Vulvar cancer accounts for about 6% of gynecologic cancers in the United States, with roughly 6,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Most cases are squamous cell carcinomas, often linked to HPV infection or chronic skin conditions like lichen sclerosus. Surgery remains the primary treatment, sometimes combined with radiation or chemotherapy depending on stage and spread.
What's actually going on in research
Trials are testing immunotherapy drugs that block PD-1 and PD-L1, targeted therapies for specific mutations, and combinations that may shrink tumors before surgery. Researchers are studying whether newer radiation techniques reduce side effects, how to preserve function while treating the disease, and ways to identify high-risk precancerous changes earlier.
Immunotherapy combinations
Pembrolizumab and other PD-1 inhibitors are being tested alone and with chemotherapy for advanced vulvar cancer. Early results suggest some tumors respond, particularly those with high PD-L1 expression or HPV-related disease.
Function-preserving approaches
Studies are testing whether smaller surgeries combined with radiation can control cancer while preserving sexual and urinary function. This matters especially for younger patients who face decades of living with treatment effects.
What to know before you search
Eligibility typically depends on cancer stage, prior treatments, HPV status, and whether the cancer has spread to lymph nodes or distant sites.
What types of trials are currently open
- Immunotherapy trials — Testing checkpoint inhibitors like pembrolizumab and nivolumab, often combined with chemotherapy or radiation, for advanced or recurrent disease.
- Surgery trials — Comparing different surgical approaches to see which offer the best balance of cancer control and quality of life.
- Radiation trials — Testing newer radiation techniques and schedules that may reduce damage to surrounding tissue while treating the cancer.
- Prevention trials — Studying treatments for precancerous vulvar changes to prevent progression to invasive cancer.
- Quality of life studies — Following patients to understand long-term effects of treatment on sexual function, urinary health, and emotional well-being.
Recently added Vulvar Cancer trials
Share your treatment data in a gynecologic cancer registry
REGYNERA(dia)TION is an international, multicenter, ambispective observational patient registry of adults with recurrent gynecologic malignancies after prior radiotherapy who are treated or planned for reirradiation and/or total ablative strategies as part of routine clinical care. The registry does not assign treatment. Radiotherapy technique, dose, systemic therapy, surgery, metastasis-directed therapy, imaging, and follow-up are selected by the treating multidisciplinary team according to local standards and patient-specific factors. The registry will collect harmonized retrospective and prospective data on disease characteristics, prior radiotherapy, recurrence pattern, reirradiation or ablative treatment exposure, response, progression, survival, severe treatment-related morbidity, fistula events, and patient-reported outcomes where available.
Take an intravenous cancer therapy being tested for advanced tumors
This is a first-in-human (FIH), Phase 1 open-label, multicenter dose escalation study investigating AVA6103 monotherapy administered intravenously in patients with locally advanced (unresectable) or metastatic solid tumors that are likely to be FAP positive. The study consists of an initial Phase 1a dose escalation portion and a subsequent Phase 1b dose expansion portion upon completion of the dose escalation portion.
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