Effects of Rapamycin in Renal Cancer

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Investigation of pathways regulating cell survival and early antiangiogenic response to single agent Rapamycin in Renal Cancer

• IRAS ID

  50356

• Contact name

  Valentine Macaulay

• Sponsor organisation

  Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Eudract number

  2010-022589-29

• ISRCTN Number

  n/a

• Research summary

  Kidney cancers are able to grow and spread because of molecular changes that activate growth and blood vessel formation. This study will test a drug called Rapamycin, which is used routinely to prevent graft rejection after kidney transplantation. Rapamycin inhibits a specific cellular protein called mTOR, blocking the growth of cancer cells, and reducing the formation of new blood vessels that cancers use to spread around the body. Pharmaceutical companies have made Rapamycin-like drugs, marketed as Temsirolimus (Torisel) and Everolimus (Afinitor). In trials, both drugs were shown to be effective treatments for patients with metastatic kidney cancer, ie when the cancer has spread away from the kidney to other parts of the body. Both are licenced (but not NICE-approved) for use in patients with metastatic kidney cancer, although they shrink tumours in only a minority of kidney cancer patients. This research study involves giving kidney cancer patients a two-week course of Rapamycin tablets. Patients will have blood tests, scans to measure tumour blood flow, and biopsies of the cancer before and after taking the Rapamycin. Research tests will be performed on the tumour tissue, aiming to identify early indicators of sensitivity or resistance to Rapamycin. On completion of study investigations, there is an option to continue taking Rapamycin, for as long as the cancer remains under control, or until the development of side-effects. The aim of this study is to identify features in the cancer that make it sensitive to Rapamycin, to enable selection of patients likely to benefit, and potentially also to help make this type of treatment more effective.

• REC name

  South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  10/H0605/86

• Date of REC Opinion

  22 Mar 2011

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion