Research into eye cancer
Researchers around the world are looking at better ways to diagnose and treat eye cancer.
Go to Cancer Research UK’s clinical trials database if you are looking for a trial for eye cancer in the UK. You need to talk to your specialist if there are any trials that you think you might be able to take part in.
Some of the trials on this page may have now stopped recruiting people. It takes time before the results are available. This is because the trial team follow the patients for a period of time and collect and analyse the results. We have included this ongoing research to give examples of the type of research being carried out in eye cancer.
Research and clinical trials
All cancer treatments must be fully researched before they can be used for everyone. This is so we can be sure that:
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they work
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they work better than the treatments already available
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they are safe
To make sure the research is accurate, each trial has certain entry conditions for who can take part. These are different for each trial.
Hospitals do not take part in every clinical trial. Some trials are only done in a small number of hospitals, or in one area of the country. You may need to travel quite far if you take part in these trials.
Research into diagnosing eye cancer
Genes
Researchers are looking at which 
and proteins behave abnormally in uveal melanoma. They are studying blood and tissue samples from people having surgery to remove uveal melanoma. They hope to:
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find features of uveal melanoma that would tell them whether the cancer was likely to spread
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develop a blood test which would show if a cancer had spread when this had been missed by other tests
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find possible targets in the cancer tissue that may respond to current treatment, or give clues to help design new treatments
Research into treating eye cancer
An antibody drug conjugate
Researchers are looking at a drug called belzupacap sarotalocan to treat choroidal melanoma. They want to find out whether it is safe and how well it works.
Belzupacap sarotalocan is an . That means it is made up of two parts. One part contains small parts (nanoparticles) made from the human papillomavirus (HPV-NP). It is bound to an infrared (IR) activated fluorescent dye IR700 (IR-700), which can potentially kill cancer cells.
Belzupacap sarotalocan is injected into the eye (intravitreal injection). The HPV-NP part of the drug binds to certain proteins on the surface of the melanoma cancer cells in the eye. When exposed to near infrared light, the second part, IR700 is activated. IR700 then damages the melanoma cells, causing them to die.
Targeted drugs
A study is looking at the best dose of the targeted drug IDE196 (darovasertib) for metastatic uveal melanoma. In this study IDE196 is given as a . It is for people whose cancer tested negative for human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A*02:01. HLA-A*02:01 is an on the surface of some types of cancer cells, such as melanoma cells.
People taking part in this study will either have IDE196 with the targeted drug crizotinib or treatment with one of the following:
- pembrolizumab
- ipilimumab and nivolumab
- dacarbazine
Another study is also looking at IDE196 (darovasertib) for localised eye (ocular) melanoma. In this study, it is given before surgery to remove the eye (enucleation) or plaque radiotherapy for up to 6 months. This is called neo adjuvant treatment. After surgery or radiotherapy, people taking part in the study will have a further 6 months of treatment (adjuvant treatment).
Research into the natural history of uveal melanoma
This study aims to develop and use a multicentre uveal melanoma registry. This registry will collect information (data) to learn about the natural history of uveal melanoma. The information will be used to support the development of new treatments for uveal melanoma.
