How to treat the bladder cancer ? A clinical trial presented at the annual congress of theAmerican Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), which takes place from June 3-7, 2016 in Chicago, brings new hope based on a promising technique: theimmunotherapy. This treatment consists in reinforcing the effectiveness of the molecules of the immune system, antibodies, so that they destroy cancer cells without attacking healthy cells.
Tumor reduction in a quarter of patients
The Genetech laboratory, a subsidiary of the Swiss Roche laboratory, has thus conducted a clinical trial using aitzolizumab, an antibody patented and marketed in the United States under the name Tecentriq®. This trial, titled IMvigor210, involved 119 patients in the United States, Canada and Europe. Suffering from bladder cancer, these participants received Tecentriq® as their first-line treatment. Result: the drug reduced tumor mass by at least 30% in a quarter of patients, and extended survival from 9 to almost 14.8 months on average. The response to treatment was rapid (approximately two months) and lasting, up to 15 months. An encouraging finding since “half of bladder cancer patients cannot take the chemotherapy usually prescribed“, according to Sandra Horning, chief medical officer of Genetech laboratories.
3,000 deaths per year in France
Another advantage of this immunotherapy treatment: only 10 to 15% of patients suffered serious side effects. “Immunotherapy appears to be much easier to tolerate than chemotherapy, which is especially important for elderly patients.“said Professor Arjun Balar, oncologist at Langone Medical Center (New York) who worked on this clinical trial. These results have not yet been validated, but open up new avenues of treatment for cancers that are difficult to treat. , like that of the bladder, pancreasorstomach. The researchers in charge of this trial hope to carry out new, larger studies to validate the effectiveness of aezolizumab. Bladder cancer is the 5th most common cancer, and mainly affects smokers. It is responsible for 3,000 deaths per year in France.
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