When they receive treatment with immunotherapy in addition to their standard treatment, patients with recurrent, persistent or metastatic cervical cancer see their survival extended by eight months.
- Presented at ESMO 2021, this new study shows that a therapeutic approach combining chemotherapy and immunotherapy reduces the risk of death of patients suffering from recurrent, persistent or metastatic cervical cancer by 33%.
- The results are even better when they also receive an antiangiogenic, which slows the growth of blood vessels.
Each year, approximately 3,000 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed in France and 1,100 women die from it each year. In women aged 15 to 44, it is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death.
Depending on the grade of progression of cervical cancer, the treatment and care offered by doctors will change. In case of recurrent, persistent or metastatic cancer, the treatment will consist of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. But unfortunately, the patients concerned have a very low survival rate, generally not exceeding 12 months after diagnosis.
A new study, conducted by researchers at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, Italy, and presented at the congress of theEuropean Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO 2021) reveals that integrating immunotherapy into first-line treatment can help prolong patient survival.
A 33% reduction in the risk of death
The research team randomly assigned 617 women to immunotherapy (pembrolizumab) and placebo. Both groups also received chemotherapy (paclitaxel plus, physician’s choice, cisplatin, or carboplatin) and they could receive bevacizumab at their physician’s discretion. It is a monoclonal antibody directed against vascular endothelial growth factor, which slows the growth of new blood vessels
The results showed that the addition of immunotherapy reduced the risk of death by 33% and the likelihood of disease progression or death by 35%. The most common side effects were anemia (30.3% in the pembrolizumab group versus 26.9% in the placebo group) and low white blood cell count (12.4% versus 9.7%, respectively).
“Previous studies have shown that adding anti-angiogenesis treatment with bevacizumab to chemotherapy extended survival by 3.7 months compared to chemotherapy alone”, explains Professor Nicoletta Colombo, director of the gynecology program at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan and main author of the work. According to her, the benefit of the new combination therapy (immunotherapy and chemotherapy) was observed in people who received bevacizumab and in those who did not. However, she adds, “The study was not designed to statistically compare outcomes between these subgroups since bevacizumab treatment was not randomized but left to physician discretion. Some Common Complications of Recurrent Cervical Cancer / persistent or metastatic are contraindications to the use of this drug”.
In this study, 63% of patients received bevacizumab. “The trial indicates that bevacizumab should be used with pembrolizumab (immunotherapy, editor’s note) when it is safe. For patients who cannot use bevacizumab, adding pembrolizumab to chemotherapy alone still has a benefit clinically significant”continues the researcher.
A study that will change the therapeutic approach
For Dr. Antonio González-Martín, director of the cancer center at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra in Madrid (Spain), this study “change the practice”. The data is so strong in terms of overall survival increment that this combination should be considered the new standard of care for women with persistent, recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer.”
The next step for the researchers will be to assess the impact of immunotherapy in patients with early-stage cervical cancer.
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