Cancer patients live 40pc longer after experimental treatment

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2 days ago

Cancer patients given experimental treatment that programmes the body to attack rogue cells live 40 per cent longer, major research shows.
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is a form of immunotherapy where a patient's own T-cells – a type of white blood cell – are altered in a lab to target and kill cancer cells. The engineered cells are then reintroduced into the patient's bloodstream.
CAR T-cell therapy works by genetically engineering a patient's T-cells to recognise and destroy cancer cells.
T-cells are a type of white blood cell that can recognise and destroy foreign cells, including cancer cells, but because cancer is very good at evading immune detection, they often miss their mark. CAR T-cells are engineered to make them better at detecting cancer cells.
The pioneering therapy had already been hailed by scientists as one of the most significant breakthroughs in treatment for its success in treating blood cancers.
Now, new findings suggest it could also revolutionise treatment for solid tumours.
Experts at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's (Asco) annual meeting in Chicago, the world's largest cancer conference, said the findings heralded 'a new generation of treatment'.
Solid tumours represent roughly 90 per cent of all adult human cancers, including breast, lung and pancreatic cancer. Currently, over 650 CAR-Ts are in active development for a solid tumour indication.
The new study – the first ever randomised controlled trial of CAR T-cell therapy in solid tumours – involved patients with advanced gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer.
Those given the radical treatment lived on average approximately 40 per cent longer than patients who received standard care, a clinical trial found.
The results have been simultaneously published in the medical journal The Lancet.
Dr Carl June, a leading expert on CAR T-cell therapy at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved with the trial, said the findings were 'groundbreaking'.
He said: 'This is an exciting study showing the first positive results from a randomised trial testing CAR T-cells for a solid cancer.'
In the trial, over 100 patients in China with advanced gastric or GEJ cancer were randomised to receive either CAR T-cell therapy or one of the standard-of-care medications. Patients who received CAR T-cell therapy lived an average of 7.9 months after randomisation, compared to 5.5 months with standard care.
Patients receiving the designer immunotherapy also experienced 3.3 months without the cancer advancing, versus 1.8 months in the standard care group.
The researchers, from Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute in Beijing, said CAR-T-cell therapy 'showed a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival'.
The results suggest CAR T-cell 'could represent a paradigm shift' in care, addressing a crucial unmet need for some patients, they added.
A second study on CAR T-cell led by the University of Pennsylvania and due to be presented at Asco on Sunday, suggested the approach could also be used to treat brain tumours.
Results from that trial are expected to show CAR T-cell can shrink tumours in glioblastoma, a notoriously aggressive and fast-growing brain cancer, and help patients live much longer.
Oncologists in Chicago said they were increasingly optimistic about the potential of the therapy to revolutionise treatment of solid tumours, after dramatic success with blood cancers.
Dr John Haanen, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, who will deliver a presentation on CAR T-cell therapy at the Asco meeting, said the breakthroughs suggest 'a new generation of treatment that wasn't there for medical oncologists before'.
Dr Catherine Elliott, director of research at Cancer Research UK, said: 'CAR T-cell therapy – a highly personalised treatment that modifies a patient's own immune cells to recognise and destroy their cancer – has already shown success in treating some blood cancers, but it hasn't yet worked well for solid tumours.'
She said it was 'encouraging' to see early signs that it might help those with advanced stomach or gastroesophageal junction cancer, who lived an extra two and a half months longer than those given standard care.
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