ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT05635344Updated Apr 17, 2024

A Feasibility Window Study of Pembrolizumab Prior to Second Evacuation for Post-molar Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia

A Phase 2 interventional study of Pembrolizumab in Gestational Trophoblastic Disease, Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia and Gestational Trophoblastic Tumor, Recurrent, sponsored by Imperial College London. Recruiting at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to female participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-04-17.

Sponsored by Imperial College London · Phase 2, Interventional, and Other

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Feb 2026, 9 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Started Feb 2024; still recruiting 2 years 8 months later.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
20
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

Gestational Trophoblastic Diseases (GTD) are a variety of rare, pregnancy related cell multiplication disorders of cells of the placenta which can range from pre-cancerous growths to more serious lesions that can spread to nearby tissues that can cause serious health issues.

Most patients that develop GTD are diagnosed at the precancerous stage early in pregnancy and undergo surgical removal of the disease from the uterus. Around 15% of patients are not cured by surgical removal alone and need to undergo further treatment with chemotherapy or further surgery; of which roughly one-third of patients are cured with a second round of surgery alone.

Anti-cancer treatment with chemotherapy carries many short- and long-term side effects that can negatively affect a person's quality of living. Finding less harmful anticancer therapies that can be paired with surgery is therefore of great benefit to patients with recurrent GTD.

An alternative is to pair surgery with another class of anticancer treatments, known as immunotherapies. Immunotherapy aims to encourage the bodies natural defences to fight the cancer cells.

Pembrolizumab, an immunotherapeutic agent which works by preventing cancer cells from hiding from the immune system; has been proven to be an extremely safe form of anticancer therapy and is an attractive alternative to more toxic chemotherapeutic agents.

The RESOLVE study aims to determine how feasible it is to deliver pre-surgical pembrolizumab to patients and determine if this is a desirable alternative; potentially leading to a larger more definitive study.

20 patients will be recruited onto the study and will be evenly split into two arms:

  • 10 patients to receive second evacuation alone
  • 10 patients to receive single dose of Pembrolizumab followed by surgery All patients that take part in the study will be recruited from Charing Cross Hospital and will be followed up for a year after the date of their surgery.
02

Conditions studied

  • Gestational Trophoblastic Disease
  • Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia
  • Gestational Trophoblastic Tumor, Recurrent
03

In context

Gestational Trophoblastic Disease

57 studies on the registry are indexed under Gestational Trophoblastic Disease; 16 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 20 is below the median of 40 across 35 interventional studies indexed under Gestational Trophoblastic Disease.

Browse Gestational Trophoblastic Disease studies →

Lead sponsor

Imperial College London is the lead sponsor of 843 studies on the registry; 180 are open to participants now.

Of its 9 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 6 (67%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Written prior to initiation of any study procedures and willingness and ability to comply with the study schedule.
  2. Age ≥18yrs
  3. Postmolar GTN defined as recurrence or persistence of confirmed CHM after primary surgical evacuation with no intervening treatment.
  4. Postmolar GTN defined as plateau or rising human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Plateaued hCG is defined as four or more equivalent values of hCG over at least 3 weeks. Rising hCG is defined as two consecutive rises in hCG of 10% or greater over at least 2 weeks.
  5. hCG under 20,000 IU/L
  6. Low risk disease as defined by the Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO) 2000 risk scoring criteria (score of 6 or less)
  7. No disease on chest X-ray.
  8. (ECOG) performance status of 0-1
  9. Disease present within the uterine cavity not within 5mm of the serosal surface.
  10. Adequate bone marrow reserve or organ function as defined by any one of the following parameters:

    • ≥ 1.5 x 10\^9 /L;
    • count ≥ 100 x 10\^9 /L;
    • ≥ 9.0 g/dL (may have been blood transfused)
    • ≥ 30 ml/min (Cockcroft-Gault formula)
    • Serum ≤ 1.5 x
    • /ALT ≤ 2.5 X ULN
  11. All patients must agree to a highly effective method of , or to complete abstinence* for 1 year following second evacuation. This is standard practice following second evacuation of GTN because hCG levels rise in pregnancy thus masking a potential cancer recurrence

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients with other invasive , with the exception of non-melanoma skin cancer, patients who have had any evidence of the other cancer present within the last 2 years or patients whose previous cancer treatment contraindicates this protocol therapy.
  2. Patients with confirmed choriocarcinoma, placental site trophoblastic tumor (PSTT) or epithelioid trophoblastic tumor (ETT) on the first curettage.
  3. Pregnant women.
  4. Uncontrolled vaginal bleeding.
  5. Administration of within 30 days prior to the first dose of study drug. Examples of live vaccines include, but are not limited to, the following: measles, mumps, rubella, varicella/zoster (chicken pox), yellow fever, rabies, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), and typhoid vaccine. Seasonal influenza vaccines for injection are generally killed virus vaccines and are allowed; however, intranasal influenza vaccines (eg, FluMist®) are live attenuated vaccines and are not allowed.
  6. History of immunodeficiency or receiving chronic systemic therapy (in dosing exceeding 10 mg daily of prednisone equivalent) or any other form of therapy within 7 days prior to the first dose of study drug.
  7. Active disease that has required systemic treatment in the past 2 years (i.e. with use of disease modifying agents, corticosteroids or immunosuppressive drugs). Replacement therapy (eg., thyroxine, insulin, or physiologic corticosteroid replacement therapy for adrenal or pituitary insufficiency, etc.) is not considered a form of systemic treatment and is allowed.
  8. History of (non-infectious) pneumonitis that required steroids or has current pneumonitis.
  9. History of (HIV) infection.
  10. Has a known history of (defined as Hepatitis B surface antigen [HBsAg] reactive) or known active virus (defined as HCV RNA [qualitative] is detected) infection. Note: no testing for Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C is required unless mandated by local health authority.
  11. History of active TB (Bacillus Tuberculosis).
  12. History or current evidence of any condition, therapy, or laboratory abnormality that might confound the results of the study, interfere with the subject's participation for the full duration of the study, or is not in the best interest of the subject to participate, in the opinion of the treating investigator.
  13. History of allogenic tissue/solid organ transplant.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(20)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

Live vaccines

Vaccines made with a weakened form of the germ, such as measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), chickenpox and yellow fever. They can be risky when the immune system is weakened. Flu injections are not live; the nasal flu spray is.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
20 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • No intervention
    Second evacuation only

    Patients that are randomised onto this arm of the study will be treated by second evacuation ALONE.

  • Experimental
    Pembrolizumab and second evacuation

    Patients that are randomised onto this arm will be given a single dose of Pembrolizumab in a neoadjuvant setting followed by second evacuation

    Drug: Pembrolizumab

Interventions

  • Single dose 200mg dose of Pembrolizumab given intravenously

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. To determine the feasibility of conducting a definitive study of neoadjuvant pembrolizumab prior to second evacuation of low risk postmolar gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN)

    Outcome will be measured by determining the proportion of eligible patients who consent to randomisation and the proportion of patients randomised to the intervention arm who complete protocol treatments. From this, it can be gauged how feasible it would be to open and recruit to a large scale more definitive study on using pembrolizumab in a neoadjuvant setting in GTN.

    Time frame: 1 year

Secondary outcomes

  1. To assess the rate of surgical cure with and without pembrolizumab.

    Proportion of patients who achieve a sustained complete response (no recurrence of disease) following second evacuation and no further anti-cancer therapy. This defined as normalisation of hCG and no rise by 1 year post procedure. Failure of second evacuation resulting in disease control defined by national guidelines is described as a rise or plateau in hCG, hCG over 20,000 IU/L at 4 weeks or heavy vaginal bleeding. The response rates of patients post second evacuation will be compared across both arms.

    Time frame: 1 year

  2. To assess the safety of a single dose of pembrolizumab prior to second evacuation versus second evacuation alone.

    Incidence of adverse effects of second evacuation and pembrolizumab within 30 days and 12 weeks respectively, assessed by Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE v5.0, 27 Nov 2017).

    Time frame: 12 weeks

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Study documents

PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Started Feb 2024 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Feb 2026, 23 months after the start.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Nov 22, 2022
First posted
Dec 2, 2022
StartActual
Feb 14, 2024
Primary completionEst.
Feb 1, 2026
CompletionEst.
Aug 1, 2026
Last update
Apr 17, 2024
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 17, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05635344
Collaborators
Cancer Research UK
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Dec 2, 2022
Start date
Feb 14, 2024
Primary completion
Feb 1, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Aug 1, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Apr 17, 2024

Study contacts

Aaron Clarke
Contact
aeclarke@ic.ac.uk
02033117740
Philip Badman
Contact
p.badman@imperial.ac.uk
Ehsan Ghorani
study chair · Imperial College London University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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Studies of the drug tested here: Pembrolizumab

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