Completed

A Phase IIb Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial of Topical Bacteriophage T4 Endonuclease V in Renal Allograft Recipients With a History of Non-melanoma Skin Cancer

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What is being tested

liposomal T4N5 lotion

+ laboratory biomarker analysis
+ placebo
Drug
Other
Who is being recruted

Carcinoma
+9

+ Carcinoma, Basal Cell
+ Keratosis
Over 19 Years
See all eligibility criteria
How is the trial designed

Prevention Study

Placebo-Controlled
Phase 2
Interventional
Study Start: March 2004
See protocol details

Summary

Principal SponsorNational Cancer Institute (NCI)
Last updated: January 14, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner
Study start date: March 1, 2004Actual date on which the first participant was enrolled.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. Compare the incidence of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) (average per patient) on the sun-exposed skin of renal transplant recipients with a history of NMSC treated with T4N5 liposomal lotion vs placebo. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. Compare the proportion of these patients who develop NMSC on sun-exposed skin during treatment and after cessation of treatment with these regimens. II. Compare the incidence of NMSC on the sun-exposed skin of these patients after cessation of treatment with these regimens. III. Compare the incidence of recurrent and de novo actinic keratoses (AKs) in patients treated with these regimens. IV. Determine whether either of these regimens induces regression of AKs left untreated on the sun-exposed skin of these patients. V. Compare the proportion of these patients who develop melanoma, in both treated and untreated sites, during and after cessation of treatment with these regimens. OUTLINE: This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to study center. Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms. Six months before randomization, lesions suspicious for nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) are surgically removed and histologically analyzed. All but 10 randomly selected non-suspicious lesions are removed. Of these 10 lesions, 5 are shave biopsied immediately pre-treatment for histologic and surrogate endpoint biomarker (SEB) analysis and to determine a baseline actinic keratosis: wart ratio. Patients also undergo a pre-treatment biopsy of normal appearing sun-exposed and non-sun-exposed skin (buttocks). Arm I: Patients apply T4N5 liposomal lotion topically to non-occluded, sun-exposed areas of the head, neck, face, and upper extremities once daily for 12 months. Arm II: Patients apply placebo topically to non-occluded, sun-exposed areas of the head, neck, face, and upper extremities once daily for 12 months. Treatment in both arms continues in the absence of the development of metastatic cutaneous squamous cell cancer or melanoma. Patients are followed every 3 months. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 100 patients (50 per treatment arm) will be accrued for this study within 6 months.

Official TitleA Phase IIb Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial of Topical Bacteriophage T4 Endonuclease V in Renal Allograft Recipients With a History of Non-melanoma Skin Cancer 
NCT00089180
Principal SponsorNational Cancer Institute (NCI)
Last updated: January 14, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Protocol

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
Design Details
100 patients to be enrolledTotal number of participants that the clinical trial aims to recruit.
Prevention Study
Prevention studies aim to stop a disease from developing. They often involve people at risk and test things like vaccines, lifestyle changes, or preventive medications.

How participants are assigned to different groups/arms
In this clinical study, participants are placed into groups randomly, like flipping a coin. This ensures that the study is fair and unbiased, making the results more reliable. By assigning participants by chance, researchers can better compare treatments without external influences.

Other Ways to Assign Participants
Non-randomized allocation
: Participants are assigned based on specific factors, such as their medical condition or a doctor's decision.

None (Single-arm trial)
: If the study has only one group, all participants receive the same treatment, and no allocation is needed.

How treatments are given to participants
Participants are divided into different groups, each receiving a specific treatment at the same time. This helps researchers compare how well different treatments work against each other.

Other Ways to Assign Treatments
Single-group assignment
: Everyone gets the same treatment.

Cross-over assignment
: Participants switch between treatments during the study.

Factorial assignment
: Participants receive different combinations of treatments.

Sequential assignment
: Participants receive treatments one after another in a specific order, possibly based on individual responses.

Other assignment
: Treatment assignment does not follow a standard or predefined design.

How the effectiveness of the treatment is controlled
In a placebo-controlled study, some participants receive the experimental treatment, while others receive an inert substance (placebo) to compare outcomes. This method helps to isolate the effect of the treatment from the psychological effects of receiving any treatment at all.

Other Options
Non-placebo-controlled
: No placebo is used. All participants receive the actual treatment or alternative interventions (often the Standard of Care), and comparisons are made between these treatments.

How the interventions assigned to participants is kept confidential
Neither participants nor researchers know who is receiving which treatment. This is the most rigorous way to reduce bias, ensuring that expectations do not influence the results.

Other Ways to Mask Information
Open-label
: Everyone knows which treatment is being given.

Single-blind
: Participants do not know which treatment they are receiving, but researchers do.

Triple-blind
: Participants, researchers, and outcome assessors do not know which treatment is given.

Quadruple-blind
: Participants, researchers, outcome assessors, and care providers all do not know which treatment is given.

Eligibility

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria: person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Conditions
Criteria
Any sexBiological sex of participants that are eligible to enroll.
Over 19 YearsRange of ages for which participants are eligible to join.
Healthy volunteers not allowedIf individuals who are healthy and do not have the condition being studied can participate.
Conditions
Pathology
Carcinoma
Carcinoma, Basal Cell
Keratosis
Neoplasms
Neoplasms by Histologic Type
Neoplasms by Site
Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial
Precancerous Conditions
Skin Diseases
Skin Neoplasms
Neoplasms, Basal Cell
Keratosis, Actinic
Criteria

Inclusion Criteria: * History of histologically confirmed nonmelanoma skin cancer * Renal transplant recipient ≥ 4 years ago * Currently receiving standard multi-agent pharmacologic immunosuppression * Fitzpatrick skin type I, II, or III * Sun-damaged skin with ≥ 10 lesions consistent with actinic keratoses OR wart on the upper extremities (arms, forearms, hands), neck, face, and exposed scalp combined * No history of keloid formation * No known photosensitivity disorder * No history of malignant melanoma * Not pregnant or nursing * Negative pregnancy test * Fertile patients must use effective contraception * No diagnosis of acute allograft rejection within the past 30 days requiring an increase in immunosuppression * No invasive malignancy within the past 4 years except curatively excised NMSC, cured polyclonal posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disease, carcinoma in situ of the cervix, stage 0 chronic lymphocytic leukemia, unless all of the following criteria are met: * No current evidence of disease * No treatment for the invasive malignancy within the past 6 months * No concurrent or planned therapy for the invasive malignancy * Has an expected disease-free survival of at least 5 years * No diagnosis of melanoma or melanoma in situ * No other medical or psychosocial condition that would preclude study participation * No likelihood, in the opinion of the transplant surgeon/nephrologist, to experience graft loss and/or discontinue standard immunosuppressive therapy during study treatment * More than 30 days since prior and no concurrent topical chemotherapy (including topical fluorouracil) to areas being studied * No concurrent topical preparations containing corticosteroids * More than 30 days since prior and no concurrent local radiotherapy to a study area * More than 30 days since prior and no concurrent cryotherapy to target lesions * No prior or concurrent experimental immunosuppressive agents * More than 30 days since prior investigational medication * More than 30 days since prior and no concurrent systemic psoralens or retinoids * More than 60 days since prior and no concurrent laser resurfacing, dermabrasion, or chemical peels to a study area * No other concurrent investigational agents * No other concurrent topical medications, including prescription and over the counter preparations, to the areas being studied (e.g., upper arms, forearms, neck, face, and scalp) * Concurrent moisturizer, emollient, and sunscreen allowed * No concurrent topical preparations containing vitamin A derivatives * No concurrent nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs * Concurrent cardioprotective doses of aspirin (\< 100 mg/day) allowed


Study Plan

Find out more about all the medication administered in this study, their detailed description and what they involve.
Treatment Groups
Study Objectives
2 intervention groups 

are designated in this study

50% chance 

of being blinded to the placebo group

Treatment Groups
Group I
Experimental
Patients apply T4N5 liposomal lotion topically to non-occluded, sun-exposed areas of the head, neck, face, and upper extremities once daily for 12 months.

Given topically

Correlative studies
Group II
Placebo
Patients apply placebo topically to non-occluded, sun-exposed areas of the head, neck, face, and upper extremities once daily for 12 months.

Given topically

Correlative studies
Study Objectives
Primary Objectives

Descriptive statistics such as mean, median, standard deviation will be calculated to summarize the number of new NMSC for each of the two randomization arms and compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test.
Secondary Objectives

Calculated for the study drug and placebo arms and compared using the Fisher's exact or chi-square test.

Summarized by treatment arm and compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test.

Summarized by treatment arm and compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Similarly, multivariate Poisson regression model will be utilized to compare the cumulative number of incident AKs at the end of treatment as a function of treatment arm and covariates.

Summarized by treatment group and compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Similarly, multivariate Poisson regression model will be utilized to compare the cumulative number of regressed AKs at the end of treatment as a function of treatment group and covariates. In addition to the covariates listed above, the number of AKs at baseline will be included as a covariate in the model.

The data will be collected and analyzed by scoring both total body melanoma distribution and those in lotion treatment sites. Relative risk will be calculated for the development of melanomas. The Chi-Square test will be used to explore the risk relationships.

Descriptive statistics will be calculated at baseline and end of treatment for several SEBs by treatment arm. The change in SEB levels will be also calculated for each patient and compared between treatment arms using either the two-sample t-test or Wilcoxon rank-sum test.

Study Centers

These are the hospitals, clinics, or research facilities where the trial is being conducted. You can find the location closest to you and its status.
This study has 1 location
Suspended
UAB Comprehensive Cancer CenterBirmingham, United StatesSee the location

CompletedOne Study Center
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