Drug Combos May Fight Tough Breast Cancer-Consumer Health News

Wednesday, December 15, 2021 (HealthDay News)-Experimental drugs added to chemotherapy may benefit women with advanced breast cancer, with early research providing coveted good news. Suggests.

The study enrolled women with “triple-negative” breast cancer, who account for about 15% to 20% of women’s breast cancer in the United States. It is so called because cancer lacks the hormones estrogen and progesterone, as well as the receptors for the protein HER-2.

in short, Triple negative cancer You cannot benefit from two major breast cancer treatments: hormone therapy and drugs that target HER-2.

Traditionally, surgery and chemotherapy have been central to the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. Unfortunately, the disease often resists or becomes resistant to chemotherapy. This was the case for a female in a new study.

So the researchers tried a new approach. They added an drug called L-NMMA to the standard chemotherapeutic drug docetaxel. Twenty-four patients underwent up to six 3-week combo cycles.

By the end of treatment, 11 patients had responded and showed cancer regression. For the two women, there were no more signs of breast cancer.

The study group included both women with metastatic cancer (meaning that it had spread to remote parts of the body) and women with locally advanced cancer. They are advanced tumors that have not yet spread throughout the body.

Females with locally advanced cancer responded better to a combination of treatments. Nine out of eleven responded at least partially. According to the report, it was true for two of the 13 women with metastatic cancer.

Findings were reported on December 15th Scientific translation medicine, The researchers said, laying the foundation for larger trials.

One of the next steps is a large study of women with advanced triple-negative cancer. The study’s author, Dr. Jenny Chan, director of the Houston Methodist Cancer Center in Texas, said.

Researchers also want to test their approach Metaplasia breast cancerA rare form of illness that is often triple-negative.

L-NMMA functions by inhibiting so-called nitric oxide signaling. This refers to the group of enzymes in the body that are necessary for normal health. However, in triple-negative breast cancer, increased nitric oxide signaling is associated with a poorer prognosis, Chang explained.

In a lab study, her team discovered that L-NMMA could suppress tumor growth and spread.

However, experts who reviewed the new study said more research is needed to find out how L-NMMA fits in the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer.

“I admire that idea,” said Dr. Julie Gralow, Chief Medical Officer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. In essence, she said the approach was to improve the patient’s response to chemotherapy.

Further testing of the efficacy and safety of the treatment requires larger studies, said Gralow, who was not involved in the study.

She also highlighted recent advances made in triple-negative breast cancer. Chemotherapy was once the only option, but several new therapies have been approved or are currently being researched.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the immunotherapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) to women with early-stage triple-negative cancer and some women whose cancer has spread to other parts of the body. approved. The drug releases the “brake” of the immune system, allowing cancer cells to be found and attacked.

For women with early-stage triple-negative cancer, Keytruda is used in combination with chemotherapy prior to surgery and then alone. And Gralow said it is now the standard of treatment.

Another drug called Sacituzumab (Trodelvy) is also available this year. It is an antibody that delivers chemotherapy directly to cancer cells. The FDA has approved patients who are already receiving standard treatment for locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

Meanwhile, studies show that some triple-negative cancers have receptors for androgens (a “male” hormone like testosterone), according to Gralow. And the study is currently testing antiandrogens in those patients.

“We have traditionally defined triple-negative breast cancer as something that isn’t,” says Gralow. “We are learning more about what it is teeth.. “

Dr. Charles Shapiro, a professor and oncologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, made a similar point.

He said the treatment of women with advanced triple-negative cancer has changed from a “gloomy” condition, where chemotherapy was the only weapon, to a more encouraging one with newer options.

Blocking nitric oxide signaling in the disease is a “new therapeutic approach” and needs further research, Shapiro said.

According to Chang, one question in the future is whether L-NMMA can also increase the response to immunotherapy.

For more information

The American Cancer Society is working harder on treatment Triple negative breast cancer.

Source: Jenny C. Chan, MD, Director of the Houston Methodist Cancer Center, Houston; Julie Gralow, Doctor of Medicine, Chief Medical Officer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Alexandria, Virginia. Charles Shapiro Doctor of Medicine, Professor, Medicine, Hematology and Oncology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City. Scientific translation medicine, December 2021, 15th, online