Lay Summary
Renal cell carcinoma is a type of kidney cancer that starts from the kidneys. It is the 8th most common cancer in the UK and an increase of new cases of 2% has been seen in the last twenty years. About half of the new cases of kidney cancer are among people aged 70 and above.
Patients whose disease has not spread outside the kidneys typically have surgery to remove a part or all of their kidney (called a partial or radical nephrectomy). After surgery, patients are seen by their doctor with regular check-ups to look for signs of the cancer coming back or spreading to other parts of the body; this is generally called ‘active monitoring’ or ‘active surveillance’. Unfortunately, it is estimated that the cancer will return in 30-40% of the patients who have undergone surgery.
Many clinical studies have been carried out to find if a new treatment after surgery might slow the cancer coming back or prevent it from coming back altogether. However, to date no treatment is available. Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that ‘wakes up’ the patient’s own immune system so it can fight the cancer. New drugs which act in this way have worked well in patients with skin cancer (melanoma), lung cancer and in patients whose kidney cancer has spread outside the kidney.
RAMPART is a study looking at two new immunotherapy treatments. We aim to find out whether taking one drug (durvalumab) or a combination of two drugs (durvalumab and tremelimumab) for one year can prevent or delay kidney cancer from coming back compared to the current standard of care (active monitoring after surgery).
Durvalumab is sometimes referred to as an anti-PDL1 drug, and it is currently being tested (alone or in combination with other drugs) in many types of cancer. Tremelimumab is sometimes called anti-CTLA4 drug. It is also being tested in different types of cancer. Like all drugs, these treatments have side effects and patients will have regular blood tests and scans and appointments with their study doctor and nurse.
Around 1,750 patients from the UK, Australia, France and the US will join the study. It will take approximately 5.5 years to reach this number. The first results from the study are expected 6.5 years after the study starts, with more results following later. If positive, the results of the study will change the current standard of care for the treatment of kidney cancer after surgery.
The study is being run by a study team at the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit which is based at University College London (UCL), the MRC CTU at UCL.