NCT03702309: LIBERATE

Liquid Biopsy Evaluation and Repository Development at Princess Margaret

Recruiting now Last updated 26 November 2025

What this trial tests

trial in Cancer in 2,500 participants. Currently enrolling.

Timeline

3 August 2017

Primary endpoint
6 July 2026

6 July 2026

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University Health Network, Toronto
Status	Recruiting now
Study type	OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment	2,500
Start date	3 August 2017
Primary completion	6 July 2026
Estimated completion	6 July 2026
Sites	1 location across Canada

Conditions studied

• Cancer — all drugs for Cancer →
• Breast Cancer — all drugs for Breast Cancer →
• Lung Cancer — all drugs for Lung Cancer →
• Colon Cancer — all drugs for Colon Cancer →

Sponsor

University Health Network, Toronto

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Cancer or Breast Cancer. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

The objective of this protocol is to develop an institution-wide liquid biopsy protocol that will establish a common process for collecting blood and corresponding archived tumor specimens for future research studies at the University Health Network's Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Circulating cell-free nucleic acids (cfNA), including cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and cell-free RNA (cfRNA), are non-invasive, real-time biomarkers that can provide diagnostic and prognostic information before cancer diagnosis, during cancer treatment, and at disease progression. Cancer research scientists and clinicians at the Princess Margaret are interested in incorporating the collection of peripheral blood samples ("liquid biopsies") into research protocols as a means of non-invasively assessing tumor progression and response to treatment at multiple time points during a patient's course of disease.

Publications & conference data

8 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Liquid biopsy at the frontier in renal cell carcinoma: recent analysis of techniques and clinical application.
   Li M, Li L, Zheng J, Li Z, et al · · 2023 · cited 57× · PMID 36810071 · DOI 10.1186/s12943-023-01745-7
2. Clinical Validation of Human Papilloma Virus Circulating Tumor DNA for Early Detection of Residual Disease After Chemoradiation in Cervical Cancer.
   Han K, Zou J, Zhao Z, Baskurt Z, et al · · 2024 · cited 49× · PMID 37972346 · DOI 10.1200/jco.23.00954
3. Liquid biopsies for multiple myeloma in a time of precision medicine.
   Ferreira B, Caetano J, Barahona F, Lopes R, et al · · 2020 · cited 24× · PMID 32246161 · DOI 10.1007/s00109-020-01897-9
4. Clinical outcome and biomarker assessments of a multi-centre phase II trial assessing niraparib with or without dostarlimab in recurrent endometrial carcinoma.
   Madariaga A, Garg S, Tchrakian N, Dhani NC, et al · · 2023 · cited 22× · PMID 36922497 · DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-37084-w
5. Multimodal detection of molecular residual disease in high-risk locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.
   Sanz-Garcia E, Zou J, Avery L, Spreafico A, et al · · 2024 · cited 20× · PMID 38409276 · DOI 10.1038/s41418-024-01272-y
6. Designing circulating tumor DNA-based interventional clinical trials in oncology.
   Araujo DV, Bratman SV, Siu LL. · · 2019 · cited 19× · PMID 31003596 · DOI 10.1186/s13073-019-0634-x
7. Ultrasensitive Detection and Monitoring of Circulating Tumor DNA Using Structural Variants in Early-Stage Breast Cancer.
   Elliott MJ, Howarth K, Main S, Fuentes Antrás J, et al · · 2025 · cited 16× · PMID 39785866 · DOI 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-24-3472
8. Increase in serum choline levels predicts for improved progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with advanced cancers receiving pembrolizumab.
   Watson GA, Sanz-Garcia E, Zhang WJ, Liu ZA, et al · · 2022 · cited 16× · PMID 35705312 · DOI 10.1136/jitc-2021-004378