New hope for female cancer patients

Two studies led by Singapore offer new hope for patients with ovarian, endometrial, and triple-negative breast cancer.

Targeted therapies and immunotherapy are opening up more options for some groups of patients with difficult-to-treat cancers. (Source: Times of India)

Two recent studies led by Singaporean scientists are offering further hope in treating several types of cancer that primarily affect women, including clear cell ovarian carcinoma, endometrial cancer, and triple-negative breast cancer.

These are all difficult-to-treat forms of cancer. With clear cell carcinoma of the ovary and endometrial cancer, many patients respond poorly to standard chemotherapy.

This is partly due to the abnormal characteristics of cancer cells, the formation of blood vessels that nourish the tumor, and the microenvironment surrounding the tumor, where cancer cells can "hide," weakening the immune system's ability to recognize and attack them.

Notably, clear cell carcinoma has a higher incidence rate in Asian women compared to many other population groups. In Japan, it may account for nearly 30% of ovarian cancer cases, while the rate in the West is around 12%.

A dual approach to clear cell carcinoma

One of the two notable studies is the LARA trial, conducted by the Asia Pacific Gynecological Cancer Trial Group in Singapore and South Korea between 2021 and 2023. The research team was initiated by Professor David Tan, senior advisor in the Department of Hematology, Oncology at the National University Cancer Institute of Singapore (NCIS).

The LARA trial evaluated the effectiveness of a combination of pembrolizumab and lenvatinib in patients with recurrent clear cell ovarian or endometrial carcinoma that had been resistant to standard treatments.

The results showed that approximately 40% of patients experienced a tumor reduction of 30% or more within the first 24 weeks of treatment; at the same time, 50% of patients showed no signs of disease progression for more than 6 months.

The mechanism of this therapy lies in its “double-locking” approach. Lenvatinib blocks signals that promote tumor growth and angiogenesis, while also making the tumor-prone environment more accessible to immune cells. Pembrolizumab then enhances the body’s immune response, helping the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells more effectively.

According to Professor Tan, this result is significant because the aforementioned group of patients often have very few treatment options after disease recurrence. Several recent studies in the US have also recorded similar results, further strengthening the prospects of combining immunotherapy with angiogenesis inhibitors in the treatment of refractory forms of gynecological cancer.

New hope for triple-negative breast cancer

The second study focused on advanced, previously untreated trine-negative breast cancer. This is one of the more aggressive forms of breast cancer that lacks three common receptors found in breast cancer cells: ER, PR, and HER2. Due to the absence of these familiar treatment targets, the disease is often more difficult to control, prone to early recurrence, has a tendency to metastasize, and patients generally have a shorter survival time.

According to Professor Rebecca Dent, Deputy Clinical Executive Director at the National Cancer Centre Singapore, triple-negative breast cancer accounts for approximately 10-20% of all breast cancer cases in Singapore and typically affects younger women, including those under 40.

In this trial, patients were treated with datopotamab deruxtecan, abbreviated as Dato-DXd. This is an antibody-conjugated drug, meaning it is designed to target cancer cells and deliver the tumor-killing agent directly to the target, thereby minimizing impact on healthy cells.

The results showed that the time patients lived without disease progression nearly doubled, averaging 10.8 months with Dato-DXd, compared to 5.6 months in the chemotherapy group.

Overall survival rates also improved, with 23.7 months in the Dato-DXd group compared to 18.7 months in the chemotherapy group. Additionally, approximately 63% of patients treated with Dato-DXd experienced tumor shrinkage or stabilization, significantly higher than the 29% in the chemotherapy group.

Dato-DXd is currently being reviewed by the US Food and Drug Administration and the Singapore Health Sciences Authority as a first-line treatment option for patients with unresectable or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

While further large-scale studies and long-term follow-up are still needed, these two results suggest that cancer treatment in women is gradually shifting from a "one-treatment-for-many-patients" approach to more individualized strategies, combining immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and precision drug delivery technology.

For patient groups who previously had very few options, these signals offer a basis for hoping for more effective and less harmful treatment protocols in the future.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/hy-vong-moi-cho-benh-nhan-nu-bi-ung-thu-386509.html