Circulating Tumour DNA guidEd Therapy for Stage IIB/C mElanoma After surgiCal resecTION
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2030-10-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
The trial is looking for new and better ways to treat melanoma, an aggressive type of skin
cancer. Having surgery to remove the melanoma will cure the majority of patients with early
stage disease. However, a small percentage of these patients will go on to develop further
disease, which may spread to other places in their body.
Currently, patients who have been cured of melanoma will have appointments in clinic to check
that further disease has not developed or returned and some may also receive regular scans.
The trial team has developed a blood test that tells us whether cancer cells are still
present or is becoming active after a patient has been 'cured' of melanoma, even if a scan
looks normal. The test looks for pieces of DNA in the blood that are known to have come from
the cancer, which we call 'circulating tumour DNA', or ctDNA. Patients who have ctDNA in
their blood have an extremely high chance of the cancer returning.
By using the blood test that we have developed we think that we can identify patients earlier
than normal. We think that some of the treatments that are used when melanoma cancer has
spread may benefit patients at this earlier stage.
We want to see if these patients with ctDNA in their blood, who have a higher risk of their
cancer returning or spreading, and receive treatment early have a better response to their
cancer compared to those patients who receive treatment when their cancer has returned and it
can be seen on a scan. This could mean we would be able to offer patients earlier treatment
in the future using just a blood test rather than a scan, while also providing reassurance to
those patients that do not have ctDNA in their blood that they do not need treatment and
their cancer is not returning.
Phase:
Phase 2/Phase 3
Details
Lead Sponsor:
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
Collaborators:
Liverpool Clinical Trials Centre Manchester Academic Health Science Centre University of Manchester