The healing rate of breast cancer has almost doubled with this combination of drugs

A Breast cancer treatment They have developed a lot in recent years. In fact, although the frequency of the disease increased for the reasons that we will see later, its mortality It has greatly decreasedThe field is good news, which indicates that we are on the right track, but also should not stop. Clinical tests in search of the drug or the perfect combination of drugs are becoming more and more frequent. Some are not implemented, while others, such as the one that has just presented the team Australian researchersThey are very encouraging.

This is a study Checkmate 7FLcarried out by scientists from the Center for Cancer of Peter McCallum. He analyzes the effectiveness of combining two ordinary drugs chemotherapy With one based on ImmunotherapyThe field is nothing new. The combination of cancer treatment is checked for a long time, since they attack various weak points of cancer cells so that the best results can be obtained. Unfortunately, each cancer is unique, and what works in one can be a bad idea in another. That’s why the study Personalized treatment methodsThe field is a good line of research; But in the meantime, this Australian study gave very good results for which the type The most common breast cancer.

IN Phase 3 of your clinical trials They reached the complete absence of cancer cells in tissues almost twice as many patients who checked the combination compared to those Placebo groupThe field seems to be that they found a good combination, although they also encountered some problems that should be carefully studied before switching to a very important phase of clinical trials.

Reassuring figures in breast cancer

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2022 breast cancer was the most common among women in 157 of 185 studied countries. In fact, it is believed that 30% of cancer that are found in women are breasts.

Going to Spain, in 2024 they were diagnosed 36,395 new cases, which is incidence 132 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. It should be borne in mind that this is a type of cancer that affects more women than men. They usually mean only one 1% diagnoses. Therefore, a real figure for women is that the probability of suffering at some moment in our life is ⅛.

Cases of breast cancer in countries such as Spain have increased significantly in recent years. First, it is believed that there are not only more cases, but also Great detection abilityThis field indicates that many cases have been discovered that have not been diagnosed earlier and this affects the numbers. A Life expectancySo more DNA -volumes accumulate, which can lead to higher tumor speedFinally, it should be recognized that the presence of the most advanced medicine in history contrasts with the mainly sedentary lifestyle, which does not bring benefits for our health.

But, fortunately, progress in the treatment of breast cancer preferred that, even more cases, there are much less death. For example, in the United States, mortality fell into 42% in the period from 1989 to 2021. These procedures continue to advance, and the fact that these Australian scientists have just published is a good example.

Delcut of breast cancer, which are associated between them

About 70% of cases of breast cancer that occur in the world Er+/Her2-Field e -e -y -e -y -e -y -y -e -y -e -e -e -e Estrogen receptors. ER+ tumors have these receptors, to which hormones can be added that serve as fuel So tumor cells continue to be shed. As for Her2, This is a protein that promotes rapid growth tumors. If the tumor is Her2- it means that it does not have such a protein, and, fortunately, it extends much more slowly.

There is a lot of treatment of breast cancer applicable to these tumors, but the most common is to resort to one of the combinations 3: Surgery, chemotherapy and hormonal therapy. The latter is very useful in ER+tumors, because it blocks this effect of estrogen on cancer growth.

Immunotherapy was also used in the treatment of many types of cancer, either by itself or In combination with other treatment methodsTherefore, these scientists wanted to analyze in detail the effects of combining the drug immunotherapy, called Nivolumab With chemotherapy and, if necessary, also with surgery.

Nivolumab is responsible for blocking the receiver located in T -cells of the immune system which is associated with a ligand located on the surface of cancer cells. This union blocks the action of T -cells, so that it serves as a shield so that the cancer is not attacked. If the receiver is blocked, the immune system can attack the tumor. That is why this drug is so interesting.

Successful phase 3 clinical trials

Combination of nivolumab with two treatments against two chemotherapeutic drugs, AnthracyCline and TexanHe gave good results at the first two stages of clinical trials. Recall that, as in the case of any drug, these early stages are sent first to check the safety of the medicine, and then analyze the corresponding doses.

The phase that really gives us all the information about the effectiveness of treatment is the phase 3. In this case, they participated in it 510 patients with breast cancer ER+/HER2-All these women received chemotherapy, but then divided into two groups. In the first, they received nivolumab in addition to chemotherapy and in the second placebo. Therefore, we have a group of chemotherapy+nivolumab and another chemotherapy+placebo.

After 18 weeks of starting treatment PCR each participant. We should not confuse this test using PCR, for example, to determine the presence of the Covid-19 virus. In this case, they are an abbreviation of a “pathological complete answer” and is the absence of cancer cells in tissue samples extracted after treatment.

It was evident that 24’5% of the group with nivolumab reached the PCR, while it was achieved only in 13.8% of the placebo groupThe field was an almost double recovery among people who received a combination of treating breast cancer.

These treatments of breast cancer have restrictions for polishing

Authors of the clinical test, the results of which were published in NatureThey insist that we still have to continue to investigate this line; Well, for example, it is not known what will be Long -term effectsFor example, you will have to check the indicators of the relapse of the disease. I hope they are not high.

On the other hand, attention should be paid to side effects. The most common during the clinical test were A drop of hair, fatigue, anemia and nauseaThe field in this sense was barely differences between one group and another. However, something was very alarming, because there were 5 people in the Nivolumab group, who, unfortunately, died, 2 of them for Drug toxicity.

Side effects of a variety of gravity will always be, as in the case of any medicine, but you must work to be possible minimums, and that the balance is in the balance in order to bring the advantages to the side.