Gestational Trophoblastic Diseases (GTD) are a variety of rare, pregnancy related cell multiplication disorders of cells of the placenta which can range from pre-cancerous growths to more serious lesions that can spread to nearby tissues that can cause serious health issues.
Most patients that develop GTD are diagnosed at the precancerous stage early in pregnancy and undergo surgical removal of the disease from the uterus. Around 15% of patients are not cured by surgical removal alone and need to undergo further treatment with chemotherapy or further surgery; of which roughly one-third of patients are cured with a second round of surgery alone.
Anti-cancer treatment with chemotherapy carries many short- and long-term side effects that can negatively affect a person's quality of living. Finding less harmful anticancer therapies that can be paired with surgery is therefore of great benefit to patients with recurrent GTD.
An alternative is to pair surgery with another class of anticancer treatments, known as immunotherapies. Immunotherapy aims to encourage the bodies natural defences to fight the cancer cells.
Pembrolizumab, an immunotherapeutic agent which works by preventing cancer cells from hiding from the immune system; has been proven to be an extremely safe form of anticancer therapy and is an attractive alternative to more toxic chemotherapeutic agents.
The RESOLVE study aims to determine how feasible it is to deliver pre-surgical pembrolizumab to patients and determine if this is a desirable alternative; potentially leading to a larger more definitive study.
20 patients will be recruited onto the study and will be evenly split into two arms:
* 10 patients to receive second evacuation alone * 10 patients to receive single dose of Pembrolizumab followed by surgery All patients that take part in the study will be recruited from Charing Cross Hospital and will be followed up for a year after the date of their surgery.
Written informed consent prior to initiation of any study procedures and willingness and ability to comply with the study schedule.
Age ≥18yrs
Postmolar GTN defined as recurrence or persistence of histologically confirmed CHM after primary surgical evacuation with no intervening treatment.
Postmolar GTN defined as plateau or rising human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Plateaued hCG is defined as four or more equivalent values of hCG over at least 3 weeks. Rising hCG is defined as two consecutive rises in hCG of 10% or greater over at least 2 weeks.
Patients with other invasive malignancies, with the exception of non-melanoma skin cancer, patients who have had any evidence of the other cancer present within the last 2 years or patients whose previous cancer treatment contraindicates this protocol therapy.
Patients with histologically confirmed choriocarcinoma, placental site trophoblastic tumor (PSTT) or epithelioid trophoblastic tumor (ETT) on the first curettage.
Pregnant women.
Uncontrolled vaginal bleeding.
Imperial College London
Lead sponsor
Cancer Research UK
Collaborator