Background: Limited metastatic gastric cancer (lmGC) represents an intermediate disease stage, positioned between localized and widely disseminated gastric cancer, and has garnered increasing attention due to its distinct prognostic outcomes. Currently, there is no consensus on the optimal treatment approach for lmGC, raising the question of whether it should align more with the systemic treatment-focused approach used for metastatic gastric cancer or adopt a surgery-centric strategy similar to that used in localized disease. Previous studies have preliminarily explored combining systemic treatment and surgical resection to address both the primary tumor and metastatic lesions. However, these investigations have been constrained by limited evidence and yielded inconclusive findings.
Methods: ROSETTE trial is an open-label, randomized phase II study designed to investigate treatment strategies for patients with limited metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma. Eligible patients, confirmed through comprehensive evaluation including radiography and laparoscopy, are randomized to receive either systemic treatment followed by surgery-centric local treatment, or systemic treatment alone. Systemic treatment combines immunotherapy with chemotherapy, while the surgery-centric local treatment utilizes a surgery-centric, multi-modality approach involving resection of both primary and metastatic tumors where feasible. For unresected or unresectable metastatic lesions, alternative local therapies are provided. The primary endpoint is the 1-year event-free survival (EFS) rate. Secondary endpoints include objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), extended EFS, overall survival (OS), pathologic complete response rate (pCR), major pathologic response rate (MPR), and R0 resection rate.
Discussion: The ROSETTE trial aims to evaluate whether systemic treatment followed by surgery-centric local treatment provides a survival advantage over the standard systemic-only approach for patients with limited metastatic gastric cancer. It seeks to build on previous research while addressing limitations such as selection bias inherent to non-randomized designs, patient recruitment challenges, and the complexities of managing surgical complications. By applying the latest evidence and a multi-modality approach, the ROSETTE trial endeavors to offer new insights into optimizing treatment strategies for patient with lmGC.
Trial registration: NCT06468280 (Registration date: 05/28/2024).
Keywords: Limited-Metastatic cancer; Local treatment; Metastatic gastric cancer; Perioperative treatment; Surgery.
© 2025. The Author(s).