# PORTEC-3

Source: https://onco.cc/trials/portec-3/  
OnCo record `portec-3` (Trial). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Adding chemotherapy to radiation after surgery helped women with high-risk endometrial cancer, especially those whose tumours have a broken p53 gene.

## Summary

5-year OS 81.4% vs 76.1% (HR 0.70) and failure-free survival 76.5% vs 69.1% in the updated analysis (Lancet Oncology 2019); the benefit was largest in stage III and serous cancers. Molecular analysis (de Boer/León-Castillo, JCO 2020) showed strong benefit in p53-abnormal tumours and none in POLE-mutated tumours, the basis for molecular-class-directed adjuvant therapy now tested in RAINBO.

## Fields

- Kind: Trial
- Status: positive
- Last checked: 2026-09-07
- Registry id: NCT00411138
- Phase: 3
- Setting: High-risk early or stage III endometrial cancer after surgery: chemoradiation + 4 cycles chemotherapy vs pelvic radiotherapy alone
- Sponsor: Dutch Gynaecological Oncology Group
- Enrolled: 660
- Result: 5-year OS 81.4% vs 76.1% (HR 0.70); benefit concentrated in p53-abnormal disease.
- Outcomes: Overall survival at 5 years: Chemoradiation + chemotherapy 81.4% vs Radiotherapy alone 76.1%, HR 0.7
- Replication: GOG-258 (chemoradiation vs chemotherapy alone) found no RFS difference, so the incremental value of radiation remains debated.

## Sources

- ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00411138: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT00411138
- Lancet Oncology 2019: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(19)30395-X/fulltext

## Connected records

- cancers: [Endometrial cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/endometrial/), [Endometrial cancer with no specific molecular profile](https://onco.cc/cancers/endometrial-nsmp/), [Mismatch-repair-deficient endometrial cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/endometrial-mmr-deficient/), [p53-abnormal endometrial cancer, including uterine serous carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/endometrial-p53-abnormal/), [POLE-ultramutated endometrial cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/endometrial-pole-ultramutated/), [Uterine carcinosarcoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/uterine-carcinosarcoma/)
- technologies: [Brachytherapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/brachytherapy/), [Cytotoxic chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/cytotoxic-chemotherapy/), [IMRT / IGRT (modern external beam)](https://onco.cc/technologies/imrt-igrt/)
- targets: [TP53](https://onco.cc/targets/tp53/)
- companies: [TROG Cancer Research](https://onco.cc/companies/trog/)
- terms: [Endometrial cancer molecular classes (POLEmut, MMRd, p53abn, NSMP)](https://onco.cc/terms/endometrial-molecular-classes/)
- people: [Carien L. Creutzberg](https://onco.cc/people/carien-creutzberg/)
- ideas: [Molecular-class-directed adjuvant therapy in endometrial cancer](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-molecular-class-adjuvant-endometrial/)
- key papers: [Molecular classification of the PORTEC-3 trial: prognosis and benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy by molecular group](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-portec-3-molecular-leon-castillo-jco-2020/), [PORTEC-3: adjuvant chemoradiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone for high-risk endometrial cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-portec-3-lancet-oncol-2018/)
- roadmaps: [Radiotherapy roadmap: X-rays → shaped beams → fewer fractions, particles and FLASH](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/radiation-roadmap/)

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