini-tumors to determine which therapy is most effective for each individual case. There are currently two techniques available for creating these 3D mini-tumors in the lab. In this project, we aim to investigate which of these two techniques works best in order to test and personalize treatments.
The 2 groups in the trial
- HDR brachytherapy
High-risk or recurrent prostate cancer patients that will undergo high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy.
- Diagnostic biopsy
Patients with MRI-suspected metastatic prostate cancer - with at least clinical stage T3-4 disease - that will undergo a diagnostic transperineal prostate biopsy procedure guided with ultrasound (i.e., targeted or template prostate cancer needle biopsies taken through the perineum guided with transrectal ultrasound)
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- Preclinical ex Vivo Patient-derived 3D Cultures for the Prediction of Prostate Cancer Treatment Response
- Plain-language title
- Lab Mini-tumors Testing Prostate Cancer Treatment OptionsGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
- AI summary
- From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 12 November 2026.
- Record updated
- 23 April 2026