LCC-CARIS-01: Molecular Profiling in Gynaecological Cancer

Overview

This is a pilot feasibility study assessing the use of a commercial molecular profiling service in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). The impact of knowledge of a patient's molecular profile, and the time it takes to generate this knowledge, will be assessed by analysis of changes in physicians' treatment decisions prior to and following generation of a patient's molecular profile. Implications for benefit with therapies recommended by the profile will also be assessed and the following treatment outcomes collected: best response (based on routine clinical, radiological and biochemical assessment), progression free survival ratio (post Caris Molecular profiling versus prior treatment) and overall survival.

The concept of molecular profiling leading to personalised medicine is based on the hypothesis that using treatments selected by a molecular profiling approach favourably changes the clinical course for an individual patient. In order to best determine the next steps in a particular patient's clinical course, it is necessary to understand not only how that patient has been diagnosed, treated and responded to treatment in the past, but also to fully characterize the molecular profile of the patient's tumour, so that the maximum information on potential positive and negative treatment outcome can be gathered. In this pilot feasibility study, the treatment plans devised for individual patients by their treating oncologists will be assessed. The primary endpoint is the frequency at which the oncologist changes a treatment plan based on the tumour's molecular phenotype and the respective drugs considered to be associated with higher likelihood of benefit or lack of benefit. Ultimately however, the treatment decision remains in the hands of the treating physicians and the study protocol does not prescribe or dictate the use of any particular treatment. In patients with recurrent ovarian cancer or other gynecological malignancies in which no standard of care is defined, treatments are currently chosen empirically based on population-based response rates. With the use of molecular profiling treating physicians will get a chance to revise their treatment plans and consider the individual molecular profile of each patient's tumour in light of the known predictive power of biomarkers for the efficacy of certain drugs.