First patient recruited to trial for rare and incurable cancer
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The first patient has been recruited to a clinical trial which aims to find new treatment for a rare cancer which is often incurable.
The AURORA trial, run by Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, is looking at whether an immunotherapy drug could improve outcomes for people with urinary tract squamous cell carcinoma (UTSCC).
The first patient has now been recruited by the team at University College London Hospital and is beginning treatment on the trial.
The need for better treatments
People with UTSCC are usually treated either with chemotherapy or they are only given supportive care. There are currently no treatments that are proven to extend survival for these patients.
Because this is such a rare cancer, research into the disease has been limited, mainly because of the low number of cases seen each year. But with poor survival rates and prognosis for patients typically under a year, there is a real need to find better treatment options.
The AURORA trial, which is funded by Cancer Research UK, will test whether an immunotherapy called atezolizumab can be effective for patients with UTSCC.
Immunotherapy works by helping your body’s own immune system to recognise and destroy cancer cells. Atezolizumab blocks a protein produced by cancer cells that stops immune cells from working properly, therefore allowing them to target the cancer.
First trial participant
The AURORA trial is now open at three hospitals in the UK: University Hospital Southampton, University College London Hospital, and James Cook Hospital in Middlesborough, with several other sites soon to open.
The first patient was recruited at UCLH at the end of February and is now undergoing treatment.
Robin Wickens, Trial Manager for AURORA at the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, says:
“Patients on the trial will have an infusion of atezolizumab every three weeks, along with blood tests and a review by their oncology team. They will also have a CT scan every 12 weeks and will stay on the trial treatment for up to one year.
“The research team will analyse how patients respond to the treatment, including any side effects and whether the progression of the cancer is slowed. We will then hopefully be able to see whether atezolizumab could be effective for this patient group.”
There is a real need for research into this rare cancer, to provide patients with better treatment options. We hope that this trial will give us the evidence to show whether immunotherapy could be effective for these patients and lead to more trials in the future.
Hopes for the future
The AURORA trial is being conducted in the UK but if it shows evidence that the treatment is safe and effective, then the team plans to develop future larger trials which could be run internationally.
Professor Simon Crabb, Professor of Experimental Cancer Therapeutics and Chief Investigator of the AURORA trial, says:
“There is a real need for research into this rare cancer, to provide patients with better treatment options. We hope that this trial will give us the evidence to show whether immunotherapy could be effective for these patients and lead to more trials in the future.”
AURORA is funded by over £814,000 from Cancer Research UK, with further support from pharmaceutical company Roche who are providing the atezolizumab for the trial.
The Southampton Clinical Trials Unit is working with the International Rare Cancers Initiative (IRCI) Genitourinary Cancer Working Group which aims to prioritise research into rare cancers such as UTSCC.
For more information, please visit the AURORA trial web page.