NCI-MATCH Trial (Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice)
About NCI-MATCH
NCI-MATCH, also known as MATCH, is a precision medicine cancer treatment clinical trial that sought to find out if treating cancer based on specific genetic changes in a person’s tumor is effective, no matter the cancer type. In this trial, which is no longer enrolling patients, people with cancer had genomic sequencing and other tests to determine the genetic makeup of their cancer cells. People whose tumors had genetic changes that matched one of the treatments in the trial may have received that treatment if they met other eligibility criteria.
The drugs included in the trial were either approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for another cancer or were still being tested in other clinical trials but had shown some effectiveness against tumors with a specific genetic change.
Types of cancers studied
MATCH enrolled people with advanced solid tumors, lymphoma, or myeloma that progressed on standard treatment or people with a rare cancer for which there is no standard treatment.
When MATCH started, researchers aimed for at least 25% of people enrolled to have rare or uncommon cancers. But the trial went beyond this number, with about 60% of those enrolled having cancers other than colon, rectal, breast, non-small cell lung, or prostate.
Results of NCI-MATCH
NCI-MATCH showed that people with advanced cancer may benefit from genomic sequencing to help plan their treatment.
NCI-MATCH enrolled 1,201 people on 38 different arms. Follow-up will continue for everyone who took part in the trial for up to 3 years after treatment.
Researchers continue to publish papers about the findings for each arm. These papers describe the findings in detail, including the results of each of treatment, genomic analyses, and what was learned from this information.
For a complete list of articles about the study, visit the NCI-MATCH Publications page.
What's next for NCI precision medicine clinical trials
As NCI-MATCH winds down, information learned from it is leading to new precision medicine trials, such as ComboMATCH, MyeloMATCH, and ImmunoMatch (iMATCH).
Unlike NCI-MATCH, which tested single drugs, ComboMATCH will test combinations of drugs. MyeloMATCH will test treatments based on genetic changes in the cancer cells of people with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). These cancers were not included in NCI-MATCH. The iMATCH trial will study how the immune status of a tumor affects the response to targeted treatments with immunotherapy.
As researchers learn more about matching people with treatment based on the genetic changes in their cancer, we will continue to make progress against cancer.
Trial collaborators
NCI-MATCH was supported by NCI and coordinated by the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group. Personnel from NCI, ECOG-ACRIN, and the other adult trial groups in the NCI-supported National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN)—the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, NRG Oncology Group, and SWOG—collaborated in the development of NCI-MATCH. The NCTN includes researchers, physicians, and healthcare professionals at public and private institutions across the United States. They conduct clinical trials on all types of adult cancers.
In addition to the institutions belonging to the NCTN, NCI-MATCH was open to all institutions and sites that participate in the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP).
For clinical trial tracking purposes, the NCI-MATCH trial is also referred to as EAY131 and as NCT02465060.