Immunotherapy is a set of treatments designed to help the patient’s body fight certain diseases, such as cancer. Treatments based on immunotherapy help the immune system identify and eliminate cancer cellsand have now been shown to improve long-term overall survival in patients with advanced melanoma, according to results from major international studies presented at annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).
Researchers behind the longest follow-up study to date suggest that immunotherapy may offer a chance of long-term remission in patients who respond favorably to treatment. In addition, other clinical trials presented at this scientific meeting show a increased long-term survival when immunotherapy is given before and after surgery in women with early, difficult-to-treat breast cancer (triple-negative breast cancer)as well as in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
“The key message from all these studies is that immunotherapy continues to offer hope and promise of long-term survival for many patients with different types of cancer,” said Alessandra Curioni-Fontecedro, professor of oncology at the University of Fribourg and director of the department of oncology at Fribourg Hospital (Switzerland), who was not involved in the studies. “At ESMO 2024, we see many studies across different types of cancer that show that “Immunotherapy can have long-term effects.”
It was also observed that Improving overall survival with immunotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in early stage and muscle invasive bladder cancer.
Type of breast cancer that is difficult to treat
THE Triple negative breast cancers are particularly difficult to treat because they do not have estrogen or progesterone receptors or high levels of HER2, so they do not respond to standard treatments. The results showed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival with immunotherapy plus chemotherapy before surgery and continued immunotherapy after surgery; The five-year overall survival rate was 86.6% in patients who received immunotherapy and 81.2% in the placebo group. The study in which these observations were made is KEYNOTE-522.
Peter Schmid, head of the department of medical oncology at the Barts Institute in London (UK), assessed these results during a meeting with the media, recalling that “it is important to keep in mind that This subtype of breast cancer poses a puzzle for clinicians.; “It is difficult to treat and efforts to find effective therapies have not always been successful.” 65% of patients were cancer-free after surgery and six months of treatment.
It was realized reduce the risk of death by 34% over a 7-year period (76 months). “This is the first time that there has been an advance of this magnitude in this type of tumor.”he emphasizes.
In patients without a complete response, in whom immunotherapy theoretically did not work, the results are even better: they have fewer relapses and higher survival rates, even when they did not respond well initiallyhe added.
Some side effects may require patients to take certain medications for life, but ultimately it is possible to control this type of breast cancer.
