DCE & DW MRI of Hepatic Metastatic Melanoma Treated by Immunotherapy

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Dynamic Contrast Enhancement and Diffusion MRI to predict the response of hepatic melanoma metastases to immunotherapy: A proof of concept study

  • IRAS ID

    249292

  • Contact name

    Ryckie Wade

  • Contact email

    ryckiewade@gmail.com

  • Sponsor organisation

    Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    n/a, N/A

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 9 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    Melanoma skin cancer is the 5th most common cancer worldwide and will be the 3rd most common by 2020. In the UK, there are 15,000 cases of melanoma diagnosed each year1. Melanoma which has spread to other organs (metastatic melanoma) is treated with immunotherapy, a new class of drugs which reawakens the immune system enabling patients to destroy their own cancer. Currently, there are two problems with immunotherapy for metastatic melanoma, 1) potentially serious drug-related adverse effects, and 2) current imaging cannot differentiate tumours which are growing (ie. getting worse despite treatment) from those which are dying due to immunotherapy.

    New magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques can maps the flow of blood through tumours and characterise the type of tissue (cancer or non-cancer). Recent advances in these MRI technologies have allowed the 1) prediction of which cancers will respond to treatment, and 2) monitoring of treatment so tumours which are responding can be treated for longer whereas and vice versa, patients who don’t respond are exposed to potentially toxic drugs unnecessarily.

    We plan to scan up to 30 patients with melanoma which has spread to the liver, because this is the most comment organ for metastasis (alongside the lung). We are also scanning liver metastases because our new MRI techniques are well developed in scanning livers, so advances in patient care are more easily achieved here. These patients will be scanned three times; just before immunotherapy starts, after 3 and 6 months. The new MRI scans won’t change treatment. We will analyse the new MRI images once their immunotherapy has finished.

  • REC name

    Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds East Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    18/YH/0335

  • Date of REC Opinion

    13 Sep 2018

  • REC opinion

    Favourable Opinion