An investigation in which 24 Spanish hospitals have participated and which has been coordinated by the Cancer Center Clínica Universidad de Navarra (CCUN), the Gregorio Marañón General University Hospital and the Biogipuzkoa Health Research Institute suggests that treatment with the monoclonal antibody nadunolimab in combination with the chemotherapy drugs gemcitabine and carboplatin shows promising antitumor activity with an acceptable safety profile for patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer, the most aggressive of this type. type of tumors.
The trial has been promoted by the company Cantargia through GEICAM – Breast Cancer Research and Dr. Marta Santisteban, specialist in the Breast Cancer Area of the CCUN and national coordinator of the trial, has presented its results at the symposium on this tumor that the American Association for Cancer Research has celebrated in Texas.
A favorable risk-reward balance
Dr. Santisteban stated in a press release published by the CUN that “in the work, a rate of antitumor responses is observed in 60% of patients with a median overall survival of 13 months. Furthermore, in this work a translational study has been carried out in both the tumor and the immune system in the blood, which offers us a very complete perspective for the treatment of this disease.”
Triple negative breast cancer is the most aggressive subtype and the one with the worst prognosis, representing between 15% and 20% of all cases.
The researchers have highlighted that the use of nadunolimab did not significantly increase toxicity compared to the administration of chemotherapy alone, which is why, according to Dr. Santisteban, “taking into account the prognosis of this disease, the risk-benefit balance is considered It is favorable.”
Triple negative breast cancer is the most aggressive subtype and the one with the worst prognosis, representing between 15% and 20% of all cases. It is characterized by mainly affecting young women, and its five-year survival rate is only 12% in advanced cases. Dr. Santisteban emphasizes that “in this scenario, the addition of immunotherapy to chemotherapy is demonstrating moderate benefits in overall survival in some selected patients.”
Atropine to prevent side effects
Another clinical study led by the CCUN, the Severo Ochoa University Hospital in Madrid and the Toledo University Hospital, and presented at the same symposium in the United States, has demonstrated the effectiveness of adding atropine as a preventive treatment to reduce the intensity of effects. side effects in triple-negative breast cancer patients who have received Sacituzumab Govitecan, a monoclonal antibody drug-conjugate (ADC).
The results obtained show that prophylactic atropine has prevented the appearance of severe diarrhea and has greatly reduced the incidence in mild and moderate degrees, maintaining the same effectiveness of the medication. According to Dr. Santisteban, “the excellent results found allow us to be optimistic and start a new national multicenter phase II clinical trial.” 17 women with a median age of 50 years and advanced cancer participated in the study.
Sacituzumab Govitecan is a monoclonal antibody drug-conjugate (ADC) that binds to a protein on the surface of cancer cells to subsequently release a chemotherapy agent that causes cell death. This conjugated drug has shown a significant improvement in overall survival in patients with this disease compared to those treated with traditional chemotherapy, but its side effects include diarrhea, which appears in more than half of the patients and is severe up to in 10% of cases.
Source: Cínica Universidad de Navarra (CUN)
