New hope for patients whose tumors have become resistant to immunotherapy? According to a clinical trial conducted in the United Kingdom between 2017 and 2020 and the results of which were published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancerthere combination of immunotherapy and an experimental drug could work where tumors have become resistant to immunotherapy alone and thus block disease progression.
Using the immune system to target and kill tumor cells, immunotherapy can be effective when other treatment options (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery) have failed. “Immunotherapy has shown incredible promise in cancer care over the past decade, but it doesn’t work well in all cancers, and cancers can often become resistant.”said Dr. Anna Minchom, leader of the study, at the Guardian.
Cancer progression halted in a third of patients
But the association of pembrolizumab – a monoclonal antibody used in immunotherapy that has been proven in different types of cancers, including lung and skin – together with guadecitabine – an experimental new drug – could reverse a cancer’s resistance to immunotherapy. It even stopped the progression of cancer in more than a third of patients enrolled in the clinical trial.
Guadecitabine + pembrolizumab, activity in NSCLC. Collaboration with UCL, ICR, RMH and Imperial’s Prof Bob Brown. A pleasure to work with everyone, you are amazing! @DrAbhiPal@DionysisPastos@udai_banerji@ChristinaBYap@ICR_DDU_IIT and others https://t.co/JausPgOSrppic.twitter.com/U0qaqKvZ1q
— Anna Minchom (@Anna_Minchom) June 19, 2022
In total, the latter included 34 patients with lung, breast, prostate and bowel cancer. Among them, 30 had their cancer activity analyzed. Every three weeks for three years, these patients received an injection of guadecitabone for four consecutive days and pembrolizumab on the first of those four days. Of the 30 patients whose cancer activity was analyzed, the disease was stopped dead in 37%, without tumor progression for 24 weeks and more. 60% of the group were resistant to immunotherapy before the trial. Of these, 39% did not get sicker after taking the drug combination.
“In the long term, we hope that if these effects are confirmed in other patient groups and in future studies, guadecitabine and pembrolizumab could help combat some of the resistance to immunotherapy that we see in too many many types of cancer“, concludes Professor Johann de Bono, chief researcher of the study.
Source :
- Phase 1, dose-escalation study of guadecitabine (SGI-110) in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with solid tumors, Journal for ImmunoTherapy of CancerJune 2022
